The Undecidable Question
About the performance The Undecidable Question the performers CO2 – a couple of artists say: “A long time ago, when things still had a predictable growth, friends from Ljubljana invited us to imagine the future, to propose a project for 2023. We decided to make a turn: instead of predicting the future, we tried to go back to historical moments of expression of collective will… to mythical moments of uncertainty… to murmurs of indefinite pasts. What we didn’t foresee was that from then on, we would try to practice the impossible. Some things happened that we thought were impossible. Some impossible things can still happen. Trapped in the permanent present of poetry, we are still looking for voices from the future that announce answers to so far undecidable questions!”
Myth Interrupted by Goran Sergej Pristaš is a project proposition from 2006 that was published in the 100th issue of Maska journal. It suggests to reconstruct three mass gatherings from the ex-Yugoslavian period in Zagreb: Partisans entering Zagreb (1945), student demonstrations (1968) and the final farewell from Tito’s remains (1980).
- Performance
Concept and implementation: CO2 (Goran Sergej Pristaš & Nikolina Pristaš)
Co-production: The New Post Office (Mladinsko Theatre and Maska Ljubljana) and Domino Cooperative, KONTEJNER | Bureau of Contemporary Art Practice, Zavod Maska
Productions
The project The Undecidable Question began development in 2022 in Ljubljana. With the support of co-producers Slovenian Youth Theatre (Slovensko mladinsko gledališče), Maska Institute, and Domino Association, a room was set up — a Bildraum — where the couple of artists Nikolina Pristaš and Goran Sergej Pristaš, together with Hrvoslava Brkušić (video), Marko Tadić (animation), Hrvoje Nikšić (sound) andAlan Vukelić (screens), shaped the first performance, subtitled Myth Interrupted. In the format of a poetic lecture inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem I dwell in Possibility, dramaturge Goran Sergej Pristaš recapitulates several mythical moments of expressing collective will and shaping discourse about the future.
In the second segment of the performance, subtitled They Called Them Footprints, CO₂ explores gestures of togetherness in world-making and shaping the present evocating the poetry of Danish poet Inger Christensen, the drawings of Gordon Matta-Clark, and the works of William Blake, performed by Nikolina Pristaš. This segment was developed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, with costume designer Silvio Vujičić joining the original artistic team.
The third and newest part, which will premiere in January, is being co-produced by KONTEJNER, Domino Association, and Maska Institute. It is based on a text created through a children’s word game, inspired by a note from Walter Benjamin. In this game, words do not form everyday sentences but instead create unexpected connections, resembling “caverns with the strangest corridors.” Free from established linguistic rules, children discover new promises of meaning and imagery, while even the simplest constructions take on the rhythm of play and exploration, building upon gestures of togetherness and shaping collective imaginaries, which CO₂ develops in collaboration with a range of artists and contributors. This segment of the project welcomes composer Sara Glojnarić, dramaturge Goran Ferčec, and Priska Pia Pristaš as an occasional performer.
This is the first time The Undecidable Question will be presented in its integral form. Following its premiere in Zagreb, it will move to Kunsthaus Graz, where it will be presented as an installation.
