Something like a phenomenon2

The cool thing – at least, one of the cool things – about working at a Fringe Festival is that you instantly step into a world where at least 73 other lunatics from across the globe know exactly what you are talking about. It’s like a franchise, but without the standard ‘double venti latte triple shot keep the soja’- kind of format. There’s a spirit that is immediately recognisable, but hardly explainable in numbers, figures, stats or neatly arranged matrixes. It’s like a global urban family that you never knew were related at all, until you met them.

One of the things we have in common is that we are madly in love with our cities. The addition ‘Tokyo’, ‘New York’, ‘Delhi’ or ‘Minnesota’ to the word ‘Fringe’ is hardly a mere geographical component. It is bound to the specific flavour of the Fringe in question. To discover the New York Fringe is to discover New York in a way you’ve never seen before. It’s the ultimate rough guide to a city. It’s like really getting into a city and pass the borders of being a mere tourist, but discovering the hottest, coolest and best hidden places through the eyes of up and coming artists.

The word that keeps on coming back from other Fringe Festivals when asking what the Fringe Spirit entails, has something to do with ‘adventure’. A dive into the deep blue see and discovering a world that is not noticeable on the surface but entails a whole new lot of weird fish, strange shapes and sometimes ugly monstrous beasts with sharp teeth along the way. Once you dive in, you are addicted. Ask anyone who dived before (whether it’s out of a plane or into the sea): it’s addictive.

The brilliant thing I find about the Fringe is that it’s a dive into the unknown with the team, the locations, the artists and the audience. It’s a no holds barred adventure. It’s fundamentally an artists-driven festival where the curator is taken out of the equation. It’s between the audience and the artist, as it should be in a Fringe Festival…

The Tokyo Fringe sent us a line that sums it all up: “make it happen” and a picture of their Studio-boss Tiger. A real Fringe Cat that looks sweet but has a rather independent mind of its own… Caressing at your own riks..

Bis Fringe
Anneke