Pál Kárpáti travelled to Istanbul.
Budapest’s second artist, Kristóf Kelemen travelled to Vilnius.
Artist’s statement
Being on the road is a strong thematic element in my theatrical thinking. I try to get to know the country I live in through nature hiking. From the experience of hiking alone and my thoughts flowing freely in the woods, spoken aloud and recorded on dictaphone, a performance was born last season. I consider this performance to be my most personal work to date – and the one that best sums up my vision of the theatre.
My participation in the Ulysses European Odyssey programme can be seen as a culmination of this process. I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul: a big city I have wanted to see since I was a child. Within the framework of the UEO programme, Istanbul is exploring the concept of coexistence. It is inspiring that the focus of my interest is so in tune with the theme of the host city. For me, the most striking way a foreign place reveals itself is through the way people live together. It is an exciting experience to adapt to the collective dynamics of a big city. I would like to get into the flow of this culturally sprawling, diverse city and bring something of the openness of its people back home.
Artist’s Biography
Pál Kárpáti was born on 30 December 1985 in Budapest. He graduated as an actor from the University of Kaposvár in 2019. He has also created several project-based performances as a director and writer. After his university years, he performed with Viktor Bodó’s internationally renowned company, the Sputnik Shipping Company. After the closure of Sputnik, he continued to work in the alternative theatre scene as a freelance actor and director. In recent years he has been a member of the Narrative Collective. In parallel, he creates performances with his own creative team, The Company. The Company was founded with his wife and a couple of artist friends. Their aim is to find theatrical answers to their problems together, on a democratic basis, regardless of their field of study. In the 2022/23 theatre season, they have produced their collaborative monodrama, So My Friends Will Listen to Me Once. As a starting point for the performance, Pál Kárpáti set off alone to walk a section of Hungary’s famous long-distance hiking trail, the National Blue Tour (OKT). For much of the tour, he spoke his thoughts out loud and recorded them on his tape recorder. The material from these recordings was used to create the performance, which he produced with members of The Company and other theatre-maker friends.
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Video from the visit
Visual Gesture
Each artist on the residency programme was asked to create a simple visual gesture for potential inclusion in the ULYSSES European Odyssey book. An image that reflected their visit to another partner city, a moment which stayed with them, something quite simple, even symbolic.
All images are copyright of the individual artists.
