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beautiful mista

kes

The same connecting thread runs through the annual themes that form the common heading of the festival events. Since Folmer took over the helm in late 2006 he has launched themes like ‘In Motion’, ‘Open City’, ‘The Future is Near’, ‘Neighbours’, and this year’s ‘Beauti-ful Mistakes’. Underlying them all is a line of thought that is all about seeing things from new perspectives, having the leading edge and presenting meaningful cultural events to all of the various types of festival goers. And this should all be done in a way that will hopefully leave a watermark on the everyday life to which we all return after the ten days of the festival.

“To me the core task of the Festival is to put Aarhus on the map as a

city that is both fun and clever, and at the same time to be open and

portray Aarhus as a city you want to come to and be in”, the Festival executive director points out.

Beautiful MistakesThe ‘Beautiful Mistakes’ theme is based on the truism that we hu-mans are all born with faults and shortcomings, but we also spend an inordinate amount of energy on hiding our own shortcomings, and at the same time we never omit to point out those of others. This year, Aarhus Festival challenges this attitude:

“For a little while this year, we will make so free as to seek out the

beauty inherent in faults, shortcomings and everything imperfect in

us humans and collect the ‘happy accidents’ that occur when you let

chance and the unpredictable rule.”

Exactly how Folmer’s many ideas will come to fruition and what beau-tiful mistakes will actually occur, you will have to discover between Friday the 26 August and Sunday the 4 September when the festival will turn our city upside down.

Jens Folmer Jepsen is a man of many ideas. With great risk‐taking enthusiasm, he has now for five years been developing some of them in his capacity as the executive director of Aarhus Festival.

When you take a look at Jens Folmer Jepsen’s CV – or just ‘Folmer’ as Aarhusians prefer to call him – it makes for exciting reading. He has writ-ten songs, been a TV journalist, directed the satirical TV comedy series ‘Kongeriget’, which became part of Danish popular culture, etc., etc. This long list indicates an active mind, an innovative and passionate spirit.

“When I agree to do something, I do so hook, line and sinker. I do not

like to stay in a job when things start going lukewarm. I always take care

to keep intact my zest for life, i.a. by putting new ideas to the test.”

And it’s these very ideas that make up Jens Folmers Jepsen’s best quality. In last year’s edition of Aarhus Festival, a forest was planted on Aarhus’ largest square, the ‘Store Torv’, and a bridge was constructed to connect the multicultural ‘Gellerup’ suburb to the rest of Aarhus. This year a beach will be moved into the Klostertorv square, and passengers in the city’s taxicabs can be taken to their destinations by surprise guest drivers.

Playfulness and daringFolmer admits that sometimes he drives the festival secretariat crazy with his new ideas, but an unmistakable connecting thread runs through them all: A high level of identification, significance and an inclination towards playfulness and the courage to dare.

“Last year, for instance, we asked some Aarhusian architects ‘what if there was a small forest on the ‘Store Torv’ square in the town centre?’ – and then we arrive at an answer during the festival. This is also the

case with our film festival: We ask four musicians to write songs, and

then we pass them on to four film directors, who use them as a kind

of poetic manuscript. The finished short features are premiered during

the festival at the ‘FilmLab Aarhus’ film festival”, Folmer explains.

A SP I R IT OF R ISK-TAK I NG