Opening Keynote Speech—Mircea Cărtărescu—IETM Bucharest Plenary Meeting 2017
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2017-04-22

IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts presents the Opening Keynote Speech of IETM Bucharest Plenary Meeting 2017 by Mircea Cărtărescu livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday, April 20 at 16:00 - 17:30 EEST (Bucharest, Romania) / 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. EDT (New York) / 13:00 - 14:30 UTC-GMT / 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. BST (London) / 15:00 - 16:30 CEST (Brussels) / 23:00 - 00:30 AEST (Sydney).

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Kalokagathia is a concept conceived by Greek philosophers that expressed the harmony of the world and the unification of truth, good, and beauty. The Artist creates “things of beauty”: the casual beauty that we see all around us, but also the overwhelming beauty which, as Dostoyevsky wrote, “will save the world.”

The triadic nature of beauty, truth, and good, means that the Artist cannot just be an isolated person creating imaginary realms within our complex and disturbing world. An Artist is a political person in a political world. He or she has to react to social injustice, to oppression, to the challenges of history. As both an intellectual and a citizen, the Artist has a duty to act—on stage, but also in the streets. In times of terror and uncertainty the Artist must stand for freedom, for justice, for democracy, and for human values.  

Mircea Cărtărescu
Born in Bucharest, he graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, Department of Romanian Language and Literature, in 1980. Between 1980 and 1989 he worked as a Romanian language teacher, and then he worked at the Writers Union and as an editor at the Caiete Critice magazine. In 1991 he became a lecturer at the Chair of Romanian Literary History, part of the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters. As of 2010, he is an associate professor. Between 1994-1995 he was a visiting lecturer at the University of Amsterdam.

About IETM
IETM is a network of over 500 performing arts organisations and individual members working in the contemporary performing arts worldwide: theatre, dance, circus, interdisciplinary live art forms, new media. IETM advocates for the value of the arts and culture in a changing world and empowers performing arts professionals through access to international connections, knowledge and a dynamic forum for exchange.

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