Museum Institute, who made a decisive contribution to the introduction of visual arts and contemporary dance into Slovenian performing arts in the 1990s, celebrates its 30th anniversaryIn addition, the Slovenian Theatre Institute and the Muzeum Institute co-published the book by director, producer and curator Barbara Novakovič. publication with a title Theatre as a Museum, ki jo je pospremila pregledna razstava Arhiv furioso.
"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.
Barbara Novakovic and the Museum
»Artistic signature of Barbara Novakovic, director, performer, producer and curator, has always been recognized in the Slovenian art scene as subversive, rich in references, humanistically focused and at the same time based on analytical knowledge of Slovenian and world art history. She has always stepped onto the scene in her own rhythm and with themes that, despite their historical relevance for contemporary times, often represented a risk and, so to speak, the "edge of the invisible", which, due to the complexity of the material, could not always be reflected on immediately, but only showed its influence over time. Her constant and close connection with the institute Museum, which she founded in 1996, she established a permanent but constantly evolving idea of infiltrating art history throughout her theatrical work and vice versa. On the Slovenian performance scene, she was also synonymous with "philosophical theater", which, as a concept creator and author of performances, she understands in an extremely complex and interdisciplinary way. Philosophical implications, which are evident in both approaches to content and performance formats, enter her expressions in a layered manner, on the one hand textually (literally), on the other as a substance, a kind of ineffable atmosphere. Philosophy as a raw reality, as a hard word, but at the same time also as a constantly present but invisible ring around our existences - on stage and in the audience.
The astonishingly extensive oeuvre of Barbara Novakovič and the Muzeum Institute reveals its political nature not only at the level of content or format, but is also reflected in the duality of the persistence of "women in the non-governmental sector", where hierarchies are duplicated, and vulnerability and (occasional) uncertainties can extend not only to the space of creation, but also to existence. It is also necessary to highlight the interdisciplinarity of her work, which has constantly moved between the visual (art history, material theatre), the performing (theatre, movement) and the philosophical (theoretical). The latter is read from an external perspective as a territory of specific inter-genre research, but we must not forget that the transition between different areas or artistic fields is still quite demanding; due to the combination of different aesthetic fields, it is necessary to constantly question the mechanisms, logic and even the obviousness of the other field and optimally place them in one's own language and expressive goal. "To put it very simply: we are not aware of the privilege of a common frame of reference until we step out of it and into another. Perhaps only then does the research truly begin. In fact, this is where the fundamental seeds of the experiment lie."
Zala Dobovšek, PhD, dramaturge, theatrologue
Theatre as a Museum
Documents of the Slovenian Theatre Institute, Volume LXII, No. 108
Published by: Slovenian Theatre Institute, Ljubljana, represented by: Gašper Troha
The book was co-published with the Muzeum Institute, an institute for artistic production, mediation and publishing, Ljubljana, represented by: Barbara Novakovič
Editors: Primož Jesenko, Barbara Novakovič
Photographers: Igor Andjelić, Urška Boljkovac, Jeff Bickert, Bojan Brecelj, Miha Erman, Tjaša Gnezda, Mojca Gorjan, Dejan Habicht, Nika Hölcl Praper, Leonora Jakovljević, JAŠA, Aleksandra Kajbič, Egon Kaše, Žiga Koritnik, Iztok Kurnik, Andrej Lamut, Matija Lukić, Kata Molnár, Mare Mutić, Rok Oman, Matevž Paternoster, Marko Pleterski, Katja Rosa, Uroš Rustja, Nejc Saje, Bojan Salaj, Janez Skobe, Tone Stojko, Barbara Stupica, Matic Sonnenwald, Jože Suhadolnik, Miha Škerlep, Darja Štravs Tisu, Margareta Tomić, Atej Tutta, Peter Uhan, Aleksandra Vajd, Petra Veber, Sandra Vrh, Denis Zupan, Nada Žgank
Sketches, drawings and models: Aljoša Kolenc, Nina Dešman, Vlatka Ljubanović, Barbara Stupica, Jaka Šimenc, Uroš Rustja, son:DA, Saša Vale, Urša Vidic, Elica Georgieva, Barbara Novakovič, Petra Petan, Dana Čuk and Valentin Dowhyj
Selection of visual material and index: Barbara Novakovič
Archive cards: Helena Pivec, Barbara Novakovič
Slovenian Language Editing: Andraž Polončič Ruparčič
Translation and language editing of the English summary: Jana Renée Wilcoxen
Design and preparation for printing: Dana Čuk, Vlatka Ljubanović
We would like to thank Gašper Troha, Aljoša Dobovišek, Dana and Luka Kašet, Andrej Ovsec, Renata Šolar,
Ana Kolenc, Meta Kojc, Matej Filipčič, Maret Mutić and Mojca Gorjan.
The publication of the book was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.