Bunker Institute

Dance performance A Quick Story by Sanja Nešković Peršin and Branko Potočan, Bunker Institute production performed at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station, 2004.

Established in 1997, Bunker is a non-profit organization for the realization and organization of cultural events. It produces and presents contemporary theatre and dance performances, organizes different workshops and other educational programmes, carries out various research methods in the field of culture, and brings together one of the most noted international festivals, the Mladi levi Festival.

The aim of Bunker is to refresh and invigorate the Slovene cultural space with innovative approaches. It encourages the mobility of artists and their works both in Slovenia and abroad and promotes the intertwining of different art disciplines. It creates a space that allows the exchange of experiences, knowledge, and interests among artists and various audiences. Bunker tries to stimulate discussions regarding various artistic practices and subjects and to create artistic programmes and events that reflect upon topical social, ecological, political, and cultural issues.

In 2004, Bunker was awarded the management of the Old Power Station in Ljubljana during the public tender period initiated by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia. The programme in the Stara elektrarna consists of theatre and dance performance productions, in an educational manner and strictly performance based. Besides this, the Bunker Institute is hosting other festivals, concerts, and various interdisciplinary events and actively collaborates with numerous artists, theatres, festivals, and networks within Slovenia and abroad.

Flanders - Balkan Express Caravan Meeting, Ljubljana by Bunker Ljubljana on Vimeo

Stara Elektrarna venue

Since 2004, Bunker has been running the performing arts venue Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station in Ljubljana. The programme consists of theatre and dance performance production, concerts, educational activities, and presentations of different art projects.

Production

In its productions, Bunker focuses on works that employ innovative approaches, intertwine different art disciplines, as well as offer reflections on topical cultural, political and social issues.

Besides producing works by different performing arts and dance makers, Bunker has recently been producing research-based works that respond to global issues, such as migrations, ecological awareness etc., in collaboration with international artists.

In the period 1999–2014, Bunker was the producer of the physical theatre group Betontanc. Since 2016, it has been managing its spin-off project Beton Ltd.

Festivals

Since 1998, Bunker has been organising the annual international festival of theatre and dance Mladi levi. Taking place at the end of summer, the festival showcases groups and artists with distinctive and original ideas and disciplines from all over the world.

Together with the Second Grammar School in Maribor, in 2002, Bunker co-organised the first Drugajanje Festival, which aims to affirm contemporary dance and theatre art among youth audiences with a programme of performances, workshops, and lectures.

Educational activities

Bunker has been running the pilot project of cultural education Theatre Playground that seeks to bring contemporary theatre to schools all over Slovenia and engage participating pupils and students not only as consumers of art but also as creative producers.

Performance Before Your Very Eyes by Gob Squad & CAMPO (Great Britain, Germany), Mladi levi Festival, 2011

International projects

Bunker has a long history of participating in various international cooperation and collaboration projects which have garnered support from different funding programmes of the European Commission (see the list of projects with links to descriptions in the right-hand column). It is (or has been) a member of the following international networks: Junge Hunde, Theorem, International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM) and its satellite subgroup Balkan Express, and Danse Bassin Mediterranéen – DBM.

Bunker is part of the Create to Connect -> Create to Impact (CtC -> CtI) project, a Creative Europe-supported joint effort of 15 European arts and research partners from 13 European countries to create powerful and long-lasting connections of artists, cultural operators, researchers, and audience and develop contemporary theatre activities with an aesthetic, political, and social impact.

Besides participating in or leading numerous international projects, Bunker also organises international discursive forums and discussion evenings.

External Links

Projects

Current and past international collaborations on Bunker website

Gallery

The opening of the Mladi levi Festival in Old Power Station. Author: Nada Žgank

Performance Trans-Plant by Luka Martin Škof and Nika Švab at Old Power Station, 2020. Author: Nada Žgank

Theatrical essay Circle, created by Neja Tomšič, that intertwines storytelling, visual art, architecture, and sociological research, 2022. Author: Nada Žgank

Performance Human Territory by Slovenian artist Gregor Zorc, taking place at the Sports Society Tabor, Mladi levi Festival, 2023. Author: Nada Žgank

Performance Duos by Czech artistic group Temporary Collective at the Mladi levi Festival in 2023. Author: Nada Žgank

Performance Unending Love, or Love Dies, On Repeat Like It’s Endless, performed by Aaa Biczysko and Beverly D. Renekouzou at Mladi levi Festival in 2023. Author: Nada Žgank

Primož Bezjak, Katarina Stegnar, and Branko Jordan from collective Beton Ltd. in their performance Grosse Erwartungen. Author: Nada Žgank

Primož Bezjak, Branko Jordan, and Katarina Stegnar from collective Beton Ltd. in their performance Grosse Erwartungen. Author: Nada Žgank

Primož Bezjak and Branko Jordan from Beton Ltd. collective in their first production SO FAR AWAY: Introduction to Ego-logy, produced by Bunker Institute in 2010. Author: Urška Boljkovac

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

Alma R. Selimović, development manager of Bunker Institute, 2017.

Za Narodovo Zdravje, zabavna monodrama.

Dance performance The Lost Songs at Drugajanje festival, Maribor 2022. Author: Janez Klenovšek

The project Still Unknown at Drugajanje Festival, Maribor 2022. Author: Janez Klenovšek

The project Still Unknown at Drugajanje Festival, Maribor 2022. Author: Janez Klenovšek

The project Still Unknown at Drugajanje Festival, Maribor 2022. Author: Janez Klenovšek

Audience at the Mladi levi Festival, Old Power Station. Author: Nada Žgank

The international theatre co-production Fun Fact, created in collaboration between the Beton Ltd. collective and Estonian theatre Kanuti Gildi SAAL, premiered in 2023. Author: Ivian Kan Mujezinović

Lea Kukovič's project FORSALE, a conceptual artwork radicalizing the economics of theatre and providing an answer to the question of the value of theatre performances today, Old Power Station, 2021. Author: Nada Žgank

Mare Bulc's participatory mono performance The First Altruistic Performance at Mladi levi Festival in 2018. Author: Nada Žgank

Performance Sakhozi says NON to the Venus in Plasticization by Nelisawe Xaba (Republic of South Africa), Mladi levi Festival, 2011

Nijinsky Siam choreography, artistic direction and set design by Pichet Klunchun (Thailand),Mladi levi Festival, 2010

Performance Before Your Very Eyes by Gob Squad & CAMPO (Great Britain, Germany), Mladi levi Festival, 2011

Dance performance A Quick Story by Sanja Nešković Peršin and Branko Potočan, Bunker Institute production performed at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station, 2004.

Façade of the Old Power Station. Author: Nada Žgank

Old Power Station at night. Author: Nada Žgank

Bunker Institute

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