The Muzeum Institute, which decisively contributed to the introduction of visual arts and contemporary dance into Slovenian performing arts in the 1990s , celebrates its 30th anniversary. On this occasion, a publication entitled Theatre as a Museum has been co-published by the Slovenian Theatre Institute and the Muzeum Institute, led by the director, producer and curator Barbara Novakovič. The exhibition Arhiv furioso accompanies the release of the publication, engulfing the performative oeuvre of the Muzeum Theatre in years 1994–2024.
"Looking back establishes a field of anchors and thought gradually assembles them into familiar images. Imprinted in a thousand pieces, the images travel to their starting point – memory. The objective world outlines the sensory direction of consciousness and paves the way for meaning in relation to the infinity of numbers, steps, feelings, gestures and words."
Barbara Novakovic, from the book Theatre as a Museum
The extensive book, spanning over 500 pages, draws on the Muzeum Theatre's rich, extensive archive of documents and references, and the photographic material – the book includes 313 photographs and sketches – is the work of numerous, 41 photographers to be exact. The whole encompasses a precise inventory and an encyclopedic, impressive in scope collection of the Muzeum Institute's performance (theatre and dance), exhibition and publishing opus. Given the changed times, context and symptoms of society, it is already possible to outline a synthesis. The authors' contributions in the publication (Dr. Blaž Lukan, Dr. Tomaž Toporišič, Jana Pavlič, Barbara Novakovič, Dr. Zala Dobovšek) follow the Muzeum Theatre phenomenon, initially a conceptual project that was (after the first performance Cricket in fist in 1994) is designed as a study of the relationships between image-word, space-time, movement-gesture, music – and the transformations of this stage aesthetics (aesthetic) and iconography, as revealed by the structure and, ultimately, the table of contents of the publication. The synthesis, which always also means a carefully considered selection, was prepared by Barbara Novakovič.
