Siim Tõniste will travel to Ravenna in May for a development phase of Tivoli, a work premiering in Tallinn in September 2026. The residency will focus on a participatory section in which local participants collaboratively construct a temporary fairground from shared and personal memories, both real and imagined.
These bits and pieces will be chosen, contained, and carefully preserved like canned fruit, then used as building blocks to transform the physical space. Through hands-on activities combining collective imagination, nostalgia, and decision-making, participants will test the dramaturgical mechanics of this assembly process, exploring how individual impulses merge into a shared form.
author Siim Tõniste
set design Anita Kremm
sound design Joonatan Kivi
hosts Üüve-Lydia Toompere, Reinis Boters, Siim Tõniste
production Kanuti Gildi SAAL (EE)
in residency at POLIS Teatro Festival – project supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA), an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), co-financed by the European Union – in partnership with Kanuti Gildi SAAL (EE) and Sirenos (LT)
duration 60′
Siim Tõniste is an Estonian artist whose interdisciplinary practice spans dance, performance, choreography, and curatorial work. Active in the Estonian performing arts scene since 2009, he values collaboration and collective creation. Since 2024, he has been based between Germany and Estonia. His participatory performance supersocial (2020) explored how social environments shape opinions and earned the Residency
Award at the Fast Forward – European Festival for Young Directors. In Are You Performing Yourself? (2022), a 12-hour piece, he examined self-representation and vulnerability through audience interaction. His projects often engage deeply with local communities and shared identities.