N.A.Toˇ is an international project that combines activism and clowning. It brings together activists, clowns and performers. They share and create surprising, entertaining and disobedient forms of civic activism. In addition to workshops, lectures and discussions, various performative and clown performances and happenings take place within and in connection with N.A.Toˇ.
N.A.Toˇ follows Florent Golfier's Atlas project. Florent, as an activist clown Atlas, guided people around various cities as part of guided walks. Atlas familiarized them with global problems that humanity has to deal with, and they tried to radicalise participants to start their own form of poetic protest. At one point during the walk, Atlas asked participants to put their noses on and join the clownocratic Nose Assembly for Tomorrow, which would make a clownish attempt to change the state of the world. Various meetings during this project and beyond led Florent to the decision to initiate the creation of a stable network of people involved in N.A.Toˇ.
The N.A.Toˇ network has been slowly growing through individual meetings since 2023. The N.A.Toˇ crew announces an open call for each meeting separately. Assemblies consist of workshops, discussions, lectures and plenums, and the N.A.Toˇ crew places great emphasis on the possibility of co-creation of the program by the participants. Selected parts of each assembly are open to the broad public.
N.A.Toˇ is governed by the principle of radical openness. Anyone can join it. Do not hesitate to contact us at nose-assembly@posteo.net
The N.A.Toˇ project is open-source and anyone can organize it. From the N.A.Toˇs 03–05, a clown-activist toolkit was created, which is free to download below. It consists of a pdf of the full version of the N.A.Toˇ toolkit, which is designed to be viewed on your phone, and four themed DYI zines, which you can print, fold and carry with you everywhere.
Assemblies N.A.To ˇ 3–5 were organised by tYhle together with the Theater der Unterdrückten Wien (AT) and INspirál Cirkuszközpont from Budapest (HU) z Budapešti (HU) in 2023–2024 as part of the Nose Assembly for Tomorrow project supported by the ERASMUS+ programme. In addition to individual meetings N.A.Toˇ, a clown-activist DIY toolkit and an inspirational newsletter were created as part of this project.
From the N.A.Toˇs 3–5, a clown-activist toolkit was created, which is free to download below. It consists of a pdf of the full version of the N.A.Toˇ toolkit, which is designed to be viewed on your phone, and four themed DYI zines, which you can print, fold and carry with you everywhere.
Implementation team of N.A.Toˇ #3: Kiara Gezels, Florent Golfier-Brechmann, Ondřej Holba, Csenge Kelecsényi, Jakub Liška
Production: tYhle, INspirál, Theater der Unterdrückten Wien
Implementation team of N.A.Toˇ #4: Kiara Gezels, Laura Golfier-Brechmann, Emilia Forck, Csenge Kelecsény, Julia Mollnhuber, Alma Tiemann
Production: tYhle, INspirál, Theater der Unterdrückten Wien
During the meetings, the groups worked partly independently and partly shared their progress and inspired each other. In addition to the work of the groups, the program consisted of plenums and an evening open program.
During the meeting, the participants organized the Clowning invasion event in the streets of Ostrava, which opened the topic of finding home in the form of a colorful clown strike.
Organizing team N.A.Toˇ #5:: Koen de Jong, Antonia Dimas, Kiara Gezels, Florent Golfier-Brechmann, Laura Golfier-Brechmann, Ondřej Holba, Csenge Kelecsény, Barbora Liška, Jakub Liška
Production: tYhle, INspirál, Theater der Unterdrückten Wien
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
The second N.A.Toˇ took place from 4 to 9 July 2023. It was hosted by Impulshaus. The meeting took place in a former school in the beautiful Austrian mountains, and it had a strong community character. In addition to the workshop program, an essential part of N.A.To #2 was community life associated with collective cooking, cleaning and trips around the Maria Schutz area.
Organising team of N.A.Toˇ #2: Laura Brechmann, Florent Golfier, Ondřej Holba, Barbora Liška, Jakub Liška Production: Roman Zmrzlý
Project N.A.Toˇ #2 was implemented with the financial support of the European Union through the National Recovery Plan and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as part of Výzva č. 5/2022 – Mobilita II.
The first assembly N.A.Toˇ took place on 23–26 March 2023 in Brno. It was hosted by Terén – Field of Performing Arts. The program of the four-day camp consisted of seminars, workshops and plenums, a program created by the participants and a happening in the streets of Brno.
Organising team of N.A.Toˇ #1: Laura Brechmann, Florent Golfier, Ondřej Holba, Barbora Liška, Jakub Liška
Production: tYhle, Roman Zmrzlý
Special thanks to: Terén – pole performativního umění, Pomezí o.s., Theater of the Oppressed Vienna (TdU Wien), Rhythms of Resistance Brno and Vienna, Supporters of the crowdfunding campaign, Tři Ocásci and Good Karma Catering.
Project N.A.Toˇ #1 was implemented with the financial support of the European Union through the National Recovery Plan and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as part of Výzva č. 4/2022 – Rozvoj kompetencí pracovníků KKS: projekty mezinárodní umělecké a odborné spolupráce v ČR.