croatian below
29th International festival of alternative theatrical expression – FAKI
Poetics and politics of failure
Call for artists, activists, researches and theatre critics
Zagreb, Croatia, 25th to 31st May 2026
Deadline: 20th Aug 2025, 23.59 (CET)
Apply here: OPEN CALL FORM 2026
Poetics and politics of failure
If failing is an obligatory step, does it go forward or backward?
If we all agree that success is driving a Ferrari, are you a failure for driving your grandma’s bicycle?
Can you fail with style?
Why did you keep on playing chess against someone that was obviously going to beat you?
Have you ever felt proud of failing?
Have you ever failed so much that it became kind of fun?
Is there joy in failing?
Can we learn to fail? Can we learn from failing?
Can we fail better?
If failing is defined by a predetermined notion of success, can failing be an act of resistance?
We can overcome the fear of failure through play. By playing, we obstruct the focus on outcomes so that we can live in the pure moment of the present: we allow ourselves to make mistakes and to indulge the pleasures of simply having fun. To tolerate, or rather to actively seek failures and to derive enjoyment from them is a key component of the creative process and an incredibly stimulating tool for imagination. Failure is revolutionary! Let’s embrace and celebrate mistakes! Losers always have a good time!
Failure as a critique of capitalism
A capitalist society intrinsically calls for a preconstructed notion of success for which the main indicator is the accumulation of wealth. This hegemonic ideology creates a single value system that presupposes certain expectations and standards of life, including in culture and art. Failure, in this case, is about opening up a space for alternative and critical articulation, a space for reshaping and questioning conventional standards of virtuosity and methods of artistic practice. Failure operates on the principle of diversity and permission, that is to say that it allows us to loosen the boundaries of the determined and thus surrender to creation outside the circle of what is expected. By failing together, we will surely and collectively come across something else that is valuable.
Failure as an engine of imagination
The unexpected, the spontaneous and the surprising elements of creation force us to never be satisfied with what is predicted. They lead us to constantly search for new formulas and solutions within different performance forms. Failure or error can serve as a method of the creative process. In moments of improvisation the practice of breaking expectations and patterns of behavior can almost bring us to a state of delirium; to a state of climax. They lead us to opening doors that we did not even know existed. Enter, without fear, without shame, you will certainly make a mistake!
Failure as a contradiction
Performing arts are different from other types of art when it comes to the final product or form of the ‘product’. A performance is lived in the moment and each representation positions both the audience and the performers as witnesses of a unique instant that takes place here and now. After the performance, no physical object remains (if we make abstraction of the set design and of the technical equipment), only the pure impressions of the experience subsist. Because of its ephemeral nature, a performance is subject to changes, to unexpected twists and turns. Therefore, performing arts tolerate mistakes that the audience will gladly forgive because it is understood that the given framework implies a margin of error. On the other hand, mistakes or failures are not always unchoreographed or unplanned, accidental or improvised, unrepeatable or original. They are used as well-strategized gags, often with the purpose of surpassing themselves: in order to survive failure, it is necessary to demystify it. Failure is our very funny friend.
Within the idea of failure exists the presupposed criteria of perceived success. To fail is to resist it. To fail is to progress in a self-defined way. To talk about failure is to talk about impossible, unauthorized and inaccessible resources to which we often do not have access due to our socio-economic and cultural affiliation. We have not even started playing and we already know that we are losing. We are celebrating a predetermined defeat. We might as well make it fun because they say that there’s no revolution without dancing!
We call upon all creators to reflect on failure – its meaning in a world obsessed with success, its power as a tool of imagination, the political charge of mistakes, and how art can celebrate what is usually hidden. To embrace failure in capitalism is to resist its rules.
FAKI Festival will pay all reasonable costs for the presentation of accepted works:
– Travel costs up to 200 € for individuals and up to 500 € for groups, with preference given to sustainable means of transport (bus, train, shared car)
– Shared accommodation on-site at AKC Medika and healthy vegan lunches and dinners during the festival
– Basic technical support (light, sound, and other wonders)
– Photo and video documentation of the performances
– Public relations and media presence via the festival network
– Rehearsal space / residency (if needed)
– Dramaturgy support and/or feedback (if needed)
Artist and other guest fees / production costs unfortunately cannot be covered due to limited financial resources. The festival will work together with their guests to find funding from other sources (via letters of support or other means).
The deadline for submission is Wednesday, 20th of August 2025, 23.59 (CET).
Submissions made after this time will not be considered.
If you have any questions write to faki@attack.hr
*** FAKI is an anti-discrimination festival, which supports and implements radical social change through performing arts. ***
FAKI is a program of Autonomous Cultural Centre Attack
Festival of Alternative Theatrical Expression – FAKI, was created in 1998 as a response to elitism, but also the commercialization of the institutional cultural environment whose political and artistic one-sidedness was a handicap to independent, avant-garde, subversive and experimental work of theater and performing artists. Avant-garde performance research, innovative conclusions and original procedures, the political and personal self-awareness of authors, and the humanity of ideas and messages – are the backbone of selection criteria that seeks to detect links between artistic practices for the artistic festival structure.
***
29. Festival alternativnog kazališnog izričaja – FAKI
Poetike i politike neuspjeha
Poziv umjentnicima/cama, aktivistima/kinjama, istraživačima i kazališnim kritičarima
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 25. do 31. svibnja 2026
Rok za prijavu: 20. kolovoz 2025, 23.59 (CET)
Formular za prijavu: FORMULAR ZA PRIJAVU NA OTVORENI POZIV 2026
Poetike i politike neuspjeha
Strah od neuspjeha možemo pobijediti kroz igru. U igri zaboravljamo na ishod i živimo u čistom trenutku sadašnjosti, dopuštamo si greške i prepuštamo se užitku koji proizlazi iz zabave. Dopustiti sami sebi da radimo greške i još k tome pronalaziti užitak u istome je nevjerojatno važno za kreativni rad i stimulaciju mašte. Neuspjeh je revolucionaran! Dopustimo si greške i slavimo neuspjeh! Luzeri se uvijek dobro provode!
