The Sixteen Nations - YES Festival
Date: 13 June 2024 - 16 June 2024
Venue: Various Venues, Co. Derry~Londonderry and Co. Donegal
Women artists from all 16 nations involved in ULYSSES European Odyssey bring forward a multi-disciplinary cultural experience.
Athens – Berlin – Budapest – Cluj – Copenhagen – Derry~Donegal – Dublin – Eleusis – Istanbul – Leeuwarden – Lisbon – Lugo – Marseille – Oulu – Paris – Trieste – Vilnius – Zürich
Hanna Moisala, Oulu, Finland
Nomad
Hanna is a circus artist who will combine circus and physical theatre to create a highly visual performance in the YES Hub (St Columb’s Hall) using her exceptional artistry on the tight wire. Hanna says, ‘In all our shows, we want to tackle socially engaging themes around issues of power and questions that unite and divide human beings’. Hanna will also perform an outdoors spectacle using hula hoops and work with Derry~Londonderry’s local Circus school In Your Space.
Friday June 14, 7.30pm – 9pm | In Your Space | Workshop | FREE – Ticket Booking Required (by invitation only, please contact [email protected])
Saturday June 15, 12.30pm – 1.15pm | YES Hub, St Columb’s Hall, Theatre | Tight wire performance | FREE – Ticket Booking Required
Saturday June 15, 5pm – 6pm | Outdoors, Guildhall Square | Hula Hoop Rally | FREE – No Ticket Required – Bring your own Hula Hoop or just turn up and use one of ours first come first served. Limit 25 people.
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Lilli Kuschel, Berlin, Germany
Film screening – commissioned by YES
Lilli is an artist, filmmaker and camerawoman based in Berlin. Her work focuses on urban spaces and ecologies, architecture, the ‘’More-than-human“ and cohabitation. She is an artistic researcher at the University of Arts Berlin, where she teaches experimental film and media art. She is co-founder of the film production company Expander Film Berlin, which produces moving image projects for artists like Christoph Schlingensief, Rimini Protokoll, Elmgreen and Dragset and Lola Arias . Her work has been shown at international festivals such as Transmediale, Kurzfilmfest Hamburg and Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as in international exhibitions and museums such as Kunsthalle Wien, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum and Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai.
Lilli will make a film consisting of interviews with local Derry women she randomly encounters as she explores the city over a week in the lead up to YES 2024. Lilli will film, produce and edit the film whilst in Derry.
Sunday June 16, | YES Hub, St Columb’s Hall, Derry~Londonderry
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Virginia Vassilakou, Eleusis, Greece
HER presents a DJ set by VRGN
Virginia Vassilakou, a celebrated female DJ will perform in one of Derry’s most popular music pubs, The Guildhall Taphouse on Friday June 14, from 9pm. Virginia will use the opportunity of the gig to promote the platform she said.so which aims to support, promote and empower women & gender non-conforming DJs and producers in the electronic music industry. Locally Virginia will deliver a workshop through Derry’s electronic music festival Celtronic to promote DJing to young women interested in, or working in, the music industry.
Friday June 14, 11pm | Guildhall Taphouse, Derry | DJ Performance | FREE – No Ticket Required
Saturday June 15, 11am – 3pm | Celtronic Studios, Derry | Workshop (by invitation only, please contact [email protected])
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Morta Jonynaitė, Vilnius, Lithuania
Never Drying Towels
Morta is a textile artist who will exhibit her beautiful, fragile textiles exhibition ‘Never Drying Towels’ in the YES Hub, St Columb’s Hall, a former, popular entertainment venue for the hundreds of Derry’s Factory Girls and a venue that offers a reference to Derry’s past connection with the textile industry.
Morta describes her work as ‘Exploring the environment through tactility. Presenting my work in the form of installation, I construct intimate spaces where relationships between different experiences and participants are interconnected’.
Friday June 14 until Sunday June 16 | YES Hub, St Columb’s Hall, Derry~Londonderry | Exhibition – FREE
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Monika Bulaj, Trieste, Italy
Exiles
Monika is a Polish photojournalist, reporter, and documentary filmmaker based in Trieste Italy. Her work has been published in Granta, National Geographic, the New York Times Lens, TIME Lightbox, the Guardian, and elsewhere. Monika will present elements of her stunning work in a theatre style, visual presentation. Using her own photojournalism she will draw links between photo reportage, cinema, poetry, theatre and literary writing. Monika will ask the audience to reflect on seeing reality, without transforming it, without influencing it and without lying. Monika will talk about the ethics in reportage and the moral issues of post-production and how technical and intellectual choices may transform the way of telling stories.
Friday June 14, 6.30pm – 7.30pm | The Nerve Centre | FREE – Ticket Booking Required
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exiles-the-sixteen-nations-tickets-903651515007?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Gethan Dick, Marseille, France
Dance-In!
