STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
In France, festivals also have a strict connection with universities, mainly those of architecture,
theatre, anthropology. This gives festivals and companies a huge professional preparation and a
deep consciousness and knowledge, while studies and researches are developed also at an
academic level.
4.2. Mindset and traditions
The tradition from which street arts derive changes a lot from country to country. It is to
remember that, once again, differences exist also among regions within the same country; yet it
is possible to find some typical elements for each country or geographical area.
In “Eastern” countries the street arts come from a long tradition of street events, linked to
religious (and laic) celebrations; they developed during dictatorship times because artists could
only bypass censure by going out on the streets and performing through mimic, parody and
satire. In “Eastern” countries the audience is generally well acquainted with theatre, whose
tradition developed – again – during dictatorship times (e.g. in Romania with Ceausescu).
In Spain, the street art tradition finds its roots in the popular tradition of religious celebrations in
the street. Concerning the kind of performance, here fire is the protagonist of many
performances.
In Italy, where the roots of street arts are in the traditional “Commedia dell’arte”, in the Fifties
street arts were almost destroyed by an intellectualist approach fighting this art because not
enough “intellectually structured”. Therefore, Italian festivals were cut out from international
circles.
Many companies attain a high artistic level but, as there are no production centres in this
country, they produce and perform mainly abroad, worldwide; except for co-productions, the
work nowadays is mainly based on self-production.
Having said that, it is possible to find a first difference concerning street arts tradition between
Mediterranean countries and the Northern countries: Mediterranean countries generally have a
longer tradition of street arts, and people are more used to spend their spare time in the streets,
they live the street. Climate and weather have a huge impact on this: in Spain the good
temperature allow festival season to last longer than in Norway, for example.
Audience and mindset change from country to country, therefore the kind of performance and
its contents cannot be the same everywhere. In some countries such as France and Belgium, for
example, naked performers are not a problem, while reactions in other countries, such as Italy,
can be very different. Also, “original” shows can be appreciated more in some countries than in
others where “traditional” performances are more suitable. Fire shows, typically Spanish, are
appreciated in many other countries; yet safety rules can put serious limits to the use of fire, thus
discouraging directors to invite Spanish companies to perform in their festivals.
4.3. Companies’ and professionals’ expertise; international approach
Concerning the tradition of street arts and consequently, the expertise of the companies, in such
countries as France, Germany, UK, companies are more expert and have a longer experience in
working at an international level, respect to “Eastern” countries such as Romania, whose
international work is just at the beginning.
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PE 375.307