KUD Samosvoj Cultural Association

KUD Samosvoj Cultural Association is a non-profit cultural association established in 1999. Although mainly active in the fields of international contemporary theatre, dance and music production, KUD Samosvoj has also produced some intermedia and literary projects.

Background

KUD Samosvoj (in English: "idiosyncratic") was established by the dancer and choreographer Bara Kolenc, choreographer and light designer Borut Bučinel and the band Melodrom in 1999. At first a vehicle for Kolenc's and Bučinel's stage work, KUD Samosvoj's productions have been presented at festivals in Italy, Austria, Germany, Armenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia (at the Gibanica (Moving Cake) Festival of Slovene Dance, among others).

Production and international networking

In the 2010s, KUD Samosvoj served primarily as a platform for the work of Bara Kolenc. The association thus co-produced a series of Kolenc's cross-genre collaborations within different art collectives. The project Threshold (2009–2011) brought together an international team of artists from the fields of performing, visual and sonic arts (among others also Atej Tutta and Rado Jaušovec) in a month-long residency at Vipolže Castle and resulted in a series of live multimedia events.

Inspired by the Slovenian sculptor Karla Bulovec, the cycle Atelier (2009–2015) re-contextualised the topics of historicisation, artistic contextualisation and the question of women in the arts, and featured video works developed by Tutta and Kolenc and co-produced by Ex Ponto International Festival and KIBLA Multimedia Centre, as well as a performance co-produced by City of Women.

Kolenc also developed work with Ljubljana-based Lou Ambramovici and Teja Reba within the Eat-Art Collective (2013,) a series of research projects, co-produced by Maska Institute and Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana plus Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, which were featured at the 7th U3 Triennial of Contemporary Slovene Arts.

Kolenc's cycle of works Metamorphoses 1°–5° is a series of projects (contemporary theatre, video, installation, lecture-performances) that reflect on fundamental contemporary questions in dialogue with Ovid's Metamorphoses, with Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture, KUD Pozitiv Cultural Association, Bunker Institute, Mladinsko Theatre, City Museum of Ljubljana as coproducers. Metamorphoses 4º: BLACKHOLES by Bara Kolenc & Atej Tutta was selected to receive the TT Stückemarkt Commission of Work 2016; it was produced at Schauspiel Dortmund in 2017 and presented at the Brut Theatre in Vienna. In 2018, Metamorphoses 4º: BLACKHOLES saw its Slovenian premiere at the Mladinsko Theatre.

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