Slovakia » Makers
Zmok
ZMOK – black as an expression of death, downfall, sadness, destruction, and luxury too. Black - a color or non-color that provides us with a link to our past, as well as to stories that form part of our present. Like the Zmok. A creature that we had seemingly forgotten, but is still present in our tales. The hobgoblin as a motif of folk superstitions, present in songs, theatre and old folk's tales. It is said that this wet black chicken brings luck. But how to catch a Zmok? Simple: just carry an egg laid by a black hen under your arm for nine days. For this it will fulfil any wish you may have. The hobgoblin, however, takes its toll, and aksk you to sign away your soul in return. The Zmok is to be used then got rid of - as you can see in our installation, during which we are planning to raise our own Zmok, keeping it on the boundary between the past and the present, good and evil. Decadent black food enclosed in a white egg that you can take away with you in a small black box. Have you got your Zmok? This HAPPENING is inspired by Slovakian superstitions, myths and folk magic, which has been present in the very essence of folklore since pre-Christian times. We find both helpful and harmful beings in traditional songs, theatre and oral narratives, and this is why it appears in the sources of both our oldest and most contemporary literature. For this reason, too, the happening is not based solely on a specific theatre production or dramatic work, but is based on a myth that has been present in the regions of Slovakia for centuries and which caught our interest because we wee, too, form part of the culture of our forbears. We have transformed the superstition about the Zmok into a form that corresponds to the project task - it is both historical, and contemporary, it stimulates and innovates. the idea of staging ZMOK came about specially for the Makers project.