Seven performances – seven deadly sins
We dedicated the first seven years (2002 – 2008) of the VN project to seven negative aspects of life that are commonly known as the seven deadly sins. Our notion is that anger, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, envy and pride are core aspects of every individual’s identity. Each of these human attributes opens a conflict which is built into the subjective self of each individual: on one hand, one builds mechanisms and strategies of defence from these negative drives to conform to society’s demands of control and suppression of these drives; on the other, one develops various forms of release, because one cannot stand the pressure of one’s own subjectivity. In this period we produced following performances:
Starting Point: Anger (2002) – a gallery performance; the performers are presented as gallery exhibits during their fifteen minutes long statements about their personal root of anger.
More (2003) – by choosing different foodstuffs displayed in front of the stage audience combines the scenes and defines the structure of performance about gluttony.
Incasso (2004) – performers use the entrance fee money as material for scenes in which they reveal their personal relation to money / greed.
Would Would Not (2005) – every performer with his seduction strategy tries to convince a viewer to participate in his scene about lust.
Viva Verdi (2006) – performance on artistic sloth, which combines classical opera, Verdi’s arias and contemporary performing art.
Four Deaths (2007) – Four performers project their envy into four names of the European performing arts world (Pina Bausch, Tim Etchells, La Ribot, Marina Abramović) and set up phantasms of their death and erasure from the stage of contemporary performing arts.
Out (2008) – performance that tests the logic of pride in the relationship between the viewer and the performer.