Ep. 5 Bewilderment Archive — The Carnival Is Dead, Long Live the Carnival / Olya Korsun / 28.06.2025 by Radio Robida

Bewilderment Archive

Over four episodes, this show will explore the concept of carnival as a territory of
perpetual crossing of social, political, gender and interspecies borders. We will start
from a rather broad outline of carnival as a phenomenon of European culture which
enables the two-world state and creates a parallel reality of an ‘upside down world’.
After, we will zoom into the carnivalesque crowd to focus our investigation first on the
grotesque bodies inhabiting carnivals and then, specifically, on the mystical figure of
Wild Man – frequent guest of European winter carnivals. We will finish with a series of
interviews in which Robida members and Topolòvians share their memories of the
distant and magical carnivals of their childhood.
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V: The Carnival Is Dead, Long Live the Carnival!

The debris of carnival spirit are scattered all over the vicinity of Topolo – which is
ironically located just a couple of hours away from Venice – the emblem of the carnival
for sale. The local tradition has a distinct difference – it was brought from rural parts of
Slovenia and connects the locals to their ancestry. For this episode the members of
Robida embarked on a little journey to share their carnival memories and meet local
residents whom the team knows and trusts to be the keeper of carnival knowledge.

Mentioned in the episode: gross naturalism, folk culture, Topolovians, pust, Lojza
Batistič, staroverci, Aljaž Škrlep, Dora Cicone, Vida Rucli, Elena Rucli, Antônio Frederico
Lasalvia.
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Author: Olya Korsun
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The Other Radio project is part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia.