And what do others have to say?: Representative Democracy in the Light of the Current Political Situation

Via Negativa’s performance entitled Just the Beginning, triggering contemplation on the role we play in a representative democracy, will be followed by a debate evening Representative Democracy in the Light of the Current Political Situation. The debate will expand the contemplation initiated by the performance in an informal manner and address issues such as parliamentarianism, the concept of representativeness, our influence on making political decisions or, better yet, the lack of such influence, and the current self-organised initiatives, demanding reforms.

The debate will be hosted by Lana Zdravković, researcher and activist, and Nenad Jelesijević, art critic and researcher, both of them known as the performing duo KITCH, in collaboration with Tjaša Pureber, journalist and researcher, Žiga Vodovnik, political science expert, Via Negativa and all the event visitors.

And what do others have to say?: The Role of Artist in Space

The performance entitled I Say What I Am Told to Say will be followed by a conversation with members of Beton Ltd., hosted by Lana Zdravković and Nenad Jelesijević/KITCH.

Art is neither a decorative element nor the amusing side of society, but rather an arena of encounters in the aesthetics of performativity. A conversation on the role of an artist in the sphere of the collective, accompanying the staging of a performance by Beton Ltd. in Ljubljana, will thus take the above premise for its referential framework.

We will delve into a debate on formal as well as content-related sides of a performance and manners of collective creative process, and most importantly, on the existing resemblances between this collective creative process on the one hand and long-term processes striving to construct a collective entity within social movements on the other. What can one possibly learn from creative obstacles encountered in artistic process? Where to look for neuralgic points of contact between art and politics? How to transfer a creative experience of this sort into an arena of continuous resistance, imposed upon us by the present moment, marked by an increasing exploitation of the ever poorer majority by the wealthy minority?

And what do others have to say?: New Fronts of Feminism

Discussion Evening

At times, feminism is neatly put away into a box of former century struggles. The fact is, however, that the struggle for women’s rights is still necessary today, the only difference being that the areas of struggle have changed. Discussion evening, tackling new fronts of feminism, will address the new horizons of gender inequality, the manners in which the latter is manifested in the present day society and ways to fight against it.

The Audience Council

Photo: Matevž Peršin

Public discussions in collaboration with Bunker, Maska, Via Negativa and Association for Contemporary Dance of Slovenia.

The Audience Council seeks to connect Ljubljana’s independent performing arts scene in the most basic common denominator that constitutes our endeavor into a meaningful activity, namely the spectator. At each Council we will discuss on current performances on the Ljubljana independent scene with the aim to form the space for reflection, discussion and dialogue on what we watched, how we watched and what we saw. The Council thus strives to propel a vibrant exchange of exclusively spectator’s experience, opinions, reflections and expectations. It’s not about whether these performances are brilliant masterpieces or whether they’re average, it’s not about grades and classifications, it’s not about the overlooked or about the notorious performances, it’s about opening up a space that allows for a difference to emerge, the difference between what we were watching and what we saw. In short, it’s about the spectator’s representation about a performance.

It is our belief that Ljubljana is an exceptionally fertile and productive epicenter of contemporary performing practices, extending well beyond average in their expression. And despite a relatively high number of groups and individuals, whose original and effective creative procedures have gained wide recognition across European stages, Ljubljana’s independent scene still hasn’t succeeded in bringing its artistic expression together to become articulated on a higher creative level. The Audience Council seeks to trigger, establish and maintain the links between various stage practices that gravitate towards the field of contemporary independent performing arts and thus gradually form a stage discourse that once in the future may be recognized as “independent Ljubljana scene”.

The Audience Council #1, 5th July 2013
Speakers: Bojan Jablanovec, Katarina Stegnar, Grega Zorc, Vito Weis (Via Negativa), Teja Reba, Loup Abramovici (Association for Contemporary Dance of Slovenia), Simon Belak, Zala Sajko, Jurij Smrke (G-Fart), Janez Janša, Nika Arhar, Pia Brezavšček, Katja Čičigoj, Martina Ruhsam (Maska), Samo Selimović (Bunker)

The Audience Council #2, 15th June 2014
Speakers: Marko Bratuš, Simon Belak, Katarina Stegnar, Lana Zdravković & Nenad Jelesijević, Jedrt Jež Furlan

The Audience Council #3, 22nd June 2015
Moderators: Bojan Jablanovec, Janez Janša, Teja Reba, Tamara Bračič Vidmar

The Audience Council #4,  September 2015 – June 2016
The 4th season of the Audience Council is conceptualized as a series of debates in differenc spaces of Ljubljana’s non-governmental artistic scene. There willl be 10 after-performance discussions intended for the audience members to share their experiences, expectations, reflections after the performance just seen.
Moderator: Jedrt Jež Furlan

Photos

Photo: Matevž Peršin

And what do others have to say?: Art and the City

The October conversation evening will tackle the theme of cities and urban districts as spaces propelling creativity in their inhabitants, inspiring and motivating them to bring new ideas to life while becoming active agents in their environment. Art in this light thus stands as engine of positive change and permanent improvement. Examples of related good practices will be displayed at the exhibition The City Speaks, held under the auspices of the 23^rd Biennial of Design in the National Museum of Slovenia. Guided tour of The City Speaks exhibition will be held on Monday, 15^th October at 5 p.m. by artist Raheel Mohammed. The tour will be followed by a thematic conversation in Stara mestna elektrarna – Elektro Ljubljana.

Aidan Cerar, host of the conversation, will speak to Raheel Mohammed and Graham Sheffield, Director Arts for the British Council, and to many other local experts from the areas of urbanism, sociology of space and artistic practices…

The conversation will last approximately 90 minutes and will be held in English language.

It will be followed by snacks, drinks and music.

In cooperation with: BIO Ljubljana, British Council Slovenia, Imagine 2020

Balkan Express Roundtable discussion: Sustainability of Artistic Action

Location: CAAP, Valvasorjeva 42, Maribor

The roundtable discussion introduces a series of public talks and other events on the topic of Culture &Sustainability that Balkan Express co-organizes throughout the upcoming year, to culminate with the Balkan Express Summer Seminar in September 2013.
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