• 9 Jun 24 at 16.00, SNG Maribor, Small Stage, as part of Borštnik Theatre Festival.

Contemporary artists often address the neuralgic issues of our time in their artworks – corruption, human rights violations, environmental crimes, technological subjugation, etc. At the same time, many fields that are not normally understood as artistic nowadays rely on the work of aesthetic effects: journalists and lawyers often study freely available videos and undertake visual research. The discussion focuses in particular on the use of artistic practices against power effects that often prevent the truth from coming out. The panellists will raise questions about the status of the document in artistic processes and the place that documentary occupies in the wider artistic and socio-political landscape, as well as about their own practices and methodologies of work and the difficulties they face in doing so.

Panelists: Tjaša Črnigoj, Žiga Divjak, Janez Janša, Marcus Lindeen, Maria San Miguel
Moderator: Alja Lobnik

Photo: Christine Miess

• 10.06.24 at 16.00, SNG Maribor, Small stage

In the context of activism, the assembly is a space for gathering, building community and testing different processes of democracy. In recent years, we have also witnessed a number of artistic attempts to use the form of assemblies to invent new public spaces. By using the unique possibilities of art to create temporary communities, these works not only mirror society, but also test the social and political procedures by which societies can be thought, acted, performed, reframed, tested or even invented. The ways in which art is used for gatherings that give space to radical imaginations and pragmatic utopias are manifold and rarely contradictory in both their aesthetic and political positions. What unites them, however, is the aim of broadening the field of theatre, expanding its means and possibilities, finding ways to engage with the social and political issues of our time, and thus inspiring activism and political thinking beyond the artistic sphere.

The lecture will be followed by a discussion moderated by Kristina Božič.

Photo: Christine Miess