Still Life

Retreat into stillness

Still Life is a loop of three traditional forms: still life as a visual form, ballet as a form of movement, and verse as a form of thought. The transgression of the traditional norm, as a socially accepted convention, was once considered an excess: an immoderate, excessive, hysterical reaction. Until the 17th century, hysteria was considered an exclusively female disease, supposedly caused by uterine dysfunction, with sexual intercourse, orgasm and pregnancy prescribed as therapy. Today, hysteria is no longer a woman’s disease, and excess is no longer considered an act of transgression or rebellion – it exists only as a normalised protocol for the democratisation (hysterisation) of the norm. Even a ballerina urinating into a teapot is not an excess or an act of rebellion, but merely another aestheticized gesture of her submission and the sheer pleasure of being able to do so. This is a time of hysterical still life. A retreat into stillness.

Still Life

2010 • Via Nova
Dance performance • 30 min

Concept — Nataša Živković, Bojan Jablanovec
Direction — Bojan Jablanovec
Performers — Nataša Živković and Secret Guests
Music — Klemen Bračko
Music performed by – Klemen Bračko (violin), Eva Jurgec (oboe), Mirela Rihtar (cello)
Light design — Igor Remeta
Producer — Špela Trošt
Production — Via Negativa