A long way to a close home. Maybe home is wherever we are. Author’s project by Dominika Špalková and Bára Ungerová for families with children for children over four years old.
MO = home
MOE = pattern, ornament
TIVI = repetition, rhythm
OET = error, exception
This imaginative piece of theatre for young and old alike is performed inside a caravan that is simultaneously an art installation. In the Moetivi caravan, everyday things that we all have at home come to life. Inside, it is cosy, safe, playful, mysterious… and perhaps a reindeer will come…
This devised project on the borders of theatre and fine art created by Bára Ungerová, Dominika Špalková and Vendula Tomšů asks: What is home? Is home a place or a feeling? Maybe home is wherever we are. A long way to a close home. Their expedition to the essence of home brought the artists far north from their homes – between volcanoes and lichens to Iceland and to the Sámi people and reindeer in Northern Norway. They were inspired by the rhythm, the landscape, the rituals and stories of the people. Home is boiling water in my kettle and the radio playing. Home, it is bread and butter for me. The authors composed fragments of memories, feelings, sounds, colours, shapes, ornaments, objects, tastes and smells and then imprinted these images in this experiential performance: Moetivi Caravan.
The show is suitable for adults with children 4+.
A book on the four years of the Moetivi Caravan project was published in 2023.
At the organiser’s request, the presentation can be supplemented with an accompanying programme.
Premiere: June 21st, 2022
Authors and performers: Dominika Špalková, Barbora Ungerová
Author´s collaboration at the beginning of the journey: Lucie Dlabolová
Author´s collaboration at the end of the journey: Vendula Tomšů
Design: Barbora Ungerová
Scenography: Vendula Tomšů
Music: Dva, Zrní, Kutya
Sound: Ladislav Mirvis Mirvald
Lights: Jiří Pirko Šmirk
Photo: Jiřina Šmídová, Barbora Ungerová
Technical support: Jan Unger, Jan Tomšů
Producer: ProFitArt
Partner organizations: Arctic Culture Lab (Norway), Handbendi (Iceland)
Duration: 40 minutes
Supported by EEA Grants – Culture Programme, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, City of Prague
Accompanying programme
Pancake afterparty in front of moetivi caravan
Bára is at home where she can make pancakes. Dominika is home where she can share her experiences and talk.
Meeting with authors and performers Bára and Dominika after the performance Moetivi Caravan / Expedition Home. A screening of Bara’s photographs from the project, visits to Iceland and Norway and preparations for the performance. Free discussion about the project and the theme of home, sharing impressions of the performance. Bára dancing by the stove, making homemade pancakes for everyone and music of Dva, Midi Lidi, Zrní and other popular party bands playing from the tape player.
MY HOME / EXPEDITION
CREATIVE workshop FOR CHILDREN
An art and theatre workshop during which children will create their own little theatre, inspired by the feeling of a real or dream home. What does such a home taste like? What does it smell like? And who lives there?
In the workshop, under the guidance of one of the authors of the production Moetivi Caravan / Expedition Home, Dominika Špalková, we will work with the art-theatre technique Lambe Lambe, which we will learn together how to make our own little theatre in a box. During the workshop, which will develop imagination, empathy and creative skills, we will create small theatrical stories about what is home to us.
Moetivi Caravan / Expedition Home Book
The book about four years of Moetivi Caravan is full of photos from residencies and trips. The texts in Czech and English summarise the entire development of the international project from the first idea, through the residencies to the three finished performances in the Czech, Icelandic and Norwegian caravans.
Price: 250,-
If you are interested in purchasing the book, please contact pr@profitart.cz.
Reviews
“So I took refuge on the wild grass in front of the Drak Theatre and let the travelers Dominika Špalková and Bára Ungerová invite me to a casual Expedition to their home in the Moetivi Caravan with an adorable blue-yellow-red interior and lots of hiding places with boxes of travel souvenirs. The poetic, atmospheric performance with elements of an art installation by just eight visitors will let us experience the idea that we are aware of the feeling of home when we miss it. So there would be no home without travel, just as there is no point in traveling if we have nowhere to return. A home on wheels can only be an advantage in that case. Even with us, the caravan finally started to ride, and even though we didn’t really move an inch, we suddenly found ourselves on a beach with shells and a stall with views. And I finally realized: summer is here! ”
Petra Zachatá, Hadrián 3, 26. 6. 2022
“Just like this year from the magical show Moetivi Caravan / Expedition Home from the ProFitArt production, which on Saturday took me, along with seven other viewers, on a half-hour trip to Norway and the Croatian sea, through which I could mentally recall my own travel experiences and limited life experiences from a trip to New Zealand “and back again”, to myself and to my home. And that’s thanks to the minimalistic acting of Dominika Špalková and Bára Ungerová and their work with cute miniature puppets, but also with daily necessities, with postcards, souvenirs and nature items from travels and above all thanks to the cute, yellow-blue painted interior of the cozy caravan. Bara’s trip to Norway, reflected through the messages on the postcards, initially excited by the idea of carrying her home on her back (much like a caravan on wheels) and culminating in discomfort-induced homesickness, brought tears to my eyes. How I longed for the soft sofa on which my parents traveled with me undisturbed, watching TV documentaries and browsing maps, while I was gradually eaten by voracious flies and the wall of the tent, my only house, was pecked by a mountain parrot!”
Kateřina Kykalová: Regiony must go on (No. 6). Divadelní noviny, 3. 7. 2022
“Close your eyes, let your imagination run wild and at least try to formulate it for yourself. For someone, home is a place where they hang their hat, for others a place where they automatically connect to Wi-Fi (this is, for example, with us, because the brother-in-law is a computer technician). For another familiar smell, a comfortable bed, stuffed animals, a bath of hot water. Just what evokes pleasant feelings. And it is to such a home that these two women invite the audience, one of whom sets off while the other stays to receive greetings from those journeys and, thanks to playful symbols, to explore the interior of the caravan together with the audience. There are plenty of ideas, after all, Bára Ungerová is, in addition to being a performer, a singer and a composer, also a designer. Experienced dramaturg Dominika Špalková excels in her ability to move all those – often delicate – things in motion, literally bring them to life, put them in context, turn chance into destiny and create a joyfully playful and at the same time a little mysterious atmosphere. The production is primarily intended for parents with children, but it also makes children out of us adults. It allows us to to row and sail the river of fantasy. Trifles, pulled out of mysterious boxes of all kinds, seem to remind us of something. After all, in every household there are similar boxes worn and deformed by use. They were left to us by our grandmother or great-grandmother, and discovering their bizarre contents is still tempting. If the two female performers alternately enliven not only the space of the caravan, but also its surroundings, theoretically, we should not be surprised by the visit of a reindeer or the fact that the caravan finally moves off (albeit only thanks to a theatrical trick) to stop right by the sea in a true Hawaiian feasts. And actually, it doesn’t matter at all that we’re only on the embankment at Rašín’s embankment and it’s drizzling a little.”
Jana Soprová: Mezi Čechy domov můj (No. 1). Divadelní noviny, 22. 9. 2022
