Razstava
Zagreb, Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, 2024
Ljubljana, +MSUM, 2025
Ker gre za kontinuiran proces, razstave ne gre razumeti kot sklepno dejanje ali enkratno predstavitev gradiv, marveč kot korak v smeri kuratorskih artikulacij različnih tematskih povečav, ki jih je mogoče vzpostaviti s to arhivsko mrežo. Razstava je ena od verzij dela v spreminjanju, nastajanju, osvetlitev gradiv in razmerij med njimi v postopni arhivski rasti. V njej je več potencialnosti kot koncev in je rezultat vrste metodoloških odločitev, ki so posledica dejstva, da pri delu sodeluje več partneric, predstavnic kontekstov, ki so si med seboj podobni, a se hkrati tudi razlikujejo.
Partnerji o arhivu razmišljajo kot o živi in razvijajoči se obliki javnega plesnega časa, ki se (lahko) izvaja kot presečišče mnogoterih prostorov, spominov, vednosti, zgodovine, navzočnosti, prihodnosti, prijateljstev, strategij, politike, odpora, prožnosti, ljubezni, sovražnosti, molka, protestov, nesoglasij, družabnosti, združevanja in še marsičesa, kar ples uteleša, beleži, vzdržuje in proizvaja z oblikami domišljije. S pomočjo arhiva plesne umetnosti premišljujejo o estetskem, ki ločuje njihove plesne kontekste in jih omejuje predvsem na gledališke proizvode in kinetične razlike, ki pa nikoli niso bile v ospredju njihovih skupnih zanimanj. Prizadevanja projektnih partnerjev so že od začetka usmerjena v plesno polje, ki jih seznanja z umetnostjo, kulturo, družbo in politiko.Ob estetskem vidiku se jim zdi področje plesnega delovanja - ali natančneje: dela - bolj vključujoče, obširnejše, solidarnejše, zahtevnejše in tudi skupno. Ples, odpor, (neiz)delovanje – vidiki plesa kot kulturnega, političnega in umetniškega dela v obdobju Jugoslavije in potem razvija teme (1) koreografiranja feminizma, spola in želja kot oblik telesnih politik, (2) formacij, razmerij in intervencij kot oblik skupnostnih združevanj, (3) mejnega in transgresivnega plesa v medijih onstran telesnega s (4) splošno perspektivo plesa v kljubovanju.
Kustosi s predstavljenimi deli raziskujejo pojmovanje plesa (in koreografije) kot razširjene prakse. Obravnavajo pa tudi vprašanja, povezana s postopkovnostjo, ki jo razumejo kot družbenopolitično ontologijo plesnih praks. Gibanje, predstavitve, razmerja in razporeditve teles so prizorišča odpora, ki spodkopava in razveljavlja operativno logiko (se pravi: proizvodnjo načrtovanega, preračunanega, izmerjenega, končnega izdelka, pomena ali pripovedi, vključno s koreografiranjem teles po gibalni partituri v skladu z logiko izvora/usode, narave/nujnosti, bistva/telosa). Na ta način plesna telesa postanejo sredstvo brez cilja, procesi in geste v porajanju, ki nam namesto skritega ali transcendentnega smisla razkrivajo predvsem svoja lastna nenehna prerazporejanja, postajanja, upiranja, skrajnosti in ponovne materializacije oziroma svetove, kakršne udejanjajo tako v izvedbi kot tudi v razmerjih. Tako plesoča telesa spodkopavajo politične režime in operativno logiko v teritorialnih kontekstih nekdanje Jugoslavije, saj prestopajo meje, se gibljejo po geopolitično zaznamovanih območjih, širijo okvire telesnih in spolnih norm, utripajo v neukrotljivem ritmu poželenja, materializirajo nove kolektivne oblike sobivanja ter izzivajo pravila estetike in njenih delitev.
Razstava Ples, upor (neiz)delovanje želi posredovati sodobni ples, ki obravnava potencialnost in materialnost telesa, izhajajoči iz njegovih stikov s političnimi, družbenimi, gospodarskimi, okoljskimi in drugimi domenami. Telo je v stanju nenehne potencialnosti, gre za agonistično telo, ki se na novo opredeljuje in razvija v razmerjih (tudi do samega sebe).
