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The Croatian exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space explores the broader concept of scenography at the intersection between contemporary performance and visual arts practices. It will attempt to shed light on different methods, approaches, activities and objects that can have a powerful scenographic impact without being scenography in and of themselves in terms of creating a spatial stage illusion. Specifically, the exhibition design is based on examples of performances that rely on participation and inclusiveness, that fictionalise real architectural and public urban spaces and aestheticize everyday life. It also looks at the performance space as a place of creative social antagonising and as a nominally consecrated performance space. The exhibition also includes recent examples of performance art that are rarely considered within the context of scenography because of their non-fictional and non-narrative character. This segment highlights artistic practices that, withing the context of performance act, appropriate and activate the performance space or involve the audience as accomplices and actors within the performance. This segment also focuses on the role of different objects, substances, props and typical scenographic constructions in the practice of artistic performance, which are at the very center of events but often remain out of the main focus with respect to the artist. The exhibition presents nine artists or groups – performance artists, directors, and stage designers whose works were performed over the past six years – in the form of short films that were specifically produced for the Prague Quadrennial. The framework in which they are presented is the artist’s or designer’s scenographic installation per se, which also reflects the main theme of Shared Spaces and pulls the viewer into an interactive stage. Croatian Designers Association and Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Siniša Labrović

, Sinj, Croatia
Specialization: visual artist
Education: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb
Participation in other important exhibitions: 2009 Istanbul Biennale, 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale
Additional information: Multimedia artist best known for performances such as Gloria, Punishment and Bandaging the Wounded, and the series Phrase, Pissing and Leisure. He has exhibited at the Istanbul Biennial (2009) and the Venice Architecture Biennale (2012).

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Exhibiting works

• Siniša Labrović: Dokolica (Komunistički manifest) (Leisure (Communist Manifesto)), Crisis? What Crisis?, 9th Trouble Performance Festival, Les Halles (Crisis? What Crisis?, 9th Trouble Performance Festival, Les Halles), 2013 Identification of exhibit: video
  Comments: This participatory performance uses volunteers from the audience as “props” for a public reading of the Communist Manifesto. The performance lasts for as long as it takes for the participating audience members to rebel against the situation they are in.
• Božena Končić Badurina

, Zagreb, Croatia
Specialization: visual artist
Education: Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb
Participation in other important exhibitions: Personal Cuts, Carre d’Art-Musee d'art Contemporain, Nimes, 2014; Space for the Public, Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik, 2012; Blind Date, 104centquatre, Paris, 2012; More Passive..., AiG, NY, 2010
Additional information: The artistic work of Božena Končić Badurina involves performance, intervention and constructed participatory situations examining the power dynamics of human encounters. She has exhibited worldwide.

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Exhibiting works

• Božena Končić Badurina: Štićeni prostor (Protected Space), Muzej moderne i suvremene umjetnosti, Rijeka (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka), 2011 Identification of exhibit: video
  Comments: Two security guards posted at the entrance to one of the rooms in the museum carry out a security check on all who enter. While in the “protected room,” the visitors must follow a number of strict rules inspired by those that often apply at museum venues. The main “content” of the work and its “scenography” is thus security.
• Kata Mijatović

, Branjina, Croatia
Specialization: visual artist
Education: Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence
Participation in other important exhibitions: 55th Venice Biennale (2013)
Additional information: Multimedia artist, primarily works in the media of performance and video. In 1988–1991 she was a member of art group Swamp, and in 2007 she co-founded the artist collective PLEH.

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Exhibiting works

• Kata Mijatović: Bus Kneževo – Osijek (Bus Kneževo – Osijek), Dopust - Festival performansa (Dopust Performance Festival), 2010 Camera: Zoran Pavelić Identification of exhibit: video
  Comments: Standing inside the projection of a video recording of the bus ride through the Baranja region, the artist soaks a part of the projection wall with water, followed by a recitation of the names of the villages through which the bus passes. The performance is a dedication to Baranja’s remote villages, which today are slowly disappearing from the landscape.
• Vlasta Žanić

, Zagreb, Croatia
Specialization: visual artist
Education: Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb
Teaching activities: Adjunct professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Sculpture in Split, Croatia
Additional information: Trained as sculptor, but today works with performance and video art. Her work is mostly concerned with self-referential issues and the evolving relationship with her surroundings and audiences, as well as the transformative potential of media.

