
TO MEET THE BEAST
05.13–17 / 05.24–06.12
TO MEET THE BEAST
05.13–17 / 05.24–06.12
TO MEET THE BEAST
05.13–17 / 05.24–06.12
TO MEET THE BEAST
05.13–17 / 05.24–06.12
TO MEET THE BEAST
05.13–17 / 05.24–06.12
TO MEET THE BEAST
05.13–17 / 05.24–06.12

TO MEET THE BEAST
What would we do if we came face to face with the beast? Would we fight together as a single organism or pretend to be dead? Would we raise our hands in the air, trying to appear bigger than we really are? Or would we discover that the beast is also inside us – it has been lurking there all along, waiting for an opportunity to break free through the thin veneer of humanity? There is only one way to find out.
The boundaries of the safe and familiar world allow us to move through territories without danger – we choose to be with those who think like us, and who have similar value systems. On the fringes remain the strangers, the different, the incomprehensible; on the fringes also remain the dangerous, always hungry beasts and monsters. The borders are constantly being redrawn, and vigilance cannot waver even for a moment. For sometimes the voice of a stranger whispers not from outside one’s own community, but from within, perhaps even from the depths of one’s own soul.
Since ancient times, mankind has been accompanied by monsters: dragons, chimeras, bonnacons, ogres, mermaids, sirens, werewolves, and many others. They were usually to be found on the fringes of the known world, off the right path or time, in an alien physical or temporal space. An encounter with a monster or beast is an encounter with the norms and unifying dogmatics of society. Sometimes the beast is just a mask covering our fears, but sometimes the dangerous beast skillfully wears the mask of a human being.
The 9th TheATRIUM Festival invites you to turn over the bestiary that reveals itself in the strangest forms and to face the frightening and alien with courage. Meet the Beast. This is the only way to distinguish between dangerous and harmless beasts. This is the only way to decide which beast to fight, which beast’s skin to borrow in times of need, and which one to defend at all costs.
THANKFUL TO THOSE WHO MAKE THIS FESTIVAL THE REALITY.
ALL SPONSORS