About the Festival
Infinite Present is an international festival of performance art and other performative practices, which is going to take place for the first time between 24 and 26 January 2024 in Ljubljana, as a production of Glej Theatre. The festival takes place at two venues, Glej Theatre and Cukrarna Gallery. Alongside the already established programmes of international and national networking, Glej is establishing a new performance festival for the continuous presentation of international and national production in this vibrant and extremely heterogeneous field. Simultaneously, it is the brainchild of the Time for Live Art project, which focuses on the artistic practices of performance and related performative practices, characterised by their evasion of established definitions and formats, affinity for experiment, hybridity in terms of genre, and constant creation of conditions within which the unpredictable can happen. The title of the festival already suggests that it will encourage reflections on the notion of physicality in the intense duration of the present moment, overriding the past kind of duration, on the time of history, a linear, continuous time that encompasses the past, the present and the future.
The programme of the first edition of the festival presents ten diverse performances, a lecture by Jennie Klein (USA) on the duration of endurancee, based on examples from the artistic practices of selected artists, and two workshops. The first workshop, which addresses the conditions of work in the field of art, encouraging reflection on rest as a tool of resistance, is designed for cultural and art workers and is led by curators Christiana Galanopoulou (GR), Leena Kela (FI) and Antoine Pickels (BE). The second workshop, led by visual artist and choreographer Gaȅtan Rusquet (BE), is intended for the broader community and explores the multilayered relations between work, pleasure and care. In a three-day varied programme of extremely heterogeneous performances, alongside exciting performances by Slovenian artists Neja Tomšič, Lučka Centa, Urška Preis and Tery Žeželj, we present new and site-specific performances by Gaȅtan Rusquet (BE), Guadalupe Aldrete (MEX/AUT), VestAndPage (GER/ITA), Martina Viale (CAN/FRA), Tajči Čekada & Ivana Kalc, Slaven Tolj and Tomislav Brajnović (CRO). The selected works are characterised by an incision in time – whether it is an incision in one's own memory, history, geological time or the present. At the same time, these works consciously resist the accelerated chrononormativity of contemporary society, the so-called schizophrenic temporality and hyper-productivity. On the contrary, artists use different artistic strategies to deal with spatio-temporal relations – repetitiveness, endurance, persistence, slowing down, ultimate presence in the cyclical process of passing, whether it is to deal with associative memories of the personal microcosm, related to the question of human existence, transience and death, or with universal topics, looking into the deep layers of human civilisation, always touching upon central existential and social questions as well.
For more information on the content, authors and contributors, please read the text below or simply come and immerse yourself in subtle artistic interventions into time and space. We invite you to co-create an environment in which something unpredictable can happen, to create a space for reflection on the transformation of temporal concepts emerging at the intersection of bodily and social temporalities and real time.
- Mara Anjoli Vujić, curator
Programme
Wednesday, January 24th at Glej Theatre
18.00 / Area of Weaved Space / Lučka Centa, Tery Žeželj, Urška Preis /performative installation, 60 min.
20.00 / Along the Way, Among Others / Gaëtan Rusquet / performance, 45 min.
21.30 / Liquid Portal / Guadalupe Aldrete / performance, 30 min.
Thursday, January 25th at Glej Theatre and Cukrarna Gallery
11.30–14.00 / Rest as Resistance / workshop for art and culture professionals / led by Antoine Pickels, Leena Kela, Christiana Galanopoulou (Glej Theatre)
10.00–22.00 / Strata / VestAndPage / gallery preview, film, 75 min. / loop / Cukrarna, basement space
18.00–21.00 / Untitled (Wanderings) / Martine Viale / action, 180 min. / Cukrarna, lobby
19.00–20.00 / Worksite 101/3 / Tajči Čekada & Ivana Kalc / performance, 45–60 min. / Cukrarna, Parterre Gallery
21.00–21.30 / Ljubljana, 25. 1. 2024 / Slaven Tolj / performance, 30 min. / Cukrarna, Parterre Gallery
Friday, January 26th at Glej Theatre
17.00 / The Duration of Endurance / Jennie Klein / lecture, 70 min.
18.30–19.10 / Untangling a Garden / Neja Tomšič / performance, 40 min.
18.30–22.30 / Ljubljana, 25. 1. 2024 / Slaven Tolj / video loop, 30 min.
19.30–20.00 and 20.30–21.00 / To Sense a Body / Lučka Centa / performance, 30 min. /Glej Theatre – Križevniška
21.00–22.30 / A Supper with the Artist / Tomislav Brajnović with Sven Moro & Igor Anjoli / participatory performance, 90 min.
