InterEuroVision

In 1968, the Iron Curtain opened a crack wide: Stars from Eastern and Western Europe on stage together for the first time at the annual music festival Intervision in the Czechoslovakian town of Karlovy Vary, mere weeks before the invasion of Soviet tanks put an end to the cultural politics of the Prague Spring. The next music competition embracing the whole of Europe would not take place until after the fall of the Berlin Wall: This time, it is the West German Broadcasting Corporation who issues the invitations to a joint Eurovision Song Contest. The Intervision fades into obscurity.

The performance group BOYS* IN SYNC thinks that this is unjustified and they proceed to organise their very own music contest: the InterEuroVision. They take a look onstage and behind the scenes of the 1968 edition of Intervision: How did singers from the different countries meet? Does the competition have a symbolic impact that can still be felt today? And why do we know so little about this historic event? Together, BOYS* IN SYNC compare the show numbers from Intervision and Eurovision from the year 1968: They perform them in their native languages, compete against each other and come together in this competition.

European and international conflicts continue to influence the Eurovision Song Contest and hamper the unpolitical, joyful atmosphere that the contest hopes to communicate. Since the 2000s, Western countries above all have accused the Eastern ones of using their votes to help their neighbours and discriminating against queer participants like Conchita Wurst (2014). At the same time, the Eurovision Song Contest has become known as the “Gay Olympics” thanks to queer artists from Eastern Europe like Verka Serduchka.

Even if international singing competitions like the Eurovision Song Contest or Intervision are supposed to appear unpolitical, they always have a political motivation, too. The show numbers, commentary and songs of the 1968 show will tell us about these connections.

The performance group BOY* IN SYNC was founded in 2019. In their works, the collective combines drama, storytelling and dance with elements of improvisation. Constant members include puppeteer Ragni Halle (NO), actors Jay Tebogo Fiskerstrand (ZA/NO) and Gregers Hansen (PL/NO), dancer Jakob Krog (DK) and director Simon David Zeller (DE).