You are browsing the archived website of the Maribor Theatre Festival - to visit current website, click here.

Maribor Theatre Festival — Archive 2010 - 2016

Performing Arts, Migration, Politics: Slovenian Theatre as an Agent of Intercultural Exchange

International conference organised by the Research Programme of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television of the University of Ljubljana (AGRFT UL) in collaboration with the 50th Maribor Theatre Festival

21 October 2015 | 9.30 | A. Trstenjak Hall, University of Maribor
22 October 2015 | 10.00 | A. Trstenjak Hall, University of Maribor

The adoption, borrowing and appropriation of elements from neighbouring and distant cultures has characterised all territories and sociopolitical formations throughout history. In the Slovenian territory, however, the intertwinement of various cultures gives rise to eminent research questions, since Slovenia is situated at the crossroads of Slavic, Germanic and Romanic cultures. The Slovenian territory has been continuously exposed to dynamic tensions that have called for a constant redefining of what is supposed to be authentically Slovenian and have simultaneously devalued any specificities that have appeared. The dynamics between the ethnocentric tendency and the necessity of transnational connections have also profoundly shaped the development of the Slovenian theatre.

The earliest evidence of the Slovenian theatre already reflects its hybrid cultural origins. The oldest entirely preserved text in the Slovenian territory intended for performing is The Škofja Loka Passion (1721) by capuchin Lovrenc Marušič. Written in Slovenian, German and Latin languages, this trilingual text is also the oldest preserved production book in Europe. At the beginning of the 20th century, the professionalisation of the Slovenian theatre was decisively influenced by the directors and actors from the neighbouring Slavic cultures (especially Czech and Croatian) as well as from the Germanic territory. The Europeanisation of the Slovenian theatre was furthered by the intercultural connections with its neighbouring countries. This intercultural exchange actively co-shaped the field of the performing arts as influenced by the migration politics in various sociopolitical systems.The politics of intercultural exchange were particularly marked by the integration of Slovenians into the monarchy of Austria-Hungary until 1918, then into the multicultural community of Yugoslav nations and nationalities (from 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenians, from 1929, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and from 1945 to 1991, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

The subject of the conference is the politics, aesthetics and ethics of the intercultural exchange between the Slovenian, Germanic and Romanic cultures in the Slovenian performing arts of the 20th and 21st centuries. We are interested in the interactions between the Slovenian artists and their colleagues abroad: how they are integrated into performance practices; how they generate strategies of production, promotion and perception; and how they influence the shaping of cultural trends. The goal of the conference is to research the significance of these interactions in the wider region (Central and Southeast Europe), and their role in the context of the European theatre.

These issues will be discussed by researchers from Slovenia and abroad. Keynote lectures will be given by the Slovenian historian and researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History in Ljubljana, Aleš Gabrič, and emeritus professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Warwick (UK) and the former president of the International Federation for Theatre Research, Janelle Reinelt.

Conference chair: Barbara Orel (University of Ljubljana, AGRFT)
Programme committee: Blaž Lukan (University of Ljubljana, AGRFT), Aldo Milohnić (University of Ljubljana, AGRFT), Alja Predan (Maribor Theatre Festival), Milija Gluhovic (University of Warwick)

The research programme (P6-0376) is conducted by the UL AGRFT research group and supported by the Slovenian Research Agency.

Schedule

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

9:30–9:45 Opening welcome
Tomaž Gubenšek
, Dean of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana
Alja Predan, Artistic Director of the Maribor Theatre Festival
Barbara Orel, Head of the Research Programme of the AGRFT UL

9:45–11:30 Keynote lectures
Aleš Gabrič
Between Sloveneness and Cosmopolitanism
Janelle Reinelt The Value(s) of Intercultural Performance         

11:30–11:45 Coffee break

11:45–14:00
Slovenian Theatre as a Crossroads of Cultures in the First Half of the 20th Century
Chair: Barbara Orel

Sandra Jenko German Theatre in Slovenia
Darja Koter European Cultural Migration and Ljubljana Opera in the Period of Director Mirko Polič (1925–1939)
Aldo Milohnić Theatre Nomads: The work of Slovenian directors on Yugoslav stages in the first half of the 20th century
Hasan Zahirović Slovenian-Czech Theatre Relations in the First Half of the 20th Century
Uroš Trefalt The Puppet: A connector between Slovenians and Czechs

14:00–15:30 Lunch break

15:30–17:45
Politics, Aesthetics and Ethics of Intercultural Exchange
Chair: Gašper Troha

Milena Dragićević Šešić Intercultural Dialogue in and through the Performing Arts in Southeast Europe
Katarina Pejović An On-Going Affair: The presence of Slovenian theatre at BITEF and their mutual influence
Blaž Lukan Ristić in Slovenia
Tomaž Toporišič The East-West Map: The perception of Slovenian post-dramatic theatre in the East and the West
Barbara Orel Intracultural Theatre and Performing Slovenian National Identity

 

Thursday, 22 October 2015

10:00–12:15
Representations of Slovenian Theatre in Southeast Europe
Chair: Milena Dragičević Šešić

Almir Bašović Slovenian Theatre in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Journal Pozorište
Nataša Glišić Cross-cultural Exchanges: Slovenian artists on theatre stages of Republika Srpska
Janko Ljumović Slovenian-Montenegrin Theatre Cooperation: The Post-Yugoslav experience
Ana Stojanoska Macedonian-Slovenian Theatre Relations
Mateja Pezdirc Bartol, Ljudmil Dimitrov Slovenian-Bulgarian Theatre Contacts: Performances, translations, reception

12:15–14:00 Lunch break

14:00–16:15
Migration and Transcultural Identifications
Chair: Aldo Milohnić

Katarina Podbevšek Intercultural and Interlingual Influences on Slovenian Stage Speech
Gašper Troha Translations and Performances of Slovenian Drama Abroad
Rok Vevar The Intercultural Influences in Contemporary Dance in Slovenia
Milija Gluhovic Migrations, Trauma and Otherness in Contemporary Slovenian Theatre
Nenad Jelesijević Contemporary Performing Arts Practices beyond the Status of Difference

16:15 – 16:30 Coffee break

16:30 – 17:30
Intercultural Performance in Contemporary Slovenian Theatre

Presentations by students of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana
Chair: Barbara Orel

Katarina Košir Roma Theatre Activities in Slovenia
Anja Rošker The Latest Slovenian Theatre Aesthetics in Dialogue with the East
Nataša Berce How to Catch the Spirit of Nô Plays
Barbara Pia Jenič Sensorial Theatre Language