22.30–00.00 DJ Barbarella (Sujevera)
TICKETS
Infinite Present festival credits:
concept of the festival and curating: Mara Anjoli Vujić
executive production: Inga Remeta, Nastja Miheljak, Janja Buzečan
public relations: Tina Malenšek, Paulina Pia Rogač, Mojca Podlesek
technical director: Grega Mohorčič
technical support: Brina Ivanetič, Žan Rantaša, Samo Dernovšek, Martin Lovšin
photography: Nada Žgank
video: Boštjan Božič
graphic design: Mina Fina, Ivian Kan Mujezinović, Eva Bevec / Grupa Ee
proofreading (SLO): Barbara Cerkvenik, Katja Paladin
proofreading (ENG): Jana Jevtović
translation (SLO-ENG): Sunčan Patrick Stone, Urban Belina, Mišo Mićić
translation (ENG-SLO): Mišo Mićić, Urban Belina
production: Glej Theatre
co production: Cukrarna Gallery
supported by:
City Municipality of Ljubljana, Ministry od Culture, Programme Creative Europe
Among Others - Workshop with Gaëtan Rusquet
Gaëtan Rusquet invites you to a three-day workshop centered around the themes of work, pleasure, and care. The workshop will delve into the nuanced aspects of touch – both the act of touching and being touched – exploring the realms of being covered and naked, and addressing the various boundaries associated with intimacy, desire, and personal limits.
The artist will introduce performative tools inspired by ecosexual feminism, Osho techniques, and tantra. These tools will take the form of collective exercises, dynamic and guided meditations, death and care rituals (including the act of washing a body), and the expressive power of sounding and singing. Additionally, participants will be introduced to tools aimed at navigating the complexities of consent.
This workshop is open to all bodies – queers, performers, sex workers, the young and old – whether your body fears touch or craves it. It is an opportunity for everyone interested in exploring touch, work, and pleasure, and for those seeking to experience intimacy and care within a ritualized framework.
The workshop will take place on 20th and 21st January from 11:00 to 18:00, and will be held in English.
Interested workshop participants will have the opportunity to take part in Gäetan Rusquet's performance Along the Way, Among Others, which will take place on 24 December at 8pm at the Glej Theatre.
Participants must be over the legal age of 18 years.
Applications are being accepted until January 17th 2024 here.
The First Festival Edition
In the first edition of the festival we present ten works - a film based on performances by a group of nineteen international artists, performances and action by artists from Belgium, Canada/France, Mexico/Austria, Croatia, Italy/Germany and Slovenia. The selected works are characterised by an incision in time - whether it is an incision in one's own memory, history, geological time or the present. At the same time, they are works that consciously resist the accelerated chrononormativity of today's society, the so-called schizophrenic temporality and hyper-productivity.
The programme of live performances is complemented by a lecture on the duration of endurance and two workshops. The first workshop on rest as resistance is aimed at cultural and arts workers, while the second workshop is aimed at the wider community and focuses on the relationship between work, enjoyment and care.
The first festival will be organised in cooperation with Cukrarna Gallery, in order to underline the importance of fostering both public and non-governmental cultural organisations, as well as cultural practitioners and artists from different backgrounds.
We would like to thank Government Communication Office, Vina Pregeljc, Kamnolom Uršič (Žarko Uršič s.p.) for their help in organising the festival.
About the project Time for Live Art:
Happy to share the good news that 2023 and 2024 will see the implementation of our project ”Time For Live Art”, gathering Studio Thor / Trouble Festival (BE), Glej / Performance Festival (SI), New Performance Turku (FI) and MIR Festival (GR), supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.
'Time For Live Art' sees four human-sized live art festivals join forces to underline the resilience of the live art sector, in a contemporary world suffering from ecological and health wounds. These festivals believe that gathering around a live event has never been so precious and necessary, though our current conditions urge us to do it in a different way. With this in mind, the partners address and answer to questions of 'time' in the creation, presentation and circulation of live artworks: time given to relate the creation to a context, time to experience the artwork, time for mediation around the presentation, time taken for the travel of the artist and time to develop the memory of the audience.
Starting with a reflection retreat with 4 curators, 4 artists and 2 mentors to root the project in an in-depth common thought, it is followed by a sharing of ideas in a broader context, for three online radio conferences, comparing experiences in a worldwide perspective. Soon after starts the project 'What Time Is It?', which follows the 4 artists traveling slowly from one city to another. Their experience of the travel becomes the material for artistic work produced on the way. It also leads to 4 participative creations in the cities where they travel to. Along the project, each of the 4 festivals, though maintaining their distinctive artistic identity, share and implement in their programs values central to the project: time given to the “before and after'' of each artwork; economy of means, but dedicated time given to each art experience; time to share knowledge and skills through professional workshops; time to care for and to take care of the audience, and common positions about gender, love and origin equity. After the 4 festivals, the next step looks at the future: it associates a platform for younger European performers, and a professional gathering to open sustainable perspectives. A final publication brings together the memories of the different steps.
SAVE THE DATE: Infinite Present, Festival of Performance, January 24-26, 2024, Ljubljana.
Infinite Present is an international festival of performance and live art that will take place in Ljubljana between 24th and 26th January 2024. The founder and organiser of the new Infinite Present festival is Theatre Glej. The idea of launching a new festival of performance and live art came as an outgrowth of the Time for Live Art project. The first edition will take place at Glej Theatre and Cukrarna Gallery.
Support
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission, Creative Europe Culture programme.
This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
