Kupusović: Instead of being part of Europe, we are still stuck in the Balkan mire!

On the occasion of March 27th, World Theatre Day, for the BiH news agency Patria (NAP), BiH director Sulejman Kupusović talks about the current state of culture and the fact that theatres are recording record attendance. Kupusović believes that there has been a cultural awakening among BiH citizens.

- I think it's not just theatre, but art in general. I think books are being read more than before, music is being listened to more because politicians have poisoned us to such an extent with the past, the future, and the present that one of the few places, like under a glass bell, where a person can escape from themselves, escape from everyday life and surrender to the magic of art – Kupusović tells NAP.

Given that Kupusović is also known as a social critic, we asked him how he views the protests and citizens' plenums that have been held in several BiH cities since February 7th.

- I think we are a nation born with a genetic defect. A nation that is so offended, ashamed, whose future, economy, morality, and dignity have been destroyed, it is comical that in such a country, ten, twenty, or thirty poor pensioners, some protesters, come out. This truly shows that it will take a long time for our people to get their heads out of their backsides and change something – Kupusović believes.

This year is significant for BiH and Sarajevo due to several important anniversaries. It is the 30th anniversary of the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo and the International Festival "Sarajevo Winter", the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I (Sarajevo Assassination), and the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival.

- I think these anniversaries will unfortunately be turned into a completely accidental event, as was the commemoration of the Olympics, due to weather conditions and lack of funds, or politicians will seize the opportunity and turn the centenary of the assassination into new trenches, new bickering, new falsifications of history, and they will be least interested in what BiH as a state lost by the very fact that it became the site of an unfortunate assassination and how much it costs it in the long run – Kupusović states.

According to Kupusović, instead of BiH being part of Europe now, like Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, "we are still stuck in the circle with the Balkan bottom, which includes Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania."

On Wednesday, the play "Lary Tompson" Show Must Go On, performed by the National Theatre of Tuzla, will be staged at the National Theatre Sarajevo. The play is based on the text by Dušan Kovačević, adapted and directed by Sulejman Kupusović.

- The play talks about how in this time when everything is against art, when electricity is literally turned off in cultural institutions, when there are no basic means for work, when museums are closed and galleries are shut down, the artistic spirit is obliged, as Mak Dizdar would say, out of defiance of the dream, to perform the play at all costs and prove that we must not allow the darkness and uniformity that reigns among our politicians to prevail. The mission of art and theatre is to constantly draw attention to the fact that man, in his only life, is obliged to be dignified and not to allow himself to be humiliated to the level of a louse – Kupusović concludes.