CARTE BLANCHE
Contemporary theatre performance
Author’s Statement
I have been active for many years as a theatre performer, author, choreographer and director. In my research and artistic work I would often began with different concepts, ideas and topics (for example I have researched Slavic and Japanese mythology, body culture in socialist countries, war as a personal reflexion and as a constant in human history, the moment of imperceptible departure or of „sprouting“ of an idea, works by Chekhov, Krleza, Kamov and Kafka, etc.) which I would then develop and materialise with my collaborators in the studio or at a specific location. However, at the moment, I find this starting point unacceptable and unsatisfactory. Moreover, it looks to me like it is inadequate to explore with the body, movement, images and sounds from any mental and verbal preconception. Therefore, the initiating concept to work on this theatre performance was to be in search of a performing/scenic material that has its origin in spontaneous body sensorial explorations of movement, sound and space, and not in a verbally or mentally pre-organized material.
My primary medium of expression is movement. Movement is essentially non verbal. This opposition verbal – non verbal I do not equate with the opposition real – abstract or quotidian – stylized. Non verbal means to me something that has a different logic and range of expression and communication capabilities than words.
Previously I had been researching a theatrical principle of creation called „reverse metaphor“. This is a way of working that originates from the body, movement, feeling, state, momentary circumstances (personal and general) and which only by the end of the process can be mentally elaborated and verbalized. At the moment I am interested in such work but in a group, with different artists such as dancers, performers, mime artists and actors, costume designers, musicians, light designers, dramaturgs, voice artists, movement artists etc. Apart from working in a studio I am also interested in scenic material which is a response to a certain specific location.
Through this project I would like to give to artistic creation an unlimited autonomy, authority and freedom of choice of the way it wants to be realized. Together with my collaborators, I would like to feel the collective moment without verbalisations, in other words, without putting a label on it. Also, the aim of this project is to free the audience of the pressure of (non)understanding and (un)correct interpretation of a certain, given meaning. I would like to intensify the feeling of freedom and bring personal experience into focus. This project openly asks the audience to keep bringing out their own understanding and giving their own meaning and value while actively following the process of the performance.
Ivana Peranic
Concept, Choreographer, Director, Dramaturg: Ivana Peranic
Collaborator for Choreography, Directing, Dramaturgy: Jorge Correa Bethencourt
Performers and Devisers: Lorena Zuvic, Jorge Correa Bethencourt, Ivana Peranic
Music: Japanese Premiers – Marin Jurcic, Enver Krivac, Moris Mateljan
Light Design: Dalibor Fugosic
Graphic Design: Andrea Kustic
Production: Arts Organization Creative Laboratory of Contemporary Theatre KRILA, Rijeka
The programme was funded by the City of Rijeka and the Croatian Ministry of Culture.
Very special thanks to Tajči Čekada, Zvonimir Peranić and the Croatian House of Culture members of staff.
Team of Artists
Ivana Peranic – Concept, Choreographer, Director, Dramaturg; Deviser and Performer
Theatre practitioner, performer, choreographer, pedagogue. She has collaborated with diverse performing artists and groups from Croatia and abroad and participated in numerous festivals across Europe. She graduated and post graduated at the International School of Corporeal Mime in London where she was a member of the renown theatre company Theatre de l’Ange Fou. She is a co-founder and an active member of Teatar Rubikon from Rijeka which has been having an important influence on the development, promotion and establishment of the contemporary, experimental and physical theatre in Rijeka and Croatia from 1990-ties until nowadays. She is also co-founder and director of the Arts Organization Creative Laboratory of Contemporary Theatre KRILA (2011) through which she has led and created regular educational programme for children, youngsters and adults, as well as organized professional development programmes for artists and young creators.
