Yearbook of the Independent Performing Arts Scene in Serbia - TkH

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Treading the alternative path in Serbia means giving up luxury andmany privileges enjoyed by the full-time employees on public budgets.Nevertheless, independent position grants the independent artist greaterfreedom of thought and expression.If we monitor events on both theatre scenes (namely: mainstream theatreand alternative theatre) we inevitably reach a conclusion that institutionscling to ‘established values’, treating issues of reality with theatre conventionsof realism. On the other side, there is the Other Scene. Artists whoconstantly re-examine universally accepted aesthetic and social models,bravely trod the spaces where mainstream theatre does not dare enter.Simply speaking, it seems that mainstream theatre holds artistic monopolyover the questions of history. Alternative theatre, however, questions thehere-and-now. It is there not to guard, but to inform the history of theatre.Future history or contemporary discourses as different perspectives forobserving phenomena of the present.These two scenes are not mutually exclusive. Moreover, it could be claimedthat each depends on and determines the other. As already said, alternativeas a term and concept can be defined only in relation to tradition.However, tradition is sustainable only if countered by a strong alternativescene.Every other position would seem narrow-minded, totalizing and exclusive,because art, more that any other intellectual or sensuous human pursuit,demands openness to different perspectives of viewing of and reflection onreality.Alternative theatre can exist only in a society with a clearly defined mainstream.In the context of this claim, of certain interest is the fact that thealternative theatre in Serbia was more rapidly and ‘smoothly’ adopted inplaces abounding with cultural-artistic mainstream. On the map of the theatrealternative in our country, it is precisely cities with a larger mainstreamcultural output that stand out.More than thirty alternative theatre groups and artists operate in Belgrade.The larger part of the alternative scene in Novi Sad comprises five or sixexperimental theatre (self)organizations favoring new models of theatreproduction. In smaller towns, alternative theatres exist merely as exceptionsto the rule, and only when they are somehow connected to thecultural and artistic currents in these two cities. To back up this claim, Ishall mention the commune and theatre company Porodica bistrih potoka(Clear Streams Family), operating in the village of Brezovica on the Rudnikmountain. It is merely the geographical setting that largely determinestheir aesthetics, called the “aesthetics of wildism”. Wild and revolution-r a s [15]t e r
ary “forest artists” nevertheless exhibit their art in Belgrade and NoviSad. PBP have no artistic influence whatsoever on their local communityof Gornji Milanovac. The peasants look at them in wonder. Their lifestyle,inextricably linked to their art, meets reception only in big towns. If youask the people of Gornji Milanovac, they will mostly refer to PBP as a “dangeroussect” or a “bunch of lunatics gathered around that freak (BožidarMandić)”. In the Belgrade cultural habitat, PBP enjoy different acclaim. Theyperform in grand theatres and cultural institutions, championed by manyrelevant theatre scholars and practitioners (for example, Jovan Ćirilov,founder and selector of the Bitef Festival and one of the most influentialfigures in Serbian theatre). Ćirilov calls them, theoretically justified, “theSerbian Living Theatre”… And, indeed, being a company functioning quiteextraordinarily, trying to live in harmony with imperatives of ecology andnature, far from alienation, high-tech gadgets and the modern society, andpossessed by their commitment to cultural-political revolution of the late60s, PBP represent a unique phenomenon on the alternative theatre andartistic scene in Serbia. In their home, every August, they host a festival ofecologic theatre called Šumes. So, for few days in the year, they manage tomove the hub of alternative theatre life from Belgrade and Novi Sad to theforests on Mount Rudnik. However, the only audience of this festival mainlycomprises its participants. In its theatre-historical context, PBP’s creativework closely relates to the notions of avant-garde. In that sense, Šumes isthe most alternative of all alternative festivals in Serbia. It functions independentlyfrom any budget or institution, propelled only by the enthusiasmand energy of its supporters.Pančevo is a small town, drafted in big letters on the map of the alternativetheatre Serbia. It is only 15 km away from Belgrade. In spatial terms,the town of Pančevo lies closer to downtown Belgrade than many of itsremote suburbs. However, there are two reasons why this community willnever be Belgrade-governed. Although Pančevo is in every way connectedto Belgrade, it cherishes a quite ‘indigenous’ cultural history and tradition,in many respects more advanced than Belgrade’s, especially during the XIXcentury. On the other hand, Pančevo is notoriously famous for being themost polluted place in Serbia. Oil refinery, fertilizer company “Azotara”and other Pančevo-based industries, do not ‘closely’ follow modern ecologicaldemands. Therefore, in Pančevo, almost every day, sirens for generalenvironmental alarm are due to be at work. Poisoned Pančevo consequentlypoisons Belgrade. However, as long as Pančevo maintains its independentadministration, Belgrade perceives the environmental collapse as being“somewhere else”, that it “happens to others” and that “there’s no reason
Page 2 and 3: Belgrade, january 2009.
Page 4 and 5: Yearbook of the Independent Perform
Page 6: project directory[44/45][46/47][48/
Page 9 and 10: changed when compared to the situat
Page 11 and 12: powerful institutional resources, a
Page 13 and 14: supporting fresh and emerging criti
Page 15: In alternative terms one could addr
Page 19 and 20: The impact of the Bitef Festival, a
Page 21 and 22: about is total absence of public th
Page 23 and 24: What was common to Yugoslav retro-a
Page 25 and 26: and tactics of behavior and work wi
Page 27 and 28: Kolekcija 18 (2008), when he attemp
Page 29 and 30: tion and heteronormativization in t
Page 31 and 32: gies in live performances. Example
Page 33 and 34: × ana vujanovićNot Quite-Not Righ
Page 35 and 36: art, body art and happenings of the
Page 37 and 38: at the level of critical re-thinkin
Page 39 and 40: aspect: “Fostering Creativity”,
Page 41 and 42: now!” activity, and nearly anonym
Page 43 and 44: × × × × × × × × × × × ×
Page 45 and 46: In/Visible Cityphotography: Đorđe
Page 47 and 48: BLANKSPACE (Međuprostor)photograph
Page 49 and 50: CURVE FOR GAUSSphotography: www.haj
Page 51 and 52: knotphotography: Lidija Antonovićm
Page 53 and 54: photography: The Worstmudra theatre
Page 55 and 56: photography: Villa and Zapata in Pr
Page 57 and 58: AUDITION FOR PARADISEphotography: I
Page 59 and 60: ONE PIECE OF ADVICE - ONE BEERphoto
Page 61 and 62: TOUCHING - BREATHING - WALKINGphoto
Page 63 and 64: photography: Stanislav MilojkovićS
Page 65 and 66: photography: Srđan VeljovićtkhWAL
Page 67:
I CAN NOT LEAVE, BECAUSE...photogra
show all

Yearbook of the Independent Performing Arts Scene in Serbia - TkH

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?