The time has come. The time of organisers. The time of stabilising measures. The time of masters. The time of barflies. The time of busy bees. The time of average numbers. Open to suggestions. The time of conformism. The time of laziness of the spirit. The time of the diligent. (N. Korda, 2007)
What is performance art and in what kind of a field does it take place? Does it reflect a discontinuation of theatrical practices, or does it mean a focusing on the “open work”, or does it indicate the end of genres in general? Does “excess energy”, with which the actor on stage tries to “seduce” the audience, simply “run” into other genres, into mediated images, into sound modulations, into a single, endless “jam session”? Offshoot Generator Neven Korda starts from two premises: from the excess of energy, contained in theatre performances as generative units of a discourse that reproduces its own language, and from the sum of genres, which (historically speaking) have derived from the field of the theatrical in the sense of collective play ever since the 1970s. The special “extra-theatrical” position of the project GSV – with its concurrently emerging codification system – is therefore not meant to be a theatrical idiom, but rather an “offshoot” of performative space, a branch that is not dry. Offshoot Generator is connected to the frequency of continuous becoming, of concurrent alternation of genres, and – as regards cultural and artistic production – to a declarative anti-elitist approach. In this context, it is the “offshoot” (and not the trunk, whose roots tie the tree to the ground) that leads towards the sky and multiplies into ever smaller branches.
Offshoot Generator produces theatrical improvisation involving various types of stage performers from the fields of sound, movement, light, visualisation and speech. It is a type of live creation, sometimes a product, sometimes pleasure, sometimes a path, and most often a play that spreads from the field of music and new media to the margins of theatre, media platforms and other fluid forms of performance. This concurrently emerging “construction” is shaped like a continuum without an a priori and complete dramatic structure. The equal “bulks” emerging here are – insofar as they produce the spectacular effect of stage shows – also a satirical critique of the politics and the ideologies of the new state sector – the non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
… in the ruins of metelkovism, there thrive conformism, egoism, laziness of the spirit… black, black, black (N. Korda, 2007)
Neven Korda is an artist working in the field of performative and video arts. He is the director and author of theatre performances, art films, documentaries, and video spots. He also supervises and runs applied video workshops. He is active in the field of archiving and preservation of video recordings. Since 2004, Korda has created eight performances produced by Aksioma Institute: Letters from the Present (Pisma iz sedanjosti, 2004) in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Igor Sviderski and dancer Živa Repovž (Gibanica 2005); TWO (DVA, 2005) in collaboration with Igor Sviderski and Rosana Hribar (Kodeljevo Castle); YYY (2006) at Cankarjev dom; and the performances Jubilee (Jubilej), Lost City (Izgubljeno mesto), Unfortunately (Žalibog, 2007), and Mr Nahtigal (Gospod Nahtigal, 2008) at Dance Theatre Ljubljana (PTL). In these performances, Korda collaborated with a regular group of audio and video manipulators consisting of Borut Kumperščak, Slavko Glamočanin, Luka Prinčič, Luka Dekleva and Aljoša Rot. In November 2009, with a new team of collaborators, he staged the drama performance Echoes (Odmevi) at the Old Power Station (Stara mestna elektrarna).
Offshoot Generator, 24 June 2011, 9.30 pm, at Spanish Fighters, were:
Theorist: Miha Zadnikar
Dancer: Igor Sviderski
Singer: Lady Bird
Acrobats: Anže Kreč and Maj Pavček
Jugglers: Jakob Bergant Tricki, Tjaž Juvan, Oton Korošec
GSV-Manipulator: Neven Korda
Lighting Designer: Davor Balent
Make-Up: Tea Skupek
Sensors and other small technological devices: Brane Ždralo
Sound Manager: Črt Lipovšek
Consultant: Borut Kumperščak
Expert Text: Andreja Kopač
Print Designer: Lijana Veličkovič
Technical Supervisor: Luka Curk
Props (Tomaž Furlan) and the Nahtigal sound recording (Luka Prinčič) from previous performances has been used.
Acknowledgments: Janez Štamberger, Boštjan Čadež Fšk, Zavod SCCA , VPK – Video produkcija Kregar, Cirkus pri koritu