Difference between revisions of "Muzeum Institute"

Revision as of 11:58, 13 January 2011

Established in 1996, the Muzeum Institute is a non-for-profit institution for art production, distribution, and publishing. The organisation developed out of Muzeum Theatre, a conceptual theatre company under the direction of Barbara Novakovič Kolenc, which remains the core of its activities. Muzeum produced a dozen of performances conceived and directed by authors authors coming from non-theatre fields (architecture, dance, light design, art history, visual arts) investigating theatre language anew.

Muzeum is also involved in different visual art and publishing as well as international projects. In the period 2010-2011 the Muzeum Institute is one of co-organisers of the EU Culture supported project Focus on Art and Science in the Performing Arts.

Theatre production

Between 1993 and 2000 Barbara Novakovič Kolenc conceived and directed five stage performances: Cricket in the Fist [Čriček v pesti], Lo Scrittore, Emilia [Emilija], The Girl and the Double Bass [Deklica in kontrabas], and Paracelsus & Frankenstein, each of them exploring individual fields of art, namely fine art, architecture, dance, music, and movement. The subsequent synthesis performance All Together Now [Vse najboljše] was staged at the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, featuring a cast of actors from an old people's home, and was presented at the 2000 Manifesta 3 in Ljubljana. Barbara Novakovič Kolenc directed Racine's Berenice in the framework of the Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana repertory in 2000.

In the period 2000 – 2004 Muzeum produced a series of performances under the title Project 1-5, which investigated theatre language through the input of architects, dancers, theatre theoreticians, light designers or art historians, who were involved in stage direction for the first time. In 2007 a young visual artist (sculpture and video) Miha Erman together with Aleksandra Kajbič presented a theatre piece Bark So I Can See You [Zalajaj, da te vidim], while in 2010 Erman's new authorial project Room With no Echo [Soba brez odmeva] was produced.

In Autumn 2006 Muzeum presented two productions: Molière premièred within the framework of the Ex Ponto International Festival, while Rodin II was performed at the Mladi levi Festival, Exodos Festival as well as around Slovenia.

In 2007-2009 the Winter's Uncle trilogy was conceived: A Winter's Tale [Zimska pravljica], based on the play by Shakespeare, which was staged at Križanke, while in 2008 Uncle Vanya and the 12 bouquets [Striček Vanja in 12 šopkov] based on Chekhov. The performance The Repository WUST (Winter's Uncle and Summer Tale) [FUNDUS ZS PP (Zimski striček in Poletna pravljica)], created by B. Novakovič and Sanja Nešković Peršin, premièred in December 2009, and featured artefacts from the City Museum of Ljubljana and selected contemporary visual art as a set. In perfomance tourings, artefacts are site specific – in 2010 the performance was presented at KiBela Art Space in Maribor and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Novi Sad.

In 2008 Barbara Novakovič Kolenc put on stage (for the first time in Slovenia) Daniil Harms' play Elisabeth Bam [Jelizaveta Bam]. The performance was staged at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station where in 2010 also a dance-theatre performance Julie (after A. Strindberg) was conceived by Sanja Nešković Peršin (with a set design by Son:DA, hosted also by BITEF Theatre in Belgarde, Serbia.

Visual arts projects

The Muzeum Institute actively engages in visual arts projects. In 2002-2003 it presented the auteur fine art projects Talking House - Theory Open I, II, III: The Shirt of Saint Francis at the Museum of Modern Art, Saint Lazarus at the City Art Gallery Ljubljana and Saint Teresa at Kapelica Gallery, all conceived by Barabara Novakovič Kolenc.

In 2007 an international exhibition entitled Paperwork was presented at the City Museum of Ljubljana.

Some Muzeum performances were staged in gallery spaces, for example, the 2004 production Rodin (directed by Boris Mihalj) at the Museum of Modern Art and the 2010 production The Repository WUST, which was presented at the Jakopič Gallery.

