News and responses
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE
PARL 2026
PARL invites performance art makers and groups to participate in a 10-day program for the research and development of performance art projects, which will take place in Ljubljana from August 22 to 31, 2026. If you are a performance art maker and you need space and time to research, an environment to develop your project, an opportunity to present your work and to open up your collaborative network – welcome to PARL. Application deadline: 31 March 2026
REFLECTIONS • ROK VEVAR
A lot has happened in the last 25 years
The context, socio-political and cultural conditions have changed. Not only for VN, but for the performing arts in general, including internationally. It is time to reflect. There is much to consider in order to achieve new shifts. What constitutes public space? What tools did the 20th century offer in the field of performing arts? What can be done with them? What are the forms of production?
RESPONSES • VN LAB 2025
The necessity of reflecting on (artistic) priorities
The question of how to breathe life into contemporary art after the devaluation of all values in the middle of the 21st century is a valid one, but altruistically putting the performer on their feet will not be enough — the viewer will also have to be re-educated to come to the front line and boldly cross it. Sigledal.org
AWARDS • SLOVENIAN MOUNTAIN TRAIL
Two Golden Lions for Rok Kravanja
Rok Kravanja won the Golden Lion for the performance Slovenian Mountain Trail and the Golden Lion for the best performance of the audience’s choice at the Golden Lion Chamber Theatre Festival in Umag. “Slovenian Mountain Trail is not a classical theatre performance – it is a unique combination of theatre and performance, in which body, space and memory become equal counterparts.” From the jury’s explanation
RESPONSES • A MOMENT WHEN EVERYTHING STOPS
Axis of rotation
“A moment when everything stops invites us to reflect on the increasing pace of existence and, in its final act – the switching off or stopping – asks where it will spin us. The alternating synchronicity and asynchronicity of the performers opens up a reflection on the levers of power that dictate this rotation. Who makes us spin?” Sigledal.org
RESPONSES • THREE QUARTERS OF A HUMAN
Dancing through the end of the world
“Before us is a dancing people, a social order that is constantly breaking apart and putting itself back together again, little by little. And in the imaginary air above them, somewhere high up, there are planes with bombs, approaching relentlessly. And people dance on, unaware.” Radio Študent, Ljubljana
RESPONSES • METASTASIS OF FREEDOM
The boat no longer floats peacefully
“Gradually and surely, we have felt what the metastases of freedom are, what we have done as a cohesive and fractured community, and what our future holds. Which is to say that Olja Grubić is a master of combining ambiguity, humour, subversive contradictions and idiosyncratic approaches to the deadly serious issues that affect us all.” Dnevnik, Ljubljana
RESPONSES • MANDIĆCIRCUS
The actor as manic fragment and shock therapist
“Mandić cannot be reduced to narcissism. He is an actor who constantly shatters his image in the mirror. A powerful actor. His performance is memorable – it is a performance/announcement, a performance/manifesto, a performance/challenge. A celebration and a “horror” reflection on the acting and the actor.” Novi list, Zagreb
