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.
A long way to a close home.
Maybe home is wherever we are.
A project entering the landscape and tradition.
An expedition to the essence of what makes home a home.
The author’s performance by Dominika Špalková and Bára Ungerová for families with children takes place in a specially adapted caravan, which is also an art installation.
Dominika: Home is boiling water in my kettle and a radio turned on.
Bára: Home is bread and butter for me.
And what is home for you?
We were looking for an answer to the question of what home is and what things make it a home. We set out on journeys that ran far north of our homes – between volcanoes and lichens to Iceland and to the Sami and reindeer in northern Norway.
Is home a place or a feeling?
And do nomads have home?
And do homads have nome?
Moetivi Caravan.
MO = home
MOE = pattern, ornament
TIVI = repetition, rhythm
OET = error, exception
We were inspired by the landscape, the rhythm, meetings with the people and their stories. We composed, decomposed and composed again fragments of memories, feelings, sounds, colors, shapes, ornaments, objects, tastes and smells. We found familiar motives that are repeated across time and space. We finally printed this image of the caleidoscope in our production Moetivi Caravan.
We shared the idea of a home performance with other groups of artists in Iceland and Norway, and two more original productions were created in parallel. We are coming to you with our uniquely designed mobile homes in the Moetivi Caravan project.
NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER FOUR.
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
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
