Via Negativa

Established by the stage director Bojan Jablanovec in 2002 in Ljubljana, Via Negativa is an international platform for the research, development and production of contemporary performing arts. Focused on exploring different performing strategies, with an emphasis on the ethics and liveness of performance practices, procedures and genres, the open-type projects of Via Negativa range from devised theatre pieces, solo and lecture-performances to radical body practices and gallery projects.

Tonight I Celebrate by VIANEGATIVAtheatre on YouTube

Performance cycles

The concept for Via Negativa evolved out of a need to re-examine the ideas, meanings and explanations that underpin theatrical production and to challenge the dominant production models and normative standards of making theatre. Understanding theatre as a principle of communication rather than aestheticisation, Via Negativa is known for applying a method of reduction in exploring the relationship between the performer and the spectator, which is conceptualised as a complex flow of expectations, judgments, stereotypes, fallacies and prejudices, which trigger various emotional, rational or irrational responses.

Collaborating with a range of established and emerging makers, Via Negativa has been developing its work through the following performance cycles:

Seven Deadly Sins

The cycle (2002–2008) was dedicated to the negative drives of life as the basic dynamic of subjectivity and was developed within the thematic framework of the seven deadly sins. It resulted in seven performances, including Incasso (2005), which received a special jury award at the 11th INFANT International Festival Novi Sad in 2005.

Via Nova

This performance cycle (2009–2011) reflected on the relationship between creation and destruction, theory and practice, copy and original, presence and absence, and value and price, and featured small format projects, mainly solos or duets, among them also the solo piece by Marko Mandić MandićMachine (2011), which was awarded by the Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia, at the Slovene Festival of Chamber Theatre (SKUP), and at the INFANT International Festival in Novi Sad. The performance-exhibition Via Nova Museum received the Audience Award for Best Performance at the 2009 edition of Eẋ Ponto International Festival.

Irresolvable

The latest of Via Negativa's cycles (2012–ongoing) addresses the utopian foundations of modern society, ideas such as justice, freedom and equality, which are the subject of permanent ideological manipulations and irresolvable social tensions.

For more about Via Negativa's projects see below.

Via Negativa regularly presents its work at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station (initially also at Mini Theatre and Glej Theatre in Ljubljana) and often collaborates with other institutions, for example, Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana, City of Women Festival, Pekinpah Association, Institute Maska, Sploh Institute, etc.

In cooperation with Bunker Institute, City of Women and Contemporary Dance Association Slovenia, Via Negativa also co-organises the series of public discussions titled "The Audience Council", aimed at encouraging reflection and the exchange of the audience's views.

VN Lab

The VN Lab is Via Negativa's laboratory for performance art, organised as a series of workshops intended for practitioners from the fields of performance art, theatre, dance, experimental research or body practices to explore the question of why and what to perform. Led by Bojan Jablanovec, Katarina Stegnar and Gregor Zorc and following the method of self-staging, developed on the basis of Via Negativa's creative practice, besides developing individual participant's creative processes, the workshops often result in performance pieces that are presented to the public. The VN Lab is organised in collaboration with Bunker Institute.

International co-operation

Via Negativa uses workshops to develop a model for the international production of contemporary theatre works that would not be driven by the logic of limiting the number of permanent members. Including international teams of performers, Via Negativa has produced work in collaboration with University of Zagreb – Student Centre – Teatar &TD; the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre Zadar Snova; Kampnagel, Hamburg; Eurokaz, Zagreb; the Croatian National Theatre Opera Zagreb; Oblivia, Helsinki; Maat Festival, Lublin; JaJaJa NeNeNe Association, Warsaw; Forum Freies Theater, Düsseldorf; Tanzhaus nrw, Dusseldorf; etc.

Via Negativa performances have been presented at various international festivals, such as the Venice Biennial; the Contemporary Drama Festival Budapest; the International Festival Perforacije Dubrovnik; the International Festival of New Theatre Eurokaz; Es.terni Festival – International Festival of Contemporary Creation; Desiree International Theatre Festival Subotica; Fabrik Potsdam; Sacred Homelands Festival, UK; Electro Camp Festival, Venice; Infant Festival; Mladi levi Festival; Exodos International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts; etc.

External links

Gallery

Invalid solo performance by Primož Bezjak, directed by Bojan Jablanovec, produced by Via Negativa, Mladi levi Festival, Bunker Institute, 2010

Via Negativa

Contents