How Well Did You Perform Today?

“Neoliberalism has dismantled the welfare state in order to create a neoliberal state, defined as an enterprise that must be as lean as possible, like the skyscrapers of Manhattan.” Katja Praznik: Delo umetnosti: Nevidno delo in zapuščina jugoslovanskega socializma (“The Work of Art: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism”; Maska, 2023).

Alma Gačanin, born in Sarajevo, is an artist, poet and feminist. In 2015, she represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at The Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Milan, and in 2022 she received the ZVONO Award, considered one of the most prominent awards for young artists from BiH. Her work focuses on exploring critical issues of contemporary, neoliberal society, particularly in relation to forms of work, especially precarious work, with a focus on the position of women. Her interests include various media, including drawing, photography, performance and video.

The performance How Well Did You Perform Today? problematizes invisible and overtime work, interrogating time, money, value and the gendered division of labour. Reflecting on inequality and environmental damage, one cannot help but think of the apocalypse. The core question of the performance is therefore whether a future can be imagined in which we are not exploited for the accumulation of capital. Through performative (physical) exercise, the artist problematizes power structures and unpacks the discourse of values, power and performance.

“A friend told me that he went to the seaside for the first time when he was 14. I went to the seaside for the first time when I was as flat as a board, and I look back on it with great joy. My classmate and I were playing on the beach, sexless, just kids. Soon everything changed, I don’t remember exactly when. All I know is that it became uncomfortable.” Alma Gačanin