Seven Deadly Sins

Subjectivisation via negativa

For the Via Negativa platform, mortal sins represent a generally recognisable thematic field that constitutes an archetypal front of conflict in the relationship between the subject and society. For the Catholic Church, anger, laziness, lust, gluttony, greed, envy and pride represent the origin of evil; on the other side, the legal system controls them through mechanisms of repression and treats them as motives for potential crime. As a society we build collective mechanisms of “defence against sin” (law, education, religion) and establish a systemic regime of constant control at all levels of social life. As individuals, under the pressure of our own subjectivity, we are in constant tension with the moral imperatives of the social norm and in constant danger of slipping into the pleasure of the “forbidden”. We therefore develop various individual and social forms of yielding to the unbearable pressure of ‘temptation’, regulated by punitive policies and moral norms, and thus maintaining the conventional illusion of normality.

Via Negativa enters the field of the seven deadly sins through the method of self-perception and establishes a performance situation in which it considers “sin” as a constitutive moment of all subjectivation and socialisation. The identity of the subject is formed through its repression, socialisation is based on its control. The makers treat “sin” as an agent with which to shape the performance situation, the artistic gesture and the relationship with the audience. At this stage, we are interested in theatre primarily as a medium of communication, not of aestheticisation.

At the end of the Seven Deadly Sins cycle, the Maska publishing house published the book The No, Via Negativa 2002 – 2008, which contains a documented chronology as well as essays and studies on the performance strategies of Via Negativa. The first performances in the Via Nova series, based on essay Erasing the Audience by Blaž Lukan and On the Powerlessness of Radical Consumption by Bojana Kust, were also staged before the publication of the book.

Concept and artistic direction
Bojan Jablanovec

Devised and performed by
Barbara Kukovec • Barbara Matijević • Bojan Jablanovec • Boris Kadin • Boris Mihalj • Branko Jordan • Darko Japelj • Daša Doberšek • Dylan Tighe • Gaber Kristjan Trseglav • Grega Zorc • Iva Babić • Iva Burčul • Jaka Lah • Katarina Stegnar • Kristian Al Droubi • Marko Mandić • Matej Recer • Mateja Pucko • Nataša Živković • Petra Govc • Petra Zanki • Primož Bezjak • Rok Matek • Sanela Milošević • Silvia Marchig • Uroš Kaurin

Producer
Špela Trošt

Photo and video documentation
Daniel Budin • Marcandrea Bragalini • Bojan Jablanovec

Co-producers and partners
B-51 Cultural Society, Ljubljana • Posthogeschool Voor Podiumkunsten, Antwerpen • MuHKA, Antwerpen • Delhaize Supermarket, Antwerpen • Novi Sad Cultural Centre • EkS-scena, Zagreb • Eurokaz festival, Zagreb • Kampnagel, Hamburg • CNT Opera Zagreb • Zalet, Zadar • Zadar snova festival, Zadar • Teatar &TD, Zagreb • Balkan Irish Arts Forum, Dublin • Gallery of Modern Art, Ljubljana • Glej Theatre, Ljubljana • Bunker, Ljubljana