Tavi Voina - on questioning public space through the joyful lens of clowning!

The beginning of July moves Reactor's vibrant energy out of the theatre hall and straight onto the streets! On July 2nd and 3rd, we joyfully welcome you to the Mărăști neighborhood to encounter delightful street interventions created by our wonderful colleague and actor, Tavi Voina, in a playful clown persona. For several weeks, Tavi enjoyed an artistic residency exploring this fascinating realm, and he happily shared some wonderful insights with us. Read on below to discover all the magical details of his residency!

In my Clown in the city residency in the Mărăști neighborhood, I am happily heading in two directions: playful interventions in the public space and sharing fun reels on the instagram page clown_in_the_city in collaboration with the Reactor page. For both, I have a fascinating research period which consists of strolling through the Mărăști neighborhood to discover its charm. I start with these curious questions: What does the neighborhood's public space look like? What are the unwritten rules? Who is welcomed here, and how can we tell? How can I playfully bend the rules of this space? Then, I head to the rehearsal room, pop on my red nose, and enthusiastically improvise based on these discoveries! I love using everyday objects found right in the neighborhood. The street intervention itself will joyfully take place on the sidewalk and pedestrian crossing of Piața Mărăști.

After many wonderful walks through the neighborhood, I chose to host my street intervention on the lively sidewalks and pedestrian crossing of Piața Mărăști. I noticed that the crosswalk is a unique public space where people, regardless of social class, sexual orientation, religion, and more, pass right by each other without any interaction. I wondered: how wonderful would it be to bring them together for a few magical seconds or minutes through playful games? I know I won't change the world completely, but in such a divided world, I believe it is so important to bring different people together in shared joy, even if just for a brief moment! I have crafted 3 delightful games—I like to call them "clown pills"—which last about 30 seconds, because that's exactly how long the pedestrian green light lasts in Piața Mărăști. I won't spoil the surprise of what these clown pills are; I warmly invite you to join us on July 2nd and 3rd to experience them live! More exciting details about the schedule will be shared on Instagram.

For the Instagram reels, I set up my trusty tripod in chosen spots around the neighborhood and film myself performing. I get so inspired by the unique architecture and the wonderful mix of people passing through! My artistic inspirations are wonderfully diverse, ranging from Ludor Citrik, a delightfully grotesque French clown, to these fascinating photos below. I don't know exactly who took them, but they are marvelous!

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Through my clown's presence in the public space, I aim to playfully bend the rules and engage people in the most joyful ways! To give you a fun example: I am thinking of hosting a whimsical picnic right on the crosswalk. Or perhaps going into a funny arrest pose whenever I spot a police officer, completely innocently. Just those kinds of playful actions!

My passion for clowning blossomed during my third year of university, when my class had a wonderful partnership with a school in France. I spent 10 marvelous days in Caen, where I had my very first contact with the art of clowning in a workshop based on the Jacques Lecoq method. I discovered then that I could be wonderfully silly, work more with my body than with words, and connect directly with the audience—no fourth wall needed! I began to study this beautiful art very seriously in 2020, when I created a charming clown segment in "M from Murphy", choreographed by Andrea Gavriliu. A year later, during a lovely theater project in a village, two colleagues and I decided to create a clown show. We met online weekly to enthusiastically discuss clown acts! Through that process, I discovered fantastic new techniques and brilliant international companies. Alongside the Jacques Lecoq method, I also participated in a wonderful activist clown workshop led by Robyn Hambrook and Hilary Ramsdeen in Brussels. Their method beautifully prepares you to bring joy to protests, playfully mock power, and defuse tense situations between protesters and police. Another beautiful part of their workshop is using public interventions to creatively raise important questions.

I draw a lot of inspiration from political events, striving to create a politically engaged clown. Many think clowning has nothing to do with politics, but I disagree—even the great Chaplin was deeply political! I heard a wonderful definition at a workshop last summer that I absolutely love: a clown is someone who has no friends, no money, no job, but who tries, tries, and tries again to get them. We laugh with him because we see our own human struggles in his eager attempt to be part of society. Clowning is also wonderfully personal. It gives you space to play with your own body language, naivety, playfulness, and innocence. For me, it is a joyful return to play. I know, it sounds like a cliché, but I constantly ask myself: how do I play as an adult? In my clown performances, I love to work with minimal objects and raw materials, using them in the most surprising and delightful ways!

The connection with the audience is beautifully direct! From my experience so far, I expect some lovely people to jump right into the games, while others might ignore me or feel a bit puzzled by my presence. This residency is also a wonderful educational journey, showing passersby that art can come directly to them—no need to go to a formal theater to experience a spark of artistic magic!

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Cultural project co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the program or how the results of the program may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

Event co-funded by the Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council