Precarity Or Self-Managment?
When a cultural phenomenon celebrates 100 years of existence, one immediately thinks of something robust, strong, an object, a piece of architecture or an institution.
Certainly not an arts magazine, especially in this day and age when the space for thinking about art has been reduced to a minimum. Maska, the Performing Arts Journal, was first issued in 1920; 2020 will mark its 200th issue. It never had a strong institutional backing. Even today, its publisher is the precarious non-governmental organisation Maska.
Fighting for autonomy, it has always defied norming, standardisation, and indexing. Its motto is: pushing the boundaries of possibility through art and thought. Maska, first the magazine then its publishing and production activities, has produced generations of writers, editors, designers, translators, proof-readers and other participants who have looked for and developed a language that can articulate even the most daring of art phenomena. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first and the publication of the 200th issue of Maska, which will consist of three parts: 200aa, 200bb, and 200cc.
Conference at the festival Indigo
Curators: Pia Brezavšček, Janez Janša, Alja Lobnik, Gregor Moder
Programme
Tuesday, 8 September 2020
18.00–20.00
National Gallery in Ljubljana, Mateja Bučar:Parquet Ball, Prepremiere
Wednesday, 9 september 2020
16.00
Bojana Cvejić: Choreographing Problems: Expressive Concepts in European Contemporary Dance and Performance
Mala Kline: The Theatres of Potentiality: Between Ethics and Politics
Moderated by Bojana Kunst
18.00–20.00, National Gallery in Ljubljana
Mateja Bučar: Parquet Ball, Premiere
Thursday, 10 september 2020
10.00 – 18.00
Prcarity or self managment?
Maska .. 100 Years. 200 Issues at the Indigo Festival
9–11 September 2020, Old Power Station
18.00–20.00
Mateja Bučar – Parquet Ball
19.00
S*S, Presentation of The New Post Office
Urška Brodar, Goran Injac, Janez Janša,
21.00
Slovenian Youth Theatre
Žiga Divjak: The Game
Friday, 11 september 2020
10.00 – 18.00
Precarity or Self-management
16.00
Old Power Station
Maska’s Editorial Policies 1985–2020. Participating: the editors of Maska
Moderated by Aldo Milohnić
18.00
National Gallery in Ljubljana
Mateja Bučar:Parquet Ball
21.00,
Slovenian Youth Theatre
Žiga Divjak: The Game
Events for 100 Years
The highlight of the anniversary celebration will be the event Precarity or Self- management? (9 to 11 September 2020, Old Power Station), which will feature a presentation of Maska’s latest book releases, two new productions and a conference entitled Precarity or Self-management? On the occasion of its 100th issue (Naredi si sam/Do It Yourself, Year XXI, No. 5 (100), Summer 2006), we invited the artists discussed in Maska to think of a project they would like to see realised in 2023, upon the publication of the jubilee 200th issue. But as time always goes by so fast and the magazine has seen even more issues coming out since then, we are celebrating this milestone in 2020.
Thus, the first artist, Mateja Bučar, will present her project Parquet Ball (on 9 September 2020 at the National Gallery). There will be a repeat performance of Maska’s new production The Game by Žiga Divjak and a presentation of Nova pošta, whose programme is jointly curated by Maska and the Slovenian Youth Theatre. We will also present Maska’s two new book releases:Koreografiranje problemov (Choreographing Problems) by Bojana Cvejić and Gledališča potencialnosti (The Theatres of Potentiality) by Mala Kline.