Gethan is a visual artist who will collaborate with her creative partner Myles to create a public participative dance piece celebrating the Derry Shirt Factory girls. Gethan & Myles will present Dance-In! which is a joyous, generous, multi-generational homage to the Factory Girls made with and for both the Derry~Londonderry community and the neighbouring Donegal community. The iconic Guildhall will be the location for this indoor event. Collaborating with local dance groups Gethan hopes to encourage as wide a participation as possible celebration of the original ‘Derry Girls’. The event will take place in a marathon style format with local dance groups taking one hour slots throughout the day on Saturday June 15. The sound of the Factory horns blaring will signal the start of Dance-In! each hour. The event is open to everyone, including non-dancers who can sign up on the day to participate or alternatively, book a slot via Eventbrite.
Saturday June 15, 10am – 8pm | Guildhall | Dance-In! – FREE
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Jolanda Bazzi & Laila el Bazi, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Bounderry
Jolanda and Laila are young, female, Fresian dancers who have been inspired by ‘The Derry Girls’ award winning Television series will choreograph and perform a new and unique dance piece. Jolanda and Laila will create a site specific contemporary dance to be performed outdoors close to the iconic Derry Girls Mural on Saturday June 15, 2pm and 4pm. The site is located on the side wall of Badger’s Bar, Orchard Street, Derry. The sound track of the famous, award winning television show will feature as an inspiration for the choreography and be played to accompany the piece, connecting audiences to the place and the dance.
Friday June 14, 7.15pm – 7.45pm | Plaza in front of An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, Donegal | | FREE Outdoor Event, No Ticket Required
Saturday June 15, 2pm – 2.20pm & 4pm – 4.20pm | Outdoors at Derry Girls Mural, Orchard Street, Derry~Londonderrry | FREE Outdoor Event, No Ticket Required
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Ioana Ofelia and Daniela Groza, Cluj, Romania
DE DOR – personal persepctives of immigration, longing and relationships
Ioana and Daniela have created a unique performance piece for the YES 2024. Using music, spoken word and visual imagery this sensitive piece will explore how the issue of migration impacts the lives of young people in Europe today.
Friday June 14, 8pm | The Playhouse | FREE – Ticket Booking Required
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/de-dor-the-sixteen-nations-tickets-903650281317?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Hanin Georgis, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Other Arab Woman
Hanin, in collaboration with Blaagaard Teatre will perform a one woman show entitled, ‘The Other Arab Woman’, for the first time in English in a special translation for YES 2024. This challenging live theatre piece explores the physical and emotional connection of traditional clothing worn by Arab women.
Friday June 14, 9pm – 10pm | New Gate Arts Centre
Sunday June 16, 8pm – 9pm | Balor Arts Centre, Ballybofey, Donegal
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Gizem Aksu, Istanbul, Turkey
9/8FIGHT41
Choreographer Gizem Aksu joined by Banu Açıkdeniz, Sema Semih and Gizem Nalbant, from Istanbul, Turkey
Gizem is an independent choreographer, dancer and ex-academic from Istanbul, currently living in Berlin. Gizem’s participation in YES is both a visual screening and a physical performance. Her award winning film ‘9/8 Fight for All of Us’ will screen in the YES Hub (St Columb’s Hall), Derry~Londonderry, on Saturday 15th June, plus, Gizem and her fellow dancers will perform a collective, short, socio-political dance, featured in the film, in a ‘flash mob’ style. The dance will be performed several times throughout Saturday June 15, at the Bastion close to St Augustine’s Church on Derry’s Historic Walls. Gizem’s short documentary dance movie ‘9/8 Fight for All Us’, is coproduced by HELLERAU and Goethe Institute Istanbul, and was awarded Best Short Film Award in 6. International Festival of Romani Film in Berlin, the Jury’s Special Award in 15. DOCUMENTARIST and nominated for The Best Short Documentary Film in 55. Turkish Cinema Awards and Golden Key in 39. Kasseler Dokfest.
Friday June 14, 7.15pm – 7.45pm | Plaza in front of An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, Donegal | | FREE Outdoor Event, No Ticket Required
Saturday June 15, 12pm, 1pm & 3.30pm | Outdoors on Derry’s Walls Bastion Close to St Augustine’s Church | FREE Outdoor Event – No Ticket Required
Saturday June 15, Times to be announced| Volta Cinema, YES Hub, St. Columb’s Hall | Film Screening | FREE
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Zoë de Souza and Philppe de Souza, Lisbon, Portugal
Le Soupir De Sable – The Sigh Of The Sand
Zoë and Philippe are a father and daughter duo, who, along with another classical guitarist, perform traditional Fado music of the classical Fado masters and composers.
Zoë de Souza and her father Philippe de Souza will perform in two settings.
Zoë and her father will feature within the Inishowen Traditional Singers’ Circle session at The North Pole Pub located in Shandrim, Drumfree, rural County Donegal on Friday June 14.
