I have always been interested in creating questions, as opposed to giving answers. Km. 0 will be an outlet for evolving a distinct theatrical and artistic vocabulary that expands this practice, while creating a safe forum for dialogue around nationalist, violent and oppressive tendencies emerging in Romania and other former communist states.
In theater, we are most often used to an experience in which text is supported by everything else. I aim to approach the creation of this piece in a new way specific to our times. I would like this piece to have visual and audio elements that are the root of the experience. The design and performers will transform the place and themselves.
We are living in a moment that is intensely visual, and our awareness of culture and identity is increasingly mediated by images. I believe that experiencing things visually has a much greater impact on us than ever before, and yet at the same time what is seen is often censored, over-determined by new media formats, and/or incredibly narrow in terms of its information. With my historical background as a displaced Romanian, and my two-decades-long visual experience in theater and performance, I see Km. 0 as a performative installation that aims to bring attention to issues that we tend to turn away from, at a critical time.
—Oana Botez