The Karnabal Contemporary Cultural Laboratory is a pioneering artist-run international program for independent contemporary performance, founded by Manila-based theater company Sipat Lawin Ensemble. It is directed towards expanding the possibilities of performance and social development by directly addressing the creation of “New Cultures” and “Future Histories” in its various platforms for (1) presentation of performances, live works, exhibits, and the like; (2) cultural and artistic education for artists and communities; and (3) redirection via guided creation and development of new socially-engaged works by the next wave of artists and cultural leaders in the Philippines and abroad.

 

This coming May, KARNABAL Festival will return for the last of it’s three-year Performance and Social Innovation exploration. From discovering new ways of creating, connecting and collaborating in 2015; to immersing in socially-engaged processes and developing performances with communities in 2016; this year, as all endings mark new beginnings, we arrive at a culmination through evolving into a contemporary cultural laboratory.

​

2017 is the year of Divergence — of deviating, choosing differently, diving into yet another unknown, finding renewal, moving forward, moving away. Like we always say: “May bubuuin, may bubuwagin.”

 

KARNABAL Festival: Performance and Social Innovation 2017 will happen from May 10 to 21.

 

Where? Wherever your performances take us! We go multi-site: from theaters or studios, to the great outdoors, the streets, and even inside your own homes. The idea is for KARNABAL to become a mobile event, a caravan, a pilgrimage of sorts that finds home in different spaces inhabited by the communities we engage around (and beyond) Metro Manila.