»The Balkans – besides skeletons – has always been an endless source of originality.”
The concept of the new and original is something so fatal and horrific that no one in common sense would really wish to confront it. But we don’t give up. We know what to do. To dig, dig, dig, and we know where to dig! « (B. Kadin, Game with toothpicks) Balkan Connection is the union of a Croat (Boris Kadin) and a Serb (Kristian Al Droubi) under the direction of a Slovene director (Bojan Jablanovec) in the context of Joseph Beuys (“Every man is an artist”), Marina Abramović (Rhythm 10) and Slovene philosopher and art theorist Bojana Kunst (Powerlessness of Radical Consumption). Final result: “A Croat and a Serb cutting each other on the stage. One unconscious person, a decilitre of human blood, four surgical “stitches” and dozens of shocked spectators”. (Ivica Nevešćanin, Slobodna Dalmacija 16.8.2007) With the Balkan openness, radicalness and humour Boris and Kristian disclose their relations towards intellectualization, mystification and impotence of contemporary art – and do not except themselves.
Performances
What Joseph Beuys told me while I was lying dead in his lap
Game with toothpicks
Interview with an artist
Concept: Bojan Jablanovec
Conceived and performed by Boris Kadin, Kristian Al Droubi
Production Via Negativa 2009, supported by Ministry of Culture of RS and the City of Ljubljana
Producer:Špela Trošt
First presentation:
Venue and date: St. Dominic Church Zadar, 14. 8. 2009 as part of ZadarSnova Festival Zadar
Duration: 120 min