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Alena Starostina

@inspiration1983

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Almost a month in Bucharest, slowly trying to see the city beneath the surface. Two more months ahead. Wondering what it will reveal. Thank you, Arc Bucharest, for this opportunity. by @inspiration1983

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16 days ago

Tonight and tomorrow: Berlin premiere of “Black Box” at @ballhausost

Stay after for a discussion with the team (you will have questions, we promise!☝️)

BLACK BOX Pavel Pryazhko
Berlin premiere
9, 10 April 20:00

🎟️ A couple of tickets are back in sale, link in Bio taken in Berlin, Germany by @inspiration1983

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6 months ago

BLACK BOX
Premiere at @ballhausost
9, 10 April 2026

The characters exist on two temporal levels: 1986 and 2016. In 1986, Alexey, Marina, Sergey, and Valery are twelve-year-old students. In 2016, they are forty-two years old, seemingly transported back to their former boarding school, where everything — except them — appears frozen in time or perhaps has never changed at all.

The dynamic between teachers and pupils is shaped by subtle yet persistent undercurrents of violence and dominance. As children, the pupils may not have recognized the harmful nature of their upbringing. But upon returning as adults, a dissonance becomes palpable — something in the structure of communication and subordination feels deeply wrong. And yet only one character dares to resist the existing order. The others adapt — out of fear of punishment or exclusion — unable to defend one another or take a stand.

There is no overt violence — only an eerie atmosphere and a rupture in reality, a “glitch” that signals that something is not right.

Black Box examines how unresolved historical trauma continues to shape present-day life.

BLACK BOX
Premiere at @ballhausost
9, 10 April 2026

🎟️Tickets in Bio taken in Berlin, Deutschland by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

One more premiere evening at @hellerau_ tonight.

Then we’re coming to Berlin.
Let’s meet 🌚

BLACK BOX
9-10 April 2026 at @ballhausost

🎟️ Tickets in Bio

Photos from the Dresden premiere: Stephan Floss @stephanfloss (thank you!) by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

Today is International Theatre Day. It’s another reminder that our colleagues are still in prison.

Svetlana Petriychuk, playwright.
Yevgenia Berkovich, theatre director.

They are imprisoned in Russia for a play that had previously received the country’s national theatre award. Now they have been sentenced to 6 years.

Free Svetlana.
Free Yevgenia.

#freeberkovichandpetriychuk
#freeberkovich
#freepetriychuk by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

BLACK BOX Pavel Pryazhko by aliveduo

Premiere at @hellerau_ Dresden
27,28,29 March 2026

Performances at @ballhausost Berlin
9,10 April 2026

🎟️Tickets in bio by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

“Black Box” tells the story of four characters who suddenly find themselves back in their school in 1968 — while remaining adults. For some, it feels exciting and strangely comforting; for others, it is far from pleasant.

The project explores the complex entanglement of past and present in the post-Soviet space. Do we truly want those times to return? Or are we simply longing for the illusion of a carefree childhood?

Working with analog film and performance, aliveduo examines nostalgia alongside the unsettling repetition of behavioral patterns shaped by violence and oppression.

🎟️Tickets in bio

BLACK BOX Pavel Pryazhko

Premiere at @hellerau_ Dresden
27,28,29 March 2026

Performances at @ballhausost Berlin
9,10 April 2026 by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

Big news ☄️

Following @hellerau_, “Black Box” will be premiered in Berlin at @ballhausost on April 9-10!

“Black Box” is based on a play by Belarusian playwright Pavel Pryazhko and explores the complex entanglement of past and present in the post-Soviet space.

//
Four characters suddenly find themselves back in their school in 1968 — while remaining adults. For some, it feels exciting and strangely comforting; for others, it is far from pleasant.
//

It addresses nostalgia, the longing for a carefree childhood, and the disturbing repetition of behavioral patterns shaped by inherited violence and oppression.

Do we truly want those times to return? Or are we simply longing for the illusion of a carefree childhood?..

🎟️ Check the link in Bio for more info & tickets. by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

A key element of Black Box is the use of analog cameras (i.e. shooting on actual film 🎞️)

Experiments with 8mm and 16mm film explore how image quality affects temporal perception and the associations it evokes in viewers.

Analog film is valued for its tactile, physical inscription of time — it offers a reality that is tangible, verifiable, and materially present. Thus the performers take us back to the 1968.

An important part of the process also involved collecting documentary material: interviews with people who attended boarding schools in the former GDR, as well as graduates from 2016. These personal accounts — descriptions of corridors, rules, and interpersonal dynamics — are integrated into the project and may later be presented in an accompanying exhibition featuring video and photographic works.

Moreover, Alena Starostina and Ivan Nikolaev have filmed material for the performance in a music school in Cetinje (Montenegro), Schulmuseum Dresden @schulmuseumdresden and 106. Grundschule (School № 106) in Dresden.

BLACK BOX
Premiere at @hellerau_
27,28,29 March 2026

Tickets in Bio

Photo: Daria Chalikova @daryacha 🖤 by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

“Black Box” tells the story of four characters who suddenly find themselves back in their school in 1968 — while remaining adults. For some, it feels exciting and strangely comforting; for others, it is far from pleasant.

The project explores the complex entanglement of past and present in the post-Soviet space. Do we truly want those times to return? Or are we simply longing for the illusion of a carefree childhood?

Working with analog film and performance, aliveduo examines nostalgia alongside the unsettling repetition of behavioral patterns shaped by violence and oppression.

🎟️Tickets in bio by @inspiration1983

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7 months ago

Black Box will premiere in Dresden on the 27, 28, and 29th of March at @hellerau_ and 9-10 April at Ballhaus OST, Berlin

The project is based on a play by Belarusian playwright Pavel Pryazhko and is a collaboration between HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts and aliveduo, with the participation of Theatre l.o.f.t from Montenegro.

Black Box explores the complex entanglement of past and present in the post-Soviet space. It addresses nostalgia, the longing for a carefree childhood, and the disturbing repetition of behavioral patterns shaped by inherited violence and oppression.

Tickets via the link in Bio.

Artistic directors, performers – Alena Starostina, Ivan Nikolaev
Video and voice performers – Andrei Slepukhin @slepukhinandriy Boris Chistiakov @chistyakovboris Anastasiia Kazakova @anastasiyacazakova
Composer – Dmitrii Vlasik @neiredicrem
Stage designer – Kseniia Shachneva @ksyushachneva
Lighting designer – Ilya Pashnin @elihahlight
German translation – Elizaveta Snagovskaia @snagovskaializa and Daniel Thomé
Technical support – Benjamin Haubold
Producer, Communications – Aigul Davletshina @aiguldavletshina by @inspiration1983

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8 months ago

by @inspiration1983

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8 months ago