One way to activate society for positive change is to engage it in active heterogeneous communities in which collaborative creative activity takes place. The artists, together with the audience and the environment, can be in an emancipatory creative dialogue that prototypes the disruption of the hierarchical, patriarchal structures of society as well as the anthropocentric worldview. _ Marika Smreková

Marika Smreková is a Slovak artist based in the Czech Republic, activist, feminist and mother. She studied theatre direction at the JAMU in Brno, where she is fulfilling her doctoral studies. In her dissertation, she reflects on her artistic research on participatory forms of performing arts within the framework of UM UM – the intercultural community and art festival, of which she was the founder and curator from 2012.

She is looking for different participatory tools in theatre that would foster a creative dialogue between artists and society as well as between the majority and its (national or social) minorities. Her work focuses mainly on themes related to non-hierarchy, equal parenting, inclusion and socio-ecological transformation.

During ON MOBILISATION the artistic research “On Parent-friendly Culture” led by Marika builds on the already existing practice of the artist. The project focuses on the invisible work of parents and their exclusion from social and cultural life.