Neuspjeh kao kritika kapitalizma
U kapitalističkom društvu uspjeh i pobjeda se percipiraju kao visoka vrijednost, odnosno uspjeh dovodi do akumulacije bogatstva uslijed čega se stvaraju vrijednosni sistemi i hegemonijska ideologija koja pretpostavlja određena očekivanja i standarde života pa tako i kulture i umjetnosti. Kada govorimo o neuspjehu u ovom kontekstu, govorimo dakle o otvaranju prostora alternativne i kritičke artikulacije, prostoru preoblikovanja i preispitivanja konvencionalnih standarda virtuoznosti i metoda umjetničke prakse. Neuspjeh funkcionira na principu različitosti i dozvole, odnosno omogućava nam da olabavimo granice determiniranog i tako se prepustimo stvaranju van krugova očekivanog.
Neuspjeh kao motor imaginacije
Faktor neočekivanog, spontanog i iznenađujućeg tjera nas da se nikada ne zadovoljimo predviđenim i da stalno tragamo za novim formulama i rješenjima unutar različitih izvedbenih formi. Neuspjeh ili greška može služiti kao metoda kreativnog procesa. U trenucima improvizacije razbijanje očekivanih i predviđenih formi i obrazaca ponašanja dovodi nas gotovo u stanje delirija, klimaksa. Govorimo o trenutku koji otvara vrata za koja nismo ni znali da postoje. Uđite, bez straha, bez srama, sigurno ćete pogriješiti!
Neuspjeh kao kontradikcija
Izvedbene umjetnosti različite su od drugih tipova umjetnosti kada je u pitanju završni produkt odnosno forma ‘proizvoda’. Izvedbeno djelo živi u trenutku i svaki put kada gledamo izvedbu svjedočimo jedinstvenom trenutku koji se odvija ovdje i sada. Nakon izvedbe ne ostaje nikakav fizički objekt (ako ne govorimo o scenografiji ili tehničkoj opremi), ostaju čisti utisci doživljenog. S obzirom na to da se izvedba odvija u danom trenutku podložna je promjenama i neočekivanim preokretima i kao takva podnosi grešku, odnosno publika oprašta greške jer se podrazumijeva da je u danom okviru greška moguća. S druge strane greške ili neuspjesi nisu uvijek ne koreografirani, neplanirani, slučajni, improvizirani, neponovljivi i originalni. Koriste se kao dobro isplaniran gag često u svrhu premašivanja istog, odnosno da bi preživjeli neuspjeh potrebno je demistificirati ga. Neuspjeh je naš vrlo zabavan prijatelj.
Neuspjeh dakle pretpostavlja kriterije percipiranog uspjeha. Govoriti o neuspjehu znači govoriti o nemogućim, nedozvoljenim i nedostupnim resursima kojima nemamo pristup često zbog društveno ekonomske i kulturne pripadnosti. Nismo ni počeli igrati, a već znamo da gubimo. Slavimo unaprijed određeni poraz. Idemo se zabaviti jer kažu da bez plesa nema revolucije!
FAKI poziva sve stvarateljice i stvaratelje da promisle o neuspjehu – o njegovom značenju u svijetu opsjednutom uspjehom, o neuspjehu kao motoru imaginacije, o političkoj snazi greške i o tome kako umjetnost može slaviti ono što inače skrivamo. Jer priznati neuspjeh u kapitalizmu znači pružiti otpor njegovim pravilima!
FAKI pokriva sve razumne troškove za prezentaciju prihvaćenih radova:
– Troškovi putovanja do 200 € za pojedince i do 500 € za grupe, s naglaskom na održiva prijevozna sredstva (autobus, vlak, zajednički automobil)
– Zajednički smještaj u AKC Medika i zdravi veganski obroci tijekom festivala
– Osnovna tehnička podrška (svjetlo, zvuk i druge čarolije)
– Foto i video dokumentacija nastupa
– Odnosi s javnošću i medijska prisutnost putem festivalske mreže
– Prostor za probe / rezidencija (ako je potrebno)
– Dramaturška podrška i/ili povratne informacije (ako je potrebno)
Nažalost, zbog ograničenih financijskih resursa, FAKI Festival ne može pokriti honorare umjetnika i drugih gostiju / troškove produkcije. Festival će surađivati sa svim umjetnicima kako bi pronašao sredstva iz drugih izvora (putem pisama potpore ili na druge načine).
Rok za prijavu je srijeda, 20. kolovoza 2025., do 23.59 (CET).
Prijave poslane nakon ovog vremena neće biti razmatrane.
Ako imate bilo kakvih pitanja, pišite na faki@attack.hr
*** FAKI je festival protiv diskriminacije koji podržava i provodi radikalne društvene promjene kroz izvedbene umjetnosti. ***
FAKI je program Autonomnog kulturnog centra Attack
Festival alternativnog kazališnog izraza – FAKI, nastao je 1998. godine kao odgovor na elitizam, ali i komercijalizaciju institucionalnog kulturnog okruženja čija je politička i umjetnička jednostranost predstavljala prepreku za neovisni, avangardni, subverzivni i eksperimentalni rad kazališnih i izvedbenih umjetnika. Avangardna izvedbena istraživanja, inovativni zaključci i originalni postupci, politička i osobna samosvijest autora, te humanost ideja i poruka – okosnica su kriterija selekcije koji nastoji detektirati veze između umjetničkih praksi za umjetničku festivalsku strukturu.
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