Kulturno društvo B-51
Lepi pot 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Phone386 (0) 1 426 9405, 386 (0) 41 200 390
B-51 Cultural Society
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Founded in 1992, B-51 Cultural Society (KUD B-51) emerged as a follow-up to Club B-51, a venture of a group of young students engaged in alternative culture in the 1980s, which was located in a renovated underground shelter at Gerbičeva Street 51b. Since its inception, B-51 Cultural Society has been engaged in the development, organisation, and promotion of contemporary art and culture, mostly as a producer of performing arts works and also as an exhibition organiser. However, B-51 is most recognised as the organiser of the Eẋ Ponto International Festival in Ljubljana. In the decade 2002–2012 it organised the Kluže Ambient Festival at the Kluže Fortress near Bovec.
B-51 (Eẋ Ponto) is a member of the New European Theatre Action (NETA) and since November 2007 the seat of the NETA Secretariat. In 2015 has started the BeSpectACTive multi annual project, a European network for the active spectatorship, initiated by 12 organisations, B-51 Cultural Society among them.
International co-productions
B-51 Cultural Society is primarily active in the area of production and post-production of performing arts works (mostly co-productions) and international cooperation. Besides producing one of the most distinguished international festivals in the wider region, the Eẋ Ponto International Festival, the society regularly enters international co-productions with foreign producers and festivals, which appear or even première at the festival. Thus, the 2009 performance Cassandra [Kasandra], co-produced by Festival Teuta – New Ancient Theatre, Monte Negro; Festival MOT, Macedonia; Festival Infant and Serbian National Theatre Novi Sad, Serbia, opened the 2009 Ex Ponto Festival in Slovenia, after appearing at the co-producing festivals.
B-51 co-productions prove to be interesting not only because of international casts or collaborators, but primarily because they result in some unexpected connections. Such was the case in the 2007 performance Life in the Shadow of the Banana Plant [Življenje v senci bananovca], dealing with the bitter reality of life in former socialist countries as a consequence of their transition to a market economy, written by Ivan Vidić, one of Croatia's most intriguing playwrights, and directed by the Lithuanian director Cezaris Graužinis, who studied under the famous Japanese theatre director Tadashi Suzuki. The production was also an experiment in direction, as the version of the performance presented at Eẋ Ponto Festival included both Slovene and Croatian casts, i.e., employed both languages at the same time and in the same place. However, both casts may also perform independently, each its own version. The performance was a co-production of B-51 Cultural Society, Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Virovitica Theatre, Croatia, and the Neighbours Festival, Poland.
In 2007 B-51 also co-produced together with Laboratorio Nove and Intercity Festival, Italy, and Theatre Saint-Gervais, Switzerland, the performance At Some Point in Your Life, You Really Need to Quit Rubbish [Enkrat v življenju moraš prenehati z neumnostmi], written and directed by the Argentinian author Rodrigo Garcia, which tackles the issue of declining political dictatorships, which are being replaced by new types of dictates, particularly those founded on commercial economy, in conjunction with a contemporary society determined by political superpowers, and also a spectacle involving 40 actors, dancers, and a Roma brass band Tito – Certain Diagrams of Desire [Tito – izbrani diagrami hrepenenja] (2007), co-produced together with Kampnagel, Germany; MAG Culture and Experience, Macedonia; and Laboratorio Nove, Italy.
Slovene co-productions
B-51 Cultural Society also enters co-productions with Slovene producers, as in the reconstruction of the infamous performance from the 1960s by Pupilija Ferkeverk Theatre Pupilia, Papa Pupilo and the Pupilceks [Pupilija, Papa Pupilo pa Pupilčki] (2006), directed by Janez Janša, which was co-produced by Maska Institute, with Slovene National Theatre Maribor; in Copenhagen [Kopenhagen] by Michael Frayn, directed by Sebastijan Horvat, with Dance Theatre Ljubljana); and in Sort of a Syndrome [Nekakšen sindrom] (2006), choreographed by Sinja Ožbolt, based on the short story by the Slovene critic and writer Mojca Kumerdej.
International networking
B-51 coordinates the project "Rajvosa" (pig-Latin for "Sarajevo"), the aim of which is to provide information on cultural and other events coming from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in Slovenia.
See also
External links
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In spring 2016 Damir Domitrović (1963–2016), an art and culture activist, and a co-founder of B-51 Cultural Society, passed away. +
In spring 2016 Damir Domitrović (1963–2016), an art and culture activist, and a co-founder of B-51 Cultural Society, passed away. +
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