Silk Road

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Silk Road Tour to China
March - July, 1999

Tour sponsors

"We look to the past for strength, not solace; we look at the present and see people perishing, not profits mounting; we look toward the future and vow to make it different and better." Cornell West, The new cultural politics of difference, The Cultural Studies Reader, ed. Simon During, Routledge, 1993

As we approach the end of the 20th century we see attempt after attempt to structure and define the Order under which we, the Citizens of the World, should live for (at least) the next 100 years. Though many of the projects now under way symbolize tolerance and understanding, still more are blatant or thinly veiled retreats to isolationism and prejudice. Our goal at CESTA is to contribute to the global effort towards "many-culturalism" by:

facing historical and cultural barriers through artistic diplomacy
exploring "regions in conflict" creatively, but not naively
offering safe places for neutral, radical and progressive dialogue
helping to find common ground on which we can all stand

One part of our activities during the last year of this century will be the

SABOT SILK ROAD TOUR to CHINA

As part of an on-going series of international arts exchanges, CESTA is organizing a cross-land tour of nine countries for the musical duo SABOT and an independent documentary film team. In addition, an on-line World Wide Web journal will be published during the Tour with frequent updates. The Tour will originate in Tábor, Czech Republic and end in Shanghai, China, and the route mirrors a large part of the historical Silk Road: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, China. The tour will last for four months, beginning in March and ending in July, 1999. In each country at least one official event at a culture center or theater will be organized with regional or national performers, artists or musicians. SABOT and the documentary film team will travel in a 4-wheel drive caravan containing musical instruments, a generator, and sound, computer, film and lighting equipment in order to be more flexible in choosing spontaneous performance locations. The tour and film are being coproduced by the French association Les 7 Portes of Christine Coulange and Nchan Manoian.

The principle objectives of this project are:

to explore ways to transcend traditional dialogue through music
to coordinate collaborative performances combining the Western-influenced modern musical style of SABOT with the traditional and contemporary styles of East European and Middle- and Far Eastern musicians, actors and artists
to record the Tour as an independent film which will also serve as a documentary and educational tool
to use the latest on-line technology to establish a simultaneous World Wide Web journal
to use the new network created by the Silk Road Tour as a databank from which to draw new artists for future CESTA arts events.

Preliminary contact with embassies, consulates and related agencies has already begun, but we are always looking for new contacts along the Road. Contact CESTA for more information about the Road, the Tour, and SABOT.

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