At the end of May, two major literary events were to take place — the Leipzig Book Fair and the International Book Arsenal Festival. The pandemic made its adjustments and the events were canceled or postponed. The online art and translation performance TRANSFORMANCE – THE ART OF TRANSLATION offers to imagine that this is not the case and to visit both Kyiv and Leipzig at the same time — thanks to the virtual space.
Translation is a constant (sometimes endless) process of finding meanings and trying to get to the bottom of them. This is the way to find a new text in your own language. It is both a reflection and your own voice.
Five artists — writer Heike Geißler, dancer Elena Francelanci, performer Angelika Venek, translator Roksolana Sviato, and musician Anna Khvyl — meet on the same digital stage between Kyiv and Leipzig. Each of them has its own language that is not always verbal. But they all try to understand each other through mistakes and corrections, distortion of narratives and finding their new meanings. Each of them has its own art of translation.
The event is part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Leipzig-Kyiv cities. In cooperation with the City of Leipzig’s Department of International Cooperation and with the financial support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (NEUSTART KULTUR program).