CITY OF WOMEN at FESTIVAL INTERAKCJE 2012

From the 7th to the 11th of May 2012, City of Women is presenting at Festival Interakcje, Galeria ODA, Piotrków Trybunalski / Poland

In 2008 we joined a multi-annual European project entitled A Space For Live Art with seven other international partners and Festival Interakcje is one of them as well. In May we are presenting two of our productions at the festival.

This year's, the 14th edition of International Festival Interakcje focuses on live art and has asked City of Women to present artists who work in the area of 'live art' and come from Slovenia or wider region. We selected two of our own productions (Milijana Babić and Lana Zdravković) and included perfromances of two other artists (Sandra Sterle and Siniša Labrović).

Lana Zdravković (Slovenija): XXX YU (Performance, 2011) / May 7th at 7 PM

What children of hate are being fed in this challenging performance? There is no doubt that this aims to reflect on the phenomenon of the war crimes of Yugoslavia through a gender perspective. Who, actually, did the breastfeeding of the war criminals? There are no punches pulled in familiar references; whether you choose to view this from Freudian, Jungian, Adler or Frankl psychoanalytical responses, you still have to answer the questions that echo the timeless

lessons from ancient Greek legends. But this is no myth and the reality of the horrors scream out. Oedipal themes uncomfortably force questions of blame and sin, and the viewer is left to address their own understanding of the succour of mankind, gender relations and the reality of the travesty of a war very much still in the hearts of many. This performance has been commissioned for City of Women 2011. (Predrag Pajdic)

Milijana Babić (Croatia): Santa (Public performance, 2004) / May 10th at 2 PM

In this project the performer is hidden beneath the familiar red and white costume, begging on the knees, in silence. Dropping coins into a Coca Cola can and in return, members of the audience are given a coloring-in drawing of Santa, with the message Colour me in and give me a name!

The already complex history of Santa Claus becomes even more questionable in post-socialist states such as Croatia and Slovenia, which have witnessed a complete transformation of this image. The previous atheist was reborn as a church lover, and his name was accordingly changed from a worldly one into a Christian one, while the time of his arrival moved from New Year back to Christmas.

The performance was originally made in 2004 as a response to the Christmas atmosphere in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and subsequently in Rijeka (Croatia).

Sandra Sterle (Croatia): Apparition of Virgin Mary (Multimedia performance, 2011) / May 10th at 6 PM

Sandra Sterle creates fantastic and enigmatic personas in her practice of video, media installation, web projects, photography and performance. For Sterle, the identity of the medium itself can be multiple, as she explores how the lives of ephemeral, process-oriented works of art are affected, and in some cases eluded, by sophisticated modes of documentation.

In the performance Apparition of the Virgin Mary, the artist, dressed as the figure of the Virgin Mary, stands on a postament made up of a pile of free supermarket catalogues, such as those we so frequently find in front of our doors. After descending from the postament, the artist spreads the catalogues around the floor and walks over them. The performance continues after the artist sits behind the computer and engages with the virtual character of the Virgin Mary in the game Second Life. The audience watches the projection on the wall...

“In the Middle and East European countries in transition, we have specific relations between religious icons and social aspects of capital accumulation. In many cities, new architecture often consists of new churches and huge shopping malls.

Escapism from these living conditions is directed towards massive use of new media communication technologies. Temporary, autonomous communication platforms are turning into a therapy/confessional technologism driven by the rules of social and economic control.” (Sandra Sterle)

Siniša Labrović (Croatia): Punishing (Performance, 2002) / May 8th at 6 PM

“I come in front of the audience with naked upper body and with whip in my hand. When performance starts, nobody can enter and those who go out can not return. The view to the gallery from the outside should be prevented. I am standing still in front of the audience till someone of the visitors gives up an leave the gallery. In that moment, when the doors are shut from the outside, I hit my back with the whip. Performance lasts till I stay alone in a gallery.” (Siniša Labrović)

For more information about the festival, visit the website: www.interakcje.org