Martin Boross, STEREO AKT

Artist statement

Martin Boross is a theatre director and the artistic director of STEREO AKT, a Budapest-based progressive theatre collective.
He earned his diploma in 2013 at Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts.
Since 2011, he has directed 21 original theatre productions including on-stage (black-boksz), site-specific and public space, opera, documentary, and participatory works. His post-dramatic pieces are political and interdisciplinary, often experimenting with the unconventional positioning and participation of the audience. He is interested in using interaction as a dramaturgical technique for critical, creative, reflective audience involvement. Martin started filmmaking in 2017. Since then, he has directed 2 short films and a documentary, currently working on his first feature film. In 2016, he received the Junior Prima Prize, a prestigious award for Hungarian artists under 30. His work has been presented in 40 cities in 13 countries.

STEREO AKT is a Hungarian contemporary theatre collective.

SOCIAL COMMITMENT

STEREO AKT confronts community and social issues that affect all of us. To talk about these issues, we are often required to venture out to the limits of our comfort zones orbeyond. In recent years, we have addressed social issues and phenomena such as gender inequality (Garden of the Protected Man), homelessness (Addressless), refugeecrises (Colony), freedom of expression and propaganda (Last Chance Clinic), education (Ex Katedra), Eastern/European identity (European Freaks, Date an EasternEuropean) and equal opportunity (Remake_Bodony).

PARTICIPATION 

We create experiential performances: not works of art to be admired, but events in which the spectator is a partner in the action. All our performances initiate a dialoguebetween the audience and the performers, often without words, with the cooperation of the spectator. An adventurer in an escape room; a tourist on board a bus; a teammember in a theatrical board game, or a participant on a city walk — these are a few examples of the unconventional roles our spectators have played in recent years.

CONTEMPORARY THEMES, CONTEMPORARY FORMS

We use innovative artistic processes, new perspectives from outside experts, and unique technologies to create our interdisciplinary artistic productions. The resulting plot andtext of every piece is created through the collective work of the full creative team. In addition to stage productions, we have created site-specific performances, documentariesand feature films. We deal with personal and poignant issues, and the potential for the well-being of the individual and society as a whole. Mobility and international presenceare important elements of our vitality and collective identity.

DOCUMENTARY

In our experimental creative processes we first investigate, research, and confront our immediate reality, and then transform material drawn from the real world into dense, theatricalized material. Our performances often feature experts and stakeholders alongside professional actors, and employ the physical site of the performance as a protagonist in the work.