Additionally in The New Gate Theatre, Derry~Londonderry on June 15, they will perform a modern piece, entitled ‘Le sigh du sable’, which brings together stories linked to fado, reinterpreted through dance, movement and sound.
In addition to Le Soupir de Sable Zoë de Souza will perform with The Inishowen Singers on Friday June 14, 8pm – 9pm | The North Pole Bar, Drumfree, Donegal
Saturday June 15, 9pm – 10pm | New Gate Arts Centre, Derry
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Lugo’s Lestrygonian Dancers, Spain
Lestragonias
Dancers: Dancers: Olalla Caamaño, Iria Otero Vizcaíno, Eva Valle Legido, Cristina Vilariño, Beatriz Rodríguez-Morales
The Uxío Novoneyra Foundation has partnered with the ULYSSES European Oydssey Project to create a bespoke response to Lestrygonians, Episode VIII of James Joyce’s Ulysses. For YES 2024, five dancers from Lugo will perform a choreographed reading of the Episode in the Plaza of The Playhouse Theatre in Derry on Friday June 14. As Galicians both celebrate and enjoy food and walking, the team in Lugo created this unique event in response to the book’s Episode in which Leopold Bloom sets out on foot to search for somewhere to eat in the centre of Dublin. In the Episode in Joyce’s famous book, Leopold Bloom settles eventually for a gorgonzola cheese sandwich that he cuts into small sections and a glass of white wine for digestion. Audiences at this event will be treated to a highly energised dance work with the dancers enunciating the Lestrygonians’ text while moving through the space and audience plus an evocative still scene of the dancers making bread.
Saturday June 15, 4.30pm – 5.30pm | The Playhouse Plaza | FREE, Ticket Required
Sunday June 14, 1pm – 2pm | Guildhall Square | FREE, Outdoor event, No Ticket Required
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Catherine O’Connor, Dublin, Ireland
Commission by YES
Catherine is a self-taught tapestry artist currently based in Dublin. She established her studio practice in 2019 with the purpose of capturing the essence of a person in woven tapestries. Catherine is drawn to portraiture in an effort to capture the variations and nuances in a person’s features and expression. For YES 2024, Catherine will create a bespoke tapestry which will celebrate the female form. The tapestry will be on display at The YES Hub, St Columb’s Hall, Derry~Londonderry.
Monday June 10 – Sunday June 16 | YES Hub, St. Columb’s Hall, Derry~Londonderry
Monday June 17 – Sunday June 23 | Donegal Venue TBC
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Noémi Kiss, Budapest
Derry In A Day
Noémi is a Hungarian writer, whose works have been translated into English, German, Bulgarian, Romanian and Serbian. The German press consider her as one of the most promising writers of her generation. Noémi, has been an associate professor at the Eszterházy Károly Catholic University of Eger since autumn 2023. She is a writer and traveller. Her fiction features independent and vulnerable female figures, who sometimes flirt with the eccentric, but more often struggle in all-too-familiar environments. For YES 2024 Noémi will facilitate a day-long workshop with local writers producing a series of individual stories which are pulled into a collective book that reveals Derry in a Day.
Saturday June 15, 10am – 4pm | New Gate Arts Centre, Derry | Open to a maximum of 10 on a first come basis | (by invitation only, please contact [email protected])
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Miss Trouli, Athens, Greece
Love Songs of Supermodernity
Miss Trouli is a producer and club culture researcher. She is a true dancefloor aficionada. From house music essentials to seductive breaks and progressive trips, always with a dose of pop millennial nostalgia, she strives to explore a wide spectrum of club music and create sensual, dynamic environments related to desire, hedonism, femininity and togetherness. Her selections are unapologetic, while she unexpectedly crosses genres and decades, aiming to bring out a sense of liberation, bliss and belonging to everyone that dances with her.
Sunday June 16, 10pm – Close | Guildhall Taphouse
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Codetta, Derry~Londonderry, Ireland/UK
Opening Civic Reception performance
The international prize-winning choir Codetta was formed in 2001. Since then they have earned a reputation for choral excellence and given many concerts both nationally and internationally, including performances in the United States, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland and Mexico.
Past highlights include two Prom performances in the Royal Albert Hall in London, Last Night of the Proms in Belfast and special guest choir for the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, which was broadcast to an audience of more than eight million viewers. In May 2016, Codetta performed with Barry Douglas and Camerata in the Kennedy Centre, Washington and in 2017 Codetta won the Fleischmann International Trophy at the Cork International Choral Festival.
The choir performs regularly with the Ulster Orchestra, including annual performances of Handel’s Messiah and most recently, a recording of the soundtrack to the film, Lost Lives. In April 2023, Codetta presented concerts in Tequila and Guadalajara as part of a short tour of the Jalisco area of Mexico. An annual highlight for the choir is their participation in the City of Derry International Choir Festival in October, with recent performances including Verdi’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Mass in E minor and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. They are currently preparing Tippett’s A Child of Our Time as part of Festival 2024.
Thursday June 13 | Guildhall | By Invitation only