The Precarity or Self-management? conference will host internationally renowned contemporary art scholars from the territory of the former Yugoslavia.The discussion will be about precarity and self-management, which are complex characteristics of the artistic production of our time. The insecurities brought on by structural changes in the neoliberal paradigm have had a profound effect on the reflection about contemporary performing arts. The magazines (TkH, Frakcija, etc.) that created our shared thought space and transcended the narrow national contexts suddenly disappeared and many of the magazines’ major players moved elsewhere. This year’s anniversary celebration will therefore honour those who have lost their spaces that should be brought back to life through joint efforts. Texts from the symposium will be published in issue 200cc, which will be a joint issue of Maska and two magazines that are no longer in publication, the Zagreb Frakcija and the Belgrade Teorija koja hoda. The Precarity or Self-management? event will conclude with Aldo Milohnić in conversation with former and the two current editors of Maska on their editorial policies. Maska has a rich design tradition, having featured a number of important figures (France Kralj, Matjaž Vipotnik, Irena Woelle, Samo Lapajne, Martin Bricelj, Martin Mistrik, Miha Turšič, and Ajdin Bašić) from the world of design. This year, in cooperation with mentor Boštjan Botas Kenda and MA students of graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Maska’s image got a visual makeover.
The first of the three 200th anniversary issues was designed by Nika Lapkovski and Nina Ninković. Nika also designed the .. 100 Years. 200 Issues street exhibition (27 July–24 August 2020, TAM TAM poster locations at Gosposvetska ulica in Ljubljana). The visual design of the venue for the international symposium at the Old Power Station was designed by Toni Soprano Meneglejte. Both anniversary issues will also be marked with a special program at the Borštnik Festival.
About Conference
The irony of history wanted that, in the early 21st-century developed capitalist systems, one of the most widespread practical forms of work organisation or employment relationships is now the self-employed precarious worker. Interestingly, this employment type is suggestive of the concept of an individual in the ideally conceived society of the Yugoslav version of socialism as ‘the democratic pluralism of self-management interests’ from the second half of the 20th century.
The Precarity or Self-management? conference will host internationally renowned contemporary art scholars from the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The discussion will be about precarity and self-management, which are complex characteristics of the artistic production of our time. The insecurities brought on by structural changes in the neoliberal paradigm have had a profound effect on the reflection about contemporary performing arts. The magazines (TkH, Frakcija, etc.) that created our shared thought space and transcended the narrow national contexts suddenly disappeared and many of the magazines’ major players moved elsewhere. This year’s anniversary celebration will therefore honour those who have lost their spaces that should be brought back to life through joint efforts. Texts from the symposium will be published in issue 200cc, which will be a joint issue of Maska and two magazines that are no longer in publication, the Zagreb Frakcija and the Belgrade Teorija koja hoda.
Lectureres
Boris Buden is a writer, cultural critic, and translator. He is a permanent fellow at the European Institute of Progressive Cultural Policies, Vienna. He teaches cultural theory at the Faculty of Art and Design, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, and the University of applied Arts Vienna. His latest book is Transition to Nowhere (2019)
Bojana Cvejić’s work spans philosophy, theatre/dance dramaturgy, and performance education. She is currently Professor of Dance and Dance Theory at Oslo National Academy of Arts KHiO and Professor of Philosophy of Art at FMK Singidunum Belgrade. Her latest book is Choreographing Problems: Expressive Concepts in European Contemporary Dance and Performance.
Branislav Jakovljević is Professor in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. His research focuses on performance theory, performance and politics, avant-garde and experimental theatre, and, currently, on radical performance and ethics. His most recent book is Alienation Effects: Performance and Self-Management in Yugoslavia 1945–1991 (2016).
Katja Kobolt (Munich/Ljubljana) works on the junctures of art, writing, and teaching. Katja has conceptualized and produced numerous art exhibitions and events in different parts of Europe and has been active within a feminist curatorial platform Red Mined and Balkanet e.V., a self-organised production platform for migrant art and cultural workers in Munich.
Biljana Tanurovska Kjulavkovski is cultural producer, activist in culture, and a curator. She is co-founder of Lokomotiva, Nomad Dance Academy (NDA) and Kino Kultura (KK) – project space for contemporary performing arts and culture in Skopje. Since 2011, she has been working as an independent lecturer at the Faculty of Music Arts in Skopje.
