Riga Performance Festival: Starptelpa is focused on performance art as a sovereign form of art in contemporary context. 

By definition performance art is an intermedial form of art. It means that there are no strict boundaries among the involved media and art disciplines. It is a hybrid phenomenon in the arts discourse allowing several arts to co-exist in parallel (visual arts, physical theatre, dance, media art, installation, etc.), thus creating an ambiguous in-between space or liminal space. In this space paratheatrical, sound and/or art practices, when freed from standards and traditions, can develop new, experimental and previously unprecedented artistic forms. The most crucial media of performance art – the presence of the artist, the body, time and duration, space, relationship with the spectators – may be combined with music, philosophy, poetry, sculpture, dance, cinematography, sculptural objects/installations, as well as non-art, for example, everyday objects, equipment and tools. 
The theme of this year’s festival is “The Phenomenon of Control”. Latvian Centre for Performance Art invites the artists to create performances, which reveal, examine, evaluate and re-evaluate the phenomenon of control from every possible angle. Apart from live performances, the performances can be presented in a mediatized form as well - either as still or moving images. The topics include, but are not limited to the following questions: 

● What is the meaning of “control” on a personal level; what happens when we are out-of-control or under too much of self-control? 
● Are we trying to escape control or can it be a motivating factor? 
● What “control” means in creative practice?
● What is our understanding of control in contemporary society and political discourse exercised through surveillance and other disciplinary measures? 
● What are the manifestations of control in the private and public space?

ORGANIZERS 
The Festival is organised by the Latvian Centre for Performance Art (Latvijas Performances mākslas centrs), Laboratory of Stage Arts and Artist Residency Centre MĀ TELPA.
The cooperation partner is RISEBA Architecture and Media Centre H2O6.

LOCATION
RISEBA Architecture and Media Centre H2O6, Durbes Street 4, Riga
Kalnciema ielas kvartāls, Kalnciema iela 35, Riga