Razstava je bila prvotno na ogled v Muzeju sodobne umetnosti v Zagrebu. Postavitev v Ljubljani je bila modificirana in je vključevala še instalacijo Trideset let lepote, znoja in žuljev, ki je obeležila trideset let delovanja Društva za sodobni ples Slovenije. Vključevala je video intervjuje, arhivsko gradivo, raziskave in publikacije, ki jih hrani Začasni slovenski plesni arhiv. Obeležila je tri desetletja delovanja društva in obravnavala razvoj, skupna prizadevanja in dosežke sodobnega plesa..
DANCING, RESISTING, (UN)WORKING - ASPECTS OF DANCE AS CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND ART WORK IN YUGOSLAVIA AND AFTER
Exhibition
Zagreb, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2024
Ljubljana, +MSUM, 2025
On 1 January 2025, the project partners entered a new stage of collective work in collaboration with European partners: the European Research Executive Agency awarded them funding for the project “DanceMap: Innovation Pathways and Policies to Promote European Dance Heritage at Home and Abroad” under the HORIZON Innovation Actions Grant program.
Not intended as some final act or a one-off presentation of materials, the exhibition constitutes a part of a continuous process, a step towards curatorial articulations of a variety of thematic focal points definable and accessible through this archival network. The exhibition is one of the versions of an ever-changing work-in-progress, illuminating the materials and the relationships among them in the gradual growth of the archive. It has more potentialities than conclusions, and is the result of several methodological decisions underpinned by the fact that the contexts represented by the partners involved in the work are both similar and quite distinct.
The partners think of the archive as a living and evolving form of public dance time, which is (or can be) performed as an intersection of numerous spaces, memories, knowledge, history, presence, future, friendships, strategies, politics, resistance, flexibility, love, hostility, silence, protests, disagreements, sociability, association, and many other things embodied, recorded, maintained, and produced by dance through forms of imagination. With the aid of the archive of dance, the partners in the project reflect on the aesthetic that separates their dance contexts, limiting them primarily to theatrical products and kinetic differences that have never been focal to their shared interests. Instead, they have focused their efforts on the field of dance closely linked to art, culture, society and politics from the very beginning. In addition to the aesthetic aspect, the field of dance-related activity – or rather, work – seems highly inclusive, comprehensive, solidary, demanding, and collective. Dancing, Resisting, (Un)Working – Aspects of Dance as Cultural, Political and Art Work in Yugoslavia and After broaches themes of (1) choreographing feminism, gender, and desire as forms of body politics; (2) formations, relations, and interventions as forms of community associations; (3) borderline and transgressive dance in media beyond the physical; and (4) a general perspective of dance in defiance.
Through the presented works, the curators explore the concept of dance (and choreography) as an extended practice. They also address issues related to processuality, which is seen as the socio-political ontology of dance practices. The movement, representations, relations, and arrangements of bodies are scenes of resistance undermining and abolishing operational logic (i.e., the production of a planned, calculated, measured finished product, meaning, or narrative, including the choreography of bodies according to a movement notation in accordance with the logic of origin/fate, nature/necessity, essence/telos). In this way, dance bodies become a means without an end, processes and gestures in-becoming, revealing, rather than some hidden, transcendental meaning, their own incessant rearrangements, pauses, resistances, extremes, and re-materializations or the worlds they embody both in the performance and the relationships they are in. In this way, dancing bodies undermine political regimes and the operative logic in territorial contexts of the former Yugoslavia, since they cross borders, move through geopolitically charged areas, push the limits of physical and gender norms, pulsate in the untamable rhythm of desire, materialize new collective forms of coexistence, and challenge the rules of aesthetics and its divisions.
The exhibition Dancing, Resisting, (Un)Working aims to present contemporary dance that addresses the potentialities and materiality of the body, deriving from its interactions with the spheres of politics, society, economy, the environment and others. The body is in a state of perpetual potentiality – it is an agonistic body, redefining itself and evolving in relation to others (and also itself).
The first edition of the exhibition was staged at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. The Ljubljana edition was modified and included the installation Thirty Years of Beauty, Sweat, and Blisters, which commemorated the thirty years of the Contemporary Dance Association of Slovenia, and video interviews and archival and research materials and publications kept by the Temporary Slovenian Dance Archive. It presented the three decades of work of the Association and the development of – and collective efforts and achievements in – contemporary dance.