ART-ACT-BOX: Performing the Exhibition
Interactive contemporary dance performance
Almost 30 performances during 3 years: Zagreb, Barcelona, Novi Sad, Slovenj Gradec in 2016 / Cakovec, Sibenk, Pazin, Zagreb (Jelkovec, Susedgrad), Vukovar, Bedekovcina in 2017 / Split, Rijeka, Porec, Zagreb, Sisak in 2018
Author: Andreja Kulunčić / Choreography: Zrinka Užbinec /
Performers: Zrinka Užbinec, Ana Kreitmeyer, Maja Kalafatić and Mar Medina /
Project curator and coordinator in 2016: Jasna Jakšić / Coordinator in 2017 and 2018: Martina Kontošić /
Research: Tihana Puc, Bella Rupena / Design: Ruta /
Production: Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb and NGO MAPA
Exhibition and contemporary interactive dance performance based on methods and materials the artists used as means of activating the community during the 60s and the 70s. The project started in 2016 as part of the " Performing the Museum", an initiative of four different museums - Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Antoni Tapies Foundation from Barcelona, Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts from Slovenj Gradec and Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina from Novi Sad.
“ART-ACT-BOX” is an object containing easily dismantled props for an art exhibition. The content is based on methods and materials the artists used as means of activating the community or the audience and critically examining the institutions and the socio-political system during the 60s and the 70s. The performer (contemporary dancer) using the A-A-B object „performs the exhibition” together with the audience through choreography composed of motions (gestures) and words (dialogues, readings, statements, recorded materials). The object thus becomes the prop in the performance. The aim is to familiarize the public with this form of art practice and to present the creative tools for creating and communicating the critical content. This is achieved by introducing artistic methods (for instance proposals for actions in public space, theoretical installations, arte utile, direct work, manifests, body gestures etc.) and simple artistic materials (mirrors, scotch tape, colored tapes, marker, pen, flash light, cardboard cubes, postcard etc.) through an interactive performance. The contemporary dancer, following the previously elaborated choreography, takes the elements from the box to create the exhibition, performs certain artworks with movements, and involves the audience as a living part of the choreography. The duration of performance is 45 minutes.
The performance and a content of the box are based on the methods, materials and techniques used in works of art by the Group TOK, the Group of Six Authors, Pino Poggi, the Group KÔD, Bogdanka Poznanović, the Group Bosch+Bosch, the Group Art&Language, and Lygia Clark.
During 2016 it was possible to „invite“ the ART-ACT-BOX performance&exhibtion to any community, institution or informal organization via web sites of the participating museums. Each museum had an A-A-B object and the performance in their own language (Croatian, Slovenian, Spanish and Catalan).
During 2017 and 2018 through NGO MAPA the performances were ogranized on different locations/cites (such as libraries, high schools, elderly homes, cultural centres, hospitals, local communities) in Croatia.
List of performances> PDF publication of performances>
The “ART-ACT-BOX” final exhibition was held in Gallery Striegl in Sisak from 13. to 17.11.2018.