Muzeum Theatre productions have been presented in Austria, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Mongolia, Croatia, Albania, Armenia, Serbia and Italy. The Museum Institute is a member of the Informal European Theatre Meeting (IETM).

International projects

Muzeum has also produced various international visual arts projects, notably Map to Paradise from Ljubljana (2000), a site-specific installation at Ljubljana Castle by Peter Greenaway, and the accompanying Peter Greenaway film retrospective.

In June 2005 the Ljubljana events within the international project The Gesture in the Cultural Heritage of Europe took place, while in Autumn 2005 the Muzeum Institute participated in the international co-curatorial and multidisciplinary project Continental Breakfast [Kontinetalni zajtrk]. The Ljubljana component of the project was entitled Memory (W)hole and comprised an international symposium, a site-specific exhibition, and art performances at Ljubljana Castle. New variants of the Memory (W)hole exhibition were subsequently presented at the Skopje Museum of Modern Art in Macedonia and at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Within the EU supported Focus on Art and Science in the Performing Arts: European contemporary production in April and November 2010 the residencies and presentations of international authors were organised in Ljubljana, while Miha Erman, author of a selected Slovene production for Focus, participated in a residency in Italy.

Besides theatre and visual arts projects the Muzeum Institute has also been involved in a number of international cultural policy projects (e.g. Mobile Theatre Network and MTN Loops, 1999-2001).

Muzeum publishing

Since 2000 Muzeum has published the Muzeum Newsletter. Other publications have included Mobile Theatre Network Calendar 1999, Mobile Theatre Network - Strategies for Establishing Distribution Networks for Independent Performing Arts in Central and Eastern Europe (a symposium in 1999), Peter Greenaway's Book (a book of theoretical texts by Slovene authors on the work of Peter Greenaway), Peter Greenaway: Map to Paradise from Ljubljana (a book of the event documentation) and the Memory (W)hole - Continental Breakfast Ljubljana and Paperwork exhibition catalogues.

External links

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 ==Theatre production==
-Between 1993 and 2000 Barbara Novakovič Kolenc conceived and directed five stage performances: ''Cricket in the Fist'' [Čriček v pesti], ''Lo Scrittore'', ''Emilia'' [Emilija], ''The Girl and the Double Bass'' [Deklica in kontrabas], and ''Paracelsus & Frankenstein'', each of them exploring individual fields of art, namely fine art, architecture, dance, music, and movement. The subsequent synthesis performance ''All Together Now'' [Vse najboljše] was staged at the [[Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Ljubljana - Opera and Ballet]], featuring a cast of actors from an old people's home, and was presented at the 2000 ''Manifesta 3'' in Ljubljana. Barbara Novakovič Kolenc directed Racine's ''Berenice'' in the framework of the [[Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Ljubljana - Drama]] repertory in 2000.
+Between 1993 and 2000 Barbara Novakovič Kolenc conceived and directed five stage performances: ''Cricket in the Fist'' [Čriček v pesti], ''Lo Scrittore'', ''Emilia'' [Emilija], ''The Girl and the Double Bass'' [Deklica in kontrabas], and ''Paracelsus & Frankenstein'', each of them exploring individual fields of art, namely fine art, architecture, dance, music, and movement. The subsequent synthesis performance ''All Together Now'' [Vse najboljše] was staged at the [[Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana]], featuring a cast of actors from an old people's home, and was presented at the 2000 ''Manifesta 3'' in Ljubljana. Barbara Novakovič Kolenc directed Racine's ''Berenice'' in the framework of the [[Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana]] repertory in 2000.
 In the period 2000 &ndash; 2004 Muzeum produced a series of performances under the title ''Project 1-5'', which investigated theatre language through the input of architects, dancers, theatre theoreticians, light designers or art historians, who were involved in stage direction for the first time. In 2007 a young visual artist (sculpture and video) [[Miha Erman]] together with [[Aleksandra Kajbič]] presented a theatre piece ''Bark So I Can See You'' [Zalajaj, da te vidim], while in 2010 Erman's new authorial project ''Room With no Echo'' [Soba brez odmeva] was produced.