It might be exciting, it might be overwhelming. For sure it’s uncomfortable at times but is it to provoke? To promote? To protect? Probably not to please, though we’ll keep you constantly in mind.
We are fighting the ongoing wars against trans bodies, indigenous bodies, female bodies, black bodies, displaced bodies, disabled bodies, queer bodies, young bodies, innocent bodies, bodies of water, culture and science. We are fighting for the shared right to exist, to be seen and to be respected. We are fighting for the right to feel safe in a body.
These wars are our wars however distant they would feel. Taking part in sculpting change is The Invitation; the motivation of our time. Being outside of the direct experience should not be an excuse to close eyes, but a possibility to see clearer from a distance.
We can borrow from Ancient Greece: democracy, philosophy, theatre, sciences and the arts – though we are not sculpting Europe again. We may ask how to be in dialogue with nature from those who still remember, though we are not sculpting something that has already been. We can learn from a village that used to think together, though we are not sculpting a council.
Baltic Circle has sculpted me for 13 years, and for the past six, I have been sculpting it. This year I have thought it all through but won’t be contributing with my hands. I won’t smell the swamp, nor will I decide on the final articulation. I will look from a distance with someone new. I will take part and be apart, a parent apparent.
A warm welcome to Baltic Circle 2025, let it sculpt you anew.
Hanna Parry
Artistic Director (on parental leave)