Jorge Correa Bethencourt – Collaborator for Choreography, Directing, Dramaturgy; Deviser and Performer
Theatre practitioner and mime artist, author, choreographer, director and pedagogue. Graduated (Dramatic Corporeal Mime) and postgraduated (Directing and Teaching) at The International School of Corporeal Mime in London where he worked as an assistant and artistic collaborator with the theatre masters Steven Wasson and Corinne Soum. As a performer he participated in numerous festivals in Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Great Britain, Poland, India, South Korea and Croatia. He finished the post-graduation course MA Movement Studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He is one of the initiators and an active member of the Creative Laboratory of Contemporary Theatre KRILA in Rijeka where he leads regular programme Physical Theatre and Dramatic Corporeal Mime. In Croatia he has collaborated with theatre and performing artists and associations such as Studio Lila, Teatar Rubikon, Pomodori Rijeka, Drugo more and Domino among others. He was born in Spain in 1973. Since 2011 he lives and works in Rijeka, Croatia.
Lorena Zuvic – Costume Designer, Deviser and Performer
Graduate of the BA study at the Academy of the Applied Arts in Rijeka; course Applied Graphics, main module Costume Design. She is a member of Rijeka’s Rubikon Theatre (performances InterNetWork, Fusion, Fusion B), Creative Laboratory of Contemporary Theatre KRILA (performances Birds and A Day in the Life) and Oz Theatre (A Tree with the Heart). She did the costume design for the performance Birds, as well as for a few smaller projects as part of Lidrano and for Oz Theatre. She is interested in jewellery making, street juggling, singing in Rijeka’s band Officer Down, in short, all kinds of creative activities related to the applied visual arts, movement and voice.
Japanski premijeri (Japanese Premiers) – Music
The main core of this eclectic musical collective is a quartet whose members are Marin Juricic, Enver Krivac, Moris Mateljan and Petra Grzetic. In the past they were all playing in some significant Rijeka’s rock bands such as Mandrili, Kwadrat nodnoll, Sjekire and Marinada and were active on the Liburnia jazz scene. They played live music for the site specific performances Factory in Progress in 2011 and Fenice: In Progress in 2012. Their live performances are based on exploring the melody and timbre while following the corporeal expression of the performer, while their studio work has been an amalgam of the conventional compositional approach mixed with the travelogues which is also called field recording. Apart from music, the band members, together or individually, have been actively exploring and practicing literature, comic books, illustrations, mural painting, theatre and cinematography. Some of them have been really successful in their field, having received positive reviews and being awarded by professional associations. For Spaziergang Schallplaten they released the following albums Japanska Premijera (2010) and Aeronippon EP (2011).
Dalibor Fugosic – Light Designer
Light Designer, member of ULUPUH (Croatian Association of Visual and Applied Arts Artists). Since 2005 he has been working as a technical equipment coordinator at the Croatian House of Culture in Susak. His first light designing experience includes assisting renown Croatian light desiner Deni Sesnic in 1998 for the performance Pinnocchio performed by the dance company Icaro Dance Dimension. His first independent light design was in 2001 for the performance Quartett created and performed by the HKD Teatar from Rijeka. Since then he has been collaborating with numerous established artists in almost 30 theatre peformances and 50 dance productions, including several concerts and exhibitions. As a light and sound technician he has worked on more than a hundred different programmes. Apart from doing light design, he also works for a number of festivals in Croatia, such as the International Festival of Small Scenes in Rijeka, the International Theatre of Chamber Theatre Golden Lion in Umag and Dance Week Festival in Rijeka, being in charge of their technical organization. His wider interests include photography and film.
Production
Creative Laboratory of Contemporary Theatre KRILA is an Arts Organization initiated in 2011 in Rijeka, Croatia, by theatre and performing artists Ivana Peranic and Jorge Correa Bethencourt. Our vision is to create an explorative environment, creative space and collaborative dynamics in the field of contemporary theatre in Rijeka and Croatia, as well as developing the city and the region as strong and vibrant center of new tendencies in theatre and performing arts, connected with the European and worldwide centers of that art.
Our activities include fostering contemporary theatre, mime and dance creation and production in the field of contemporary; exploration of the processes of the artistic creation; publishing materials in relation to the organization’s activities; organization and production of educational programmes such as seminars and workshops; exploration of new ways of artistic activism; collaboration and networking.