Retrospective 2002-2012

The more everything is visible, the less we see

10 years of Via Negativa

Excess, as one of the performing strategies, has strongly marked the first decade of VN. Transgressive acts, nudity, provocation, shock, etc. have never been cheap means of attracting media attention, but rather deliberate strategies to reveal insights into the paradoxical position that we, as creators and viewers, occupy in the structure of the contemporary pleasure industry.

The more everything is visible, the more everything is revealed to us in the media, the more we indulge in visual pleasure – the less we see. With the same strategy, Via Negativa reflects on its own position in the structure of contemporary art production: what no one should see never reveals some hidden essence of things, but is merely a new spectacular mask covering what we should see.

The video installation No One Should Have Seen This is an “explosion of memory” of all the excesses and transgressive acts – the memory of the nudity, blood, sweat and urine with which the VN performers have soaked contemporary Slovenian and European performing art over the last ten years. The installation includes excerpts from performances in the cycles Seven Deadly Sins (2002-2008), Via Nova (2009-2011) and Irresolvable (2011-2012). The retrospective borrows its title from a 2009 performance by Katarina Stegnar and Bojana Kunst.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Via Negativa, a monograph has been published by Maska, Ljubljana with the title No One Should Have Seen this. The Theatre of Via Negativa 2002 – 2011.

Photo: Dejan Habicht

Photo: Dejan Habicht

Photo: Dejan Habicht

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Retrospective 2002 – 2012

2012 • Video installation
No One Should Have Seen This

Concept and set-up — Bojan Jablanovec
Video editing — Bojan Jablanovec, Marjan Božič
Audio processing — Tomaž Grom
Computer programming — Slavko Glamočanin
Producer — Špela Trošt
Production — Via Negativa

The installation uses excerpts from the VN performances in which they appear:
Anita Wach, Barbara Kukovec, Barbara Matijević, Bojan Jablanovec, Boris Mihalj, Boris Kadin, Darko Japelj, Daša Doberšek, Dylan Tihge, Gaber Kristjan Trseglav, Gregor Zorc, Iva Babić, Jaka Lah, Katarina Stegnar, Kristian Al Droubi, Lada Petrovski Ternovšek, Loup Abramovici, Magdalena Tuka, Marie-Luise Stentebjerg, Marko Mandić, Matej Recer, Mateja Pucko, Nataša Živković, Petra Govc, Petra Zanki, Primož Bezjak, Rok Matek, Sanela Milošević, Tomaž Grom, Uroš Kaurin, Vito Weis

First installation
No One Should Have Seen This: Via Negativa 2002 – 2012
14. 12. 2012 – 13. 01. 2013 • Gallery of Modern Art, Ljubljana

Second installation
No One Should Have Seen This: Via Negativa via MSU Zagreb
02-07-2013 • Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Third installation
No One Should Have Seen This: Via Negativa 2002 – 2012
22. 12. 2015 – 03. 04. 2016 • +MSUM Ljubljana (Art in Slovenia 2005 – 2015)