Bojana Kunst is a professor and director of the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies / ATW – Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, where she leads the International MA in Choreography and Performance. Her research interest is contemporary performance and dance, arts theory, and philosophy of contemporary art. Her latest book is Artist at Work, Proximity of Art and Capitalism (2013).
Tomislav Medak is a PhD researcher at Coventry University’s Centre for Postdigital Cultures, who focuses on political economy of technology and the planetary ecological crisis. He is also a part of the theory and publishing team of Multimedia Institute MAMA, a co-initiator of the Pirate Care project, and a member of the performing arts collective BADco.
Andrej Mirčev received his PhD from FU Berlin with a thesis on intermediality and space. His latest publications include Left Performance Histories (2018, co-ed.). In the 2019 winter semester, Mirčev was a guest professor at the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe and an associate lecturer at the Department for Stage Design, UDK Berlin.
Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez is an interdependent curator, editor, and writer. She was co-director of Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2010–12). She is chief editor of Versopolis Review and was chief editor of the Manifesta Journal (2012–14) and of L’Internationale Online (2014–2017). With Elena Sorokina, she is the co-founder of the Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care.
Miodrag Šuvaković is a contemporary aestheticist, art theorist, and conceptual artist born in 1954 in Belgrade. As dean of the Faculty of Media and Communication, he teaches theory of art and theory of culture in transdisciplinary master and doctoral studies. He published or edited more than 50 publications on aesthetics or art theory.
Ana Vujanović is a cultural worker focused on bringing together critical theory and contemporary art. Since 2016, she is a team member and mentor at SNDO – School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam. Recently, she co-edited the collection Live Gathering: Performance and Politics in Contemporary Europe with L. A. Piazza (Berlin: b_books, 2019).
Cast
Artistic director: Janez Janša
Program curators of Maska .. 100 Years. 200 Issues: Pia Brezavšček, Janez Janša, Alja Lobnik, Gregor Moder
Coordination: Nataša Božič
Head of production: Tina Dobnik
Editors of Maska Journal: Pia Brezavšček in Alja Lobnik
Editor of Maska Publications: Gregor Moder
PR: Urška Comino
Design: Nika Lapkovski, student on Graphic Design MA programme at
the Academy of Fine Arts and Design University of Ljubljana. mentor: prof. Boštjan Botas Kenda
Scenography: Toni Soprano Meneglejte
Reception in Public
Maja Čehovin Korsika: Ob prelomu leta: Revija Maska že 100 let z umetnostjo in mislijo prebija meje mogočega
STA misli / 23. 12. 2019
Janša je ob tem spomnil, da so na bližnji jubilej mislili že ob omenjenem mejniku za revijo leta 2006. V Moderni galeriji so tedaj pripravili razstavo 48 zamisli projektov, ki naj bi jih ustvarjalci naredili leta 2023, ko bi po tedanjih predvidevanjih izšla 200. Maska. “Tempo izhajanja se je medtem spremenil, 200. številka bo izšla že v letu 2020. Razstavo uresničenih del pa bomo v MSUM+ kljub temu pripravili leta 2023, kot je bilo predvideno. Do takrat bomo vsako leto realizirali en ali dva projekta,” je napovedal Janša.
Revija Maska v času, ko je “prostor za razmišljanje in dokumentiranje umetnosti skrčen na minimum”
MMC RTV SLO / 23. 12. 2019
Zdenko Matoz: Obletnica prvega izida revije Maska
Delo / 24. 1. 2020
Pomen revije Maska, letos bo izšla 200. številka, je tudi tem, da omogoča refleksijo sodobnih gledaliških del, saj kulturne revije ugašajo, medijih pa je temu namenjenega čedalje manj prostora.
Maja Šučur: Kakšno masko nadeti Maski?
