The practice of keeping

What compels us to cherish what is so easy to lose? And can caring help us cope with loss—or at least give it meaning, if only for a moment?

In her new performance, Venera Kazarova reflects on fragility and the human need to protect. On how we continue to care, even when we’re not sure we can save what we love. And on tenderness, which remains important precisely because it is not all-powerful.

In addition to the performance, an exhibition of Venera’s video works will take place November 26–28 as part of the festival. Venera Kazarova’s artistic world blends poetry with the absurd, beauty with imperfection, and the everyday with the surreal. Rather than offering the viewer a ready-made answer, the artist presents a subtle emotional experience—an opportunity to recognize one’s own hopes, fears, and attachments in her images.

Venera Kazarova moved from Moscow to Frankfurt am Main in 2022. In 2025, she participated in the JULA Festival as a set and costume designer of the chamber opera Creation of the World or Kabbalat Shabbat.