Amfiteater Journal of Performing Arts Theory International Academic Symposium

Connecting Avant-Gardes and Theatre: How to Revolutionise the Relationship between the Periphery and the Centre

9–11 October 2024, on the premises of the Slovenian Theatre Institute

 

In the framework of the research programme Theatre and Interart Studies (P6-0376), the research group at the University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television – in cooperation with Amfiteater journal, the Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI) and the Slovenian Society of Aesthetics – presents the international academic symposium, featuring contributions from over 25 experts and artists from Slovenia and abroad. The symposium aims to map various geographical and historical attempts to revolutionise the relationship between the periphery and the centre in Europe and beyond. Discussions will focus on the historical avant-gardes in the 1920s, the neo-avant-gardes in the 1960s and 1970s, the post-avant-gardes around the turn of the millennium and contemporary radical performance art after 2000.

The symposium will examine whether, in different national, political and aesthetic contexts, the neo-avant-gardes and post-avant-gardes, as well as contemporary activist and engaged arts, have revived fundamental ideas from constructivist, futurist, expressionist, surrealist, suprematist and other utopian visions.

Some of the topics that we will be addressing:

• How do we conceptualise the European theatrical avant-garde from today’s perspective?

• In what ways have avant-gardes resisted the asymmetry of international artistic forces and revolutionised the relationship between periphery and centre, both historically and in contemporary contexts?

• What is the current state of research on Eastern European and Central European avant-gardes?

• Has the map of European theatrical avant-gardes shifted significantly in recent decades? How and to what extent?

• What about the autonomy of art in the relationship between the avant-garde and society?

• How are the aesthetic avant-gardes connected to social movements as well as the past, present and future?

We invite theatre researchers, practitioners, students, and interested individuals to join us in sharing their perspectives at the international academic symposium that will take place in Ljubljana. The working languages of the symposium will be Slovenian and English.

 

PROGRAMME

Wednesday, 9 October 2024

13.30: Opening of the symposium
prof. mag. Žanina Mirčevska, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana
dr. Gašper Troha, Slovenian Theatre Institute

14.00
Plenary lecture
Aleksandra Jovičević: Where Do You Come From?

14.40: discussion

15.00: coffee break

15.15
First session
Moderator: Gašper Troha

Hanna Veselovska: From Generation to Generation: Avant-garde and Neo-Avant-garde Visionaries of the Ukrainian Theatre

Kristina Pranjić: Decentring the Avant-Garde and the Yugo-Dada Network

Mojca Puncer: The Noordung Project and the Care of Avant-Garde Heritage: Changing the Relationship Between Periphery and Centre

16.15: discussion

16.30: coffee break

17.00
Second session
Moderator: Maja Murnik

Valentyna Chechyk: Avant-Garde Scenography of Ukraine: Vadym Meller’s Version

Narvika Bovcon, Aleš Vaupotič: Did the Avant-Garde Become Materialised in New Media? Techno-Performance and Socialisation

Tery Žeželj: Ephemeral Practices of the Periphery: Bogdanka Poznanović’s Artistic Practice and Networking Through the Perspective of the River

18.00: discussion

18.30: coffee break

18.45–19.30
Panel: book presentation
Polona Tratnik (ed.): The European Avant-Garde – A Hundred Years Later (Brill, 2024)

Thursday, 10 October 2024

09.30
Plenary lecture
Dariusz Kosiński: Performing a Hermitage: Jerzy Grotowski’s Tactics of Periphery-Centre Policy

10.10: discussion

10.20: Book presentation:
Dariusz Kosiński (ed.): A Lexicon of the Central-Eastern European Interwar Theatre Avant-Garde (Perfomance Research Books, 2024)

10.45: coffee break

11.00
Third session
Moderator: Tomaž Toporišič

Lada Čale Feldman: Exalted Periphery: The Confusing Case of the Lero Student Theatre in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Valentina Hribar Sorčan: Atmosphere in Avant-Garde Theatre

Ana Kocjančič: The Reflections of Modern Art Movements and Theatrical Historical Avant-Gardes in the Scenography of Vasily Ulyanischchev at the Professional Theatres in Slovenia