Dnevnik / 28. 1. 2020
»Gre za revijo z najdaljšo tradicijo Evropi, prva številka je izšla v času avantgard, malo pred novomeško pomladjo.«_Pia Brazavšek
»V Beogradu smo imeli nekoč revijo Teorija koja hoda, v Zagrebu Frakcijo, pisci so ves čas sodelovali. Prvi dve sta poniknili, ljudje pa so se razselili, zato je komunikacija zelo omejena i bi jo radi onudili, naredili ta prostor bolj pretočen, jugointernacionaliziran.«_Alja Lobnik
Kristina Božič: Raztegniti želimo čas
Večer / 27. 1. 2020
Direktor zavoda, umetnik Janez Janša, je ob predstavitvi dogodkov, ki bodo zaznamovali jubilejno leto, dejal, da Maska ni nikoli želela biti zgolj teoretična revija ter da je danes, ko ugaša vse več kulturnih revij in se krči prostor za refleksijo v medijih, oder, ki ga ponuja, še toliko dragocenejši.
Ob dvojnem jubileju revije Maska mednarodna konferenca Prekarnost ali samoupravljanje?
STA / 10. 9. 2020
Kaj pa prihodnost revije Maska? Pia Brezavšček je poudarila, da je za Masko velik uspeh, da je vztrajala v svojem precej rednem izhajanju, saj so po Balkanu zaradi nemogočih razmer in težav s financiranjem ugasile številne podobne revije. Z Aljo Lobnik sta uredništvo prevzeli lani, z odgovornostjo do njene dediščine, a tudi z lastno vizijo njene revitalizacije: “Masko želiva narediti bolj prisotno v živi teoretski mladi misli v našem prostoru, saj meniva, da če bo usidrana tukaj, bo lahko morda ponovno dosegla tudi neko internacionalizacijo.”
Kulturni fokus: 100 let Maske
Radio Slovenija / Radio Prvi / avtorica: Magda Tušar / 28. 8. 2020
Pia Svetec. Mednarodna konferenca Prekarnost ali samoupravljanjen
TV Slovenija / Kultura / 10. 9. 2020
Petra Tanko: 100 let revije Maska
Radio Slovenija / ARS program / 22. 9. 2020
Tjaša Prueber: Od samoupravljanja 20. stoletja do samoorganizacije tu in zdaj
Kriterij – kritiška platforma
Ob izteku antiglobalističnega gibanja konec devetdesetih let 20. stoletja in v začetku 21. stoletja so globalna družbena gibanja od spodaj prekarnost začela postavljati na konceptualni in aktivistični zemljevid kot gonilni motor boja proti kapitalizmu. Prav aktivistični diskurz je prekarnost od nekdaj razumel širše od delovnih razmer popolne negotovosti. Ko je po globalni finančni krizi leta 2008 boj proti prekarnosti postal uradna ideologija Evropske unije, je postala redukcija prekarnosti na oblike pogodbenega prava resna ovira pri premišljanju alternativ zanjo.
Tej Gonza: Kulturno o ekonomskem. Samoupravljanje, prekarnost, neoliberalizem
Kriterij – kritiška platforma
Kapitalizem, neoliberalizem, socializem, potrošniški materializem, alienacija, samoupravljanje, prekarnost. Veliki koncepti, ki pa obstanejo v slepi ulici. Levica je ujeta v dogmatični zanki že več desetletij; če se torej že pogovarjamo o ekonomiji, zakaj se ne bi počasi zresnili in presegli klišejev?
Kristina Božič: Vizija ni le stvar besed, ampak praks tu in zdaj
Mešanec / 31. 10. 2020
“Cilj konkurence ni izpolniti in uresničiti družbene cilje, ampak zasledovati maksimizacijo dobička v gospodarstvu,” je dejal Tomislav Medak ob konferenci, ki je obeležila 100 let revije Maska.
Dragan Živadinov: Vsi smo del razvoja razsvetljenskega sveta, ki nas brani pred religioznimi in ideološkimi patologijami.
Portal Plus / 24. 10. 2020
Časopis Maska je vztrajni vzorec pisnega analitičnega uma vedno novih gledaliških generacij na Slovenskem. Danes je to um umetnosti, ki raziskuje transformativne, performativne in informatrične scenske prakse.
