Fifth Anniversary of the Temporary Slovenian Dance Archive at the +MSUM

April 18th marks the passing of five years since the Temporary Slovenian Dance Archive (ZSPA) was given a new home on the first floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, and with it the rich collection, which was created on the initiative of Rok Vevar and with the support of Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia, was given its own public space and additional visibility.

During this period, the ZSPA has hosted a large number of seminars, public guided tours of the archive, exhibitions, talks and collaborations with artists, creators, researchers and students of various disciplines, as well as several donations, which have given the collection additional importance and visibility. Together with partners from the region (Nomad Dance Academy Croatia, Objekt plesa, Lokomotiva and Stanica), we are currently establishing a digital database, where the archival materials will also be available in digital form, making them accessible to national and international researchers and the general public.

On this occasion, we invite everyone to join us for a toast and to get to know some of the creative forms resulting from the research and artistic work of the initiator and custodian of the ZSPA, Rok Vevar, as well as related approaches of other artists, this time represented by the German duo WILHELM GROENER. 

Organisation and production by Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia and MG+MSUM Partners.

Rok Vevar: guided tour of the Temporary Slovenian Dance Archive
Wednesday, 24 May 2023 at 5:00 p.m., TSDA (first floor) 
The guided tour will be given in English

The ZSPA archivist will present the systematised materials arranged in a large number of system units (choreographic folders, folders of tours, festivals, the Slovenian Contemporary Dance Association, folders of artists, pedagogical programmes in the field of contemporary dance, etc.) in the form of a story, together with some of the most recent archival acquisitions. He will talk about overlooked aspects of the history of contemporary dance in Slovenia and the need to reassemble historical interpretations from scattered information. He will take the visitor into the rich historical-social context from which contemporary dance in Slovenia has always re-formed its various artistic and functional manifestations throughout the twentieth century. He will also present some of the plans that NDA Slovenia has for the medium term with the Temporary Slovenian Dance Archive.

WILHELM GROENER: performing archive @ the Temporary Slovene Dance Archives 
Sunday, 28 May 2023 at 6:00 p.m., TSDA (first floor)

The presentation of the German artist duo WILHELM GROENER* is a playful hybrid between lecture and performance. It reflects their current artistic research entitled "performing archive", which goes beyond their oeuvre of more than 20 years and deals with the possibilities of linking the opposing concepts of the archival and the performative. The archives' methods, rhythms and connotations provide the structural threads from which visuals, body, sound and space are woven into a performative fabric with multiple narratives and enduring transformations. 
 
WILHELM GROENER – since 2001 visual artist Mariola Groener and dancer Günther Wilhelm have combined their names and arts to form the WILHELM GROENER label. For the artist duo, their Alter Ego is a kind of third space in which their multilayered work is created in constant expansion, friction and transformation. So far WILHELM GROENER’s oeuvre covers 25 stage works, numerous stations of their ongoing performance project 33 SKIZZEN, several video works, art editions, publications and exhibitions.

More info:
www.wilhelmgroener.net
www.framesfragmentsfrequencies.net

 

Rok Vevar: Along the Urban Pathways of the History of Slovenian Contemporary Dance and Theatre

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 at 5:00 p.m. | gathering place in front of the Moderna galerija (in English)

Wednesday, 31 May 2023 at 5:00 | gathering place in front of the Moderna galerija (in Slovene)
* In case of rain, the event will be postponed.  
 

In recent years, Slovenia has also witnessed a tremendous growth in tours of the capital through the prisms of different communities or cultural-historical highlights, in which visitors learn about the stories hidden behind the walls of buildings and institutions, our past and present, on a two-hour walk. This year’s guided tour will not be special in this respect, as participants will once again learn about the many architectural landmarks of the city and historical facts related to the development of Ljubljana and Slovenia, along with interesting stories, but on this occasion the focus will be on contemporary dance and theatre.  

On this walk we will get to know the venues of the first contemporary dance schools in Ljubljana, the period of its coexistence with ballet; we will try to clarify the causes and consequences of their separation, the venues and struggles of extra-institutional artistic practices, the establishment and development of the alternative and the most significant festivals as well as other gathering places as major pillars of social life. Rok Vevar, the guide, will be reflecting on this tour around Ljubljana through the prism of uncovering an overlooked part of history, highlighting in particular the role of women artists and their unwavering stance when confronted with the numerous obstacles of a masculine-centric world.