Organizing “Artistic Mess” – Vojta Stolbenko on the Roztoč Fest
At the beginning of Roztoč fest, the international festival of fire and music, there was a birthday party. “It was around seven years ago. I trained and did weekly workshops at this space called Výletná at Letná,” I learn from Vojta. Vojta Stolbenko is a visual artist, juggler, and musician, I discover when we are introduced at Žižkovšiška by its owner, Gordon. Besides performing, Vojta also teaches his crafts all around the world. “I love to bring like-minded people together at these workshops, and that’s how Roztoč fest started.”
Vojta explains the origins of the festival. “‘It’s my birthday, so let’s have a party!’ I said, and we put together the first indoor fire-spinning festival!… and probably the last.” He laughs. “In a short time, they shut down Výletná hall because the firemen found out that it’s super flammable and it’s super dangerous to even be there, let alone be fire-spinning there,” he grins.
That was in 2013, and they followed up with two more events, each only six months after another. “It was easy to organize; it was just one day. But the event was growing bigger, international performers started joining, and besides fire-spinners, we got more live music, more circus, and some non-fire acts. We started working with Gordon from Žižkovšiška and Andy from A Maze in Tchaiovna, for instance. A Maze in Tchaiovna community has a lot of random artists doing creative things, like sock-wrestling and all sorts of fun games.”
“I felt that there’s a lack of events like that.”
“I project what I have learned elsewhere into the festival,” Vojta explains when I ask about his inspirations, “I travel a lot, I’ve been to many festivals and I’ve often felt that something like this is missing in the Czech Republic.”
“What I don’t like is to just buy a beer and watch a band at a festival. I’m a juggler, so for me, the most fun way to dance is with my juggling props. And if I can go to an event without this feeling that it’s weird, or I’m gonna get kicked out because somebody considers it as something dangerous or whatsoever, then I can have fun. I can relax and just be myself. And that’s quite rare, actually; there aren’t many events like that,” Vojta considers.
“We are trying to break the barriers between the artists and the audience.”
“Roztoč fest is not only about the exhibition; it’s not an event where you buy an expensive ticket, watch a show and then buy some merchandise and go home, or to a bar. We encourage the connection between artists and the public. We don’t forbid people from trying things, we have a lot of circus toys that people can borrow and I’m always asking all artists who participate and perform to be open to teaching people spontaneously. At Roztoč fest, everyone is with everyone and I like the inspiration to flow as much as possible – not only through watching a performance but also through human to human connection.” Vojta’s eyes sparkle.
“We encourage people to not be shy to express themselves; if they like to dance with things, if they like to do yoga instead of pogo-dance,” he laughs, “they have the chance. There are no rules on how you should act and what you shouldn’t do at the festival. If you feel creative, then just do it. If you wanna jam by a tree, then make your stage there. That’s for example what Rumbalgia does every year; there always suddenly appears some random music stage somewhere.” Vojta chuckles.
“We wanna do it the right way.”
“We focus on quality rather than quantity, and we don’t necessarily aim to have thousands of people, and get sponsorships of thousands of Euros. Yes, we don’t want to lose money; yes, we want to give people the very best service and the best time. But we’re not gonna take money from Agrofert or Česká spořitelna to have their logos everywhere, and we’re not gonna follow any other ideas than our own. We won’t do anything just to make money; nobody gets paid, and what inspires us to do it is to make a festival where we can all enjoy ourselves.”
“Ever since I discovered this form of festival, I find it more and more difficult to have fun at other festivals.”
“At a big festival, no one cares who you are. You have to follow rules that are written on your ticket or delivered through signs. It’s very impersonal, and so you don’t fully realize it’s people’s hard work that that festival happened. At a lot of these festivals, people make a lot of mess and disrespect things. When you go to a festival, you can identify yourself as “just” a spectator – two eyes, two ears, and a credit card – or as a part of the festival. I believe that when people feel like, ‘The organizers of this festival are standing right here with us and they do it so that we all can have fun,’ then they don’t make that kind of a mess.”
“What’s unique about Roztoč fest is that we never needed any security guy. People who have nothing to do with the organization often stay after the festival and help to pack it up. And whenever at the festival there was a thing that needed to be done, everyone was so willing to help, and things would take just seconds because everyone understands we’re doing this together and everyone is a big part of the festival.”
“To always adapt to new places is a nightmare. But we always learn new things.”
In 2016 they organized the first weekend-long Roztoč fest, at Nákladové nádraží Žižkov. “We had about 400, 500 people. We spent a lot of money, and lost a lot of money,” Vojta chuckles, “but I think we made a good name for the event, and next year, we did it again at the same place. And we got double the amount of people from last year, and we made that money back. So we got back to zero,” he laughs.
“It was like a sign – ‘Oh well, maybe what we’re doing is gonna work.’” Vojta explains that the following year, they moved to a new location at Džbán. “We didn’t fit in the NN anymore. Džbán is a lake and the event there was purely outdoors. Which was again new and challenging but fun.”
“Unfortunately, last year it wasn’t possible to organize it there anymore, so we were once again without space,” Vojta smiles, “but this time we didn’t succeed in finding a place good enough that would guarantee the event to be really good. So we decided not to do it.”
“We kept searching, and for this year we found a perfect place called Cukrkandl.
It’s a former sugar factory with a unique outdoor and indoor space in Prague, by the river Vltava. It’s a very, very old place and it’s waiting to be demolished very soon. Our dream is to eventually have space where we can do the festival every year; it’s just so much easier to make a festival at the same place,” Vojta sighs.
“If you like to get involved in the action a little bit, see some unique things happen, then it’s the right event for you.”
“I like the organized artistic mess, that’s what I see when I look at the festival. I like to see all those different artists expressing themselves and doing whatever random stuff they wanna do. People dancing with flowers and people jamming and sharing skills, not being shy to express anything and doing what they like all together. That’s beautiful to watch.”
“At Roztoč fest, everyone is equally important and everyone is welcome to do things. At this year’s festival, besides interactive workshops, we’re gonna have some jam sessions, an open stage, where people can perform if they sign up in advance, and a renegade show where you can get on stage and present something, and if people clap you get a free shot. We also have sock-wrestling, where people can fight and take each other’s socks off, and all kinds of activities where anyone can step in and become the hero of the moment.”
Come see for yourself:
When: 20.8 – 23.8. 2020
Where: Cukrkandl, K Modřanskému nádraží 4
If you have an extra Crown to help make this event even awesomer, please DONATE.
And for more interesting interviews go to this section.
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