Linda Lazarov
Drifts Festival
Drifts is a nomadic art platform that organizes festivals, symposiums, and projects in different regions in Helsinki and Seoul. It seeks to engage with critical dialogues and address urgent societal issues through audiovisual, performative, and discursive practices. The platform is developed through a collaborative approach to foster long-term sustainable relations with the diverse neighborhoods and communities that build the city's plurality.
In 2022, Drifts focused on the theme “Ghosts” to critically think about the diverse conditions that haunt our present. Ghosts give us space to reflect on societal fears and ghostly presences; to encounter beings and histories that have been forgotten, are conflictual, or cannot be fully understood nor explained; to go deeper into practices that delve with spiritual tropes, realms, rituals, and spells. The theme was explored with a diverse group of local and international practitioners through the public program, such as audiovisual performances, films, and lectures.
In 2023, the festival focused on the theme ”Ungoverned Lives” to bring to the fore strategies of resistance through the arts. The notion of being ungoverned opens paths to multiple struggles for self-determination, liberation, equity, dignity, and justice. The festival signalled the need for art and culture to be driving forces in challenging the status quo, and a commitment in a shared practice to work through plurality, autonomy, and freedom. The theme was explored with a diverse group of local and international practitioners through the public program, such as live music, body performances, audiovisual performances and film screenings.
Artistic Director: Soko Hwang
Collaborating Artistic Director: Giovanna Esposito Yussif
Curators: Linda Lazarov, Enna Bae, Marianne Savallampi
Production Management: Ahmed Barakat
Producer: Tuuli Pohjola and Brad Mullen
Production Coordinator: Laura Jurmu
Light Management: Kristian Palmu
Sound Management: Pedro Mac Loughlin
Sound System: Tatu Nenonen
Communication Manager: Aala Nyman
Graphic Design: Ji Kim, Soko Hwang