12.00: discussion

12.15–13.30: lunch break

13.30
Fourth session
Moderator: Barbara Orel

Knut Ove Arntzen: From the Historical to the Post-Avant-Garde in Norway and Scandinavia, 1920–2010

Maja Murnik: The Issue of Space in Post-Avant-Garde Art: A Discussion of Several Examples

Nika Leskovšek: Towards War and Violence and Away: A Violent Echoing of the (Historical) Avant-Gardes in Yugoslav Performing Arts and Their Alternatives in Feminist Performance Art

14.30: discussion

15.00: coffee break

15.15
Fifth session
Moderator: Gašper Troha

Barbara Orel: Fran Žižek’s Independent Theatre: A Dialogue with the Prague Avant-garde

Nenad Jelesijević: The Avant-Garde Exotic

Samo Oleami: How We Went Looking for the Neo-Avant-Garde and Missed It

16.15: discussion

16.30: coffee break

17.00
Sixth session
Moderator: Aldo Milohnić

Darko Štrajn: Discontinuity, Disruption and Subversion as Theatrical Gestures

Lela Angela Mršek Bajda: The Avant-Garde and Subculture in the Subversion of the Periphery and the Centre

Gašper Troha: Peter Božič and the Question of the Authentic Theatre Avant-Garde in Slovenia in the Second Half of the 20th Century

18.00: discussion

18.30: coffee break

19.00: final discussion of the second day

Friday, 11 October 2024

09.30
Plenary lecture
Tomaž Toporišič: How to Revolutionise the Periphery-Centre Relationship: Three Historical Avant-Garde Cycles Between East, West, South and North

10.10: discussion

10.30: coffee break

10.45
Seventh session
Moderator: Jakob Ribič

Krištof Jacek Kozak: The Fatal Woman of Slovenian Dramatic Modernism

Sanita Duka: Flânerie as a Strategy for Transmitting Revolutionary Ideas of Avant-Gardes: Creative Co-Authorship by Asja Lācis and Walter Benjamin

Petra Ježková: Scrapbook of One of Them as an Original Source of Research on the Czech Theatre Avant-Garde

Aldo Milohnić: Vaclav Vlček, Lidija Wisiak and Prampolini’s Futurist Theatre

12.00: discussion

12.30: final discussion of the symposium

 

 

Head of the symposium: Tomaž Toporišič

Organising committee: Tomaž Toporišič, Gašper Troha, Polona Tratnik, Aldo Milohnić, Barbara Orel and Maja Murnik

Symposium organisers:

The Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI) is a national public institution founded in 2014 as the legal successor of the National Theatre Museum of Slovenia, founded in 1952. SLOGI focuses on continuing the evolution of theatre culture at the national level and on raising awareness of theatre’s role and importance in developing society and individuals. SLOGI engages in collecting, preserving, documenting, researching, examining, interpreting, promoting and presenting Slovenian theatre culture, its heritage and contemporary theatre arts, both at the national and international levels.

The Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television of the University of Ljubljana (UL AGRFT) performs educational, artistic and research work in the fields of theatre, radio, film and television. From its founding in 1945 to 1975, it operated as an independent higher education institution with a rector and then became a member of the University of Ljubljana.

Amfiteater – Journal of Performing Arts Theory is a scientific journal that publishes original articles on performing arts, covering a broad spectrum of subjects, including dramatic theatre, drama, dance, performance, and hybrid art forms. Authors can analyse the forms and content of artwork and art phenomena from the field of performing arts, their history, their present and their future, as well as their relationship to other art forms and broader (social, cultural, political …) contexts.

The Slovenian Society of Aesthetics was established in 1983. The organisation focuses on research into avant-garde formations in culture, its main theoretical references. It is a member of the International Association for Aesthetics (IAA/AIE) and organises regular international colloquia.

The symposium is organised in cooperation with the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana (UL AGRFT) within the framework of the research programme Theatre and Interart Studies (project no. P6-0376), co-financed by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) from the state budget.