Aggressive Theatre

Contact

Društvo za sodobne umetnosti Aggressive Theatre

Resljeva 20, SI-1000 Ljubljana

Aggressive Theatre is an association for contemporary arts founded by Andrej Grilc and Glorjana Veber in 2007 with 16 other members of the collective. The association is based in Ljubljana but the authors perform their work throughout the country and abroad. The socially sensitive group of artists questions the social and cultural aspects of modern society. Aggressive Theatre's work is not aimed against the classical representations of art, rather at upgrading the existing art spaces and trying to work in the non-institutionalised sphere.

In 2007 a new initiative Institute for innovative arts research IRIU developed out of Aggressive Theatre.

The word aggressive, deriving from the Latin word ag-gredior, stands for "getting close, to act, to attack". The members of the association understand the word "attack" in its positive meaning, especially when they deal with the implementation of somewhat unusual practises in the field of art as they describe their work themselves. Driven by an artistic need to change the society they try to implement their action in different fields of art: performing arts (theatre, street theatre, performance), visual art and communications (installations, works of fine arts) and literature (poetry, prose, dramatic pieces, literary evening, competitions, ex tempore).

Projects

Recent activities by Aggressive Theatre include a Competition for Young Poetry, the international project Goli Otok, and the Mobile Mosque / مسجد المحمول, an installation of an all-in-one portable Islamic suitcase containing all the necessary items for constantly migrating Muslims. So far they have collaborated with several institutions and associations, among others also interdisciplinary art association Studio osem from Ljubljana.

Among the projects that have caused the most media attention is the intervention Acute Art in July 2009 in which the group took over the exhibition by Viktor Bernik at Mala Gallery where the artist was exhibiting only empty walls inside the gallery space 24 hours a day. The group occupied the exhibition by installing Andrej Grilc's work Equivalentis which featured framed test tubes containing blood samples taken from individuals of different ethnic backgrounds, religious faiths, etc. The intervention questioned not only the use of public space but also the discrimination of the individual.

See also

• Institute for innovative arts research IRIU

External links

• Article about Aggressive Theatre in Dnevnik Newspaper (in Slovenian)
• Review in the Mladina Magazine Call P for Poetry about installation by Aggressive Theatre (in Slovenian)
• Description of Viktor Bernik exhibition at Mala Gallery
• Review of Acute Art in Delo newspaper (in Slovenian)
• Pictures of Equivalentis by Andrej Grilc at Celeste Network