Breathe
Olja Grubić
![wp_strip_all_tags($slide['text']['big_title'])](https://vntheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Shift-116-Breathe_Photo31.webp)
Breathe and let others breathe
We live between our first and last breath. We breathe to live. We live as we breathe. Breathing brings oxygen to the brain. Breathing produces thoughts. Breathing is life, existence, thought. Through minimalist action, we instantiate the basic human right to exist. We let ourselves breathe. Let others breathe.
On 16 April 2021, the first performance was interrupted by the police. The performers were ordered to pay a fine for public indecency. With the help of the Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy and lawyer Tina Kikelj, VN filed a request for judicial protection against the payment order, as the participants were exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of artistic expression by baring their bodies. “The denunciation and the repressive police response to the artistic action confirmed the need to draw attention to the lack of tolerance and goodwill in society,” the legal network wrote.
Olja Grubić posted on Facebook: “Today someone denounced our installation Breathe, the police came and we stopped breathing.” On 26-09-2021, the Ljubljana Police Department dismissed the case against the performers on the grounds that “artistic expression is protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, Article 59 of which provides for freedom of artistic expression. Freedom of artistic expression can be defined as a special form of freedom of expression under Article 39 (Commentary on the Constitution, 2010) … According to the case-law of the ECtHR, artistic expression may be shocking to an individual or to a group of persons and yet fall within the field of artistic expression, which may not be sanctioned.”
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Photo: Marcandrea
Breathe
2021 • Shift
Installation of bodies • 60 min
Concept — Olja Grubić
Performers — Aleksandra Kmetič, Anita Wach, Delajda Didi Solin, Ena Kurtalić, Ines Šimunić, Jernej Škof, Kristina Aleksova, Lina Akif, Loup Abramovici, Mitja Lovše, Nina Goropečnik, Olja Grubić, Rea Vogrinčič, Sara Horžen, Tim Lončar, Timotej Novaković, Tina Habun, Zala Mojca Jerman Kuželički
Coordinator and producer — Špela Trošt
Production — Via Negativa
Co-production — Zavod Sploh