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Exhibiting works

• Vlasta Žanić: Recycle Bin (Recycle Bin), Muzej suvremene umjetnosti (Museum of Contemporary Art), 2014 Identification of exhibit: video
  Comments: In this installation/performance, the artist re-examines the stage props that she has used in her performances during the last 10 years. They are set on the stage and reinterpreted in their new, altered, “amplified” meaning. The audience’s random involvement with the props creates an ambience bordering on theater and Fluxus events.
• Borut Šeparović

, Zagreb, Croatia
Specialization: director, choreographer, composer, author, producer, theatre director, teacher, set designer, media artist
Education: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deparment of Comparative Literature and Philosophy; Das Arts (Advanced Studies in Performance Arts), Amsterdam, Holland
Collaboration with theatres: Zagreb Youth Theatre, Zgareb; POGON – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth, Zagreb
Awards: Special Jury Award, Bitef Belgrade, Serbia 2013, 2014
Additional information: Leader of the performance group Montažstroj, since 1989 a trademark of new and different theatre in Croatia. Created a number of interdisciplinary and interactive projects whose final shape and content is often determined by the audience itself.

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Exhibiting works

• Borut Šeparović: 55+ (55+), Montažstroj (Montažstroj), 2012 Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: This unique cultural event is a theater performance, political rally and documentary in the making all at the same time. The 44 protagonists speak right from the stage on their own behalf and on behalf of a whole generation, mapping the road it pursued in the process of developing society.
• BAD co.

, Zagreb
Specialization: director, dramatist, actor, choreographer, author, producer, theatre director, theatre theoretician, teacher, media artist, sound artist
Disciplines: dramaturge
Participation in other important exhibitions: 54th Venice Biennale (2012), documenta 12 Kassel (2007)
Additional information: BADco. is a collaborative performance collective based in Zagreb, Croatia. Its artistic core is Ivana Ivković, Ana Kreitmeyer, Tomislav Medak, Goran Sergej Pristaš, Nikolina Pristaš, Lovro Rumiha and Zrinka Užbinec.

'Goran Sergej Pristaš'

Exhibiting works

• BADco.: Ima li života na sceni? (Is There Life on Stage?), POGON – Zagrebački centar za nezavisnu kulturu i mlade (POGON – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth), 2013, Director: Goran Sergej Pristaš, Daniel Turing (software), Silvio Vujičić (costume design), Alan Vukelić (lighting design) Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: The performance is an artistic exploration of two connected sets of problems: establishing the minimal conditions for life and work on stage (terraforming, networks of relationships, ecosystems, forms of life, communities etc.) and facticity in the theater.
• Boris Bakal

, Zagreb
Specialization: director, actor, theatre director, teacher, set designer, media artist
Disciplines: Urban antropology, Site specific theory, Social science, Architecture, Writer, Activist, Intermedia artist
Education: University of Zagreb, Academy of Dramatic Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Shadow Casters, Orchestra Stolpnik, Theatre &TD, ZKM (Zagreb Youth Theatre), CZKD (Center for Cultural Decontamination, Belgrade), and others
Teaching activities: Visiting scholar at New York University, Stony Brook University, Studio Art Centers Florence; has lectured at DAMU, Manchester University, Pescara University, Leiden University, Budapest Theater University, Hamburg University, ADU (Theater and Film Academy Zagreb) and Philosophy University Zagreb, etc. Founder of the Frooom experimental film school for children and youth.
Participation in other important exhibitions: 1999 Venice Biennale
Awards: Special Jury Award BITEF, Belgrade, Serbia (2007, 2009); ArtsLink Project Award (2003); Presidency of Emilia Romagna project Award (1998, 1999); Eurokaz Project Award (1991) and others.
Additional information: Co-founder of the collective Shadowcasters. His multimedia creations are marked by a pronounced exploration of site/time-specificity and interactivity in the arts.

'Boris Bakal'

Exhibiting works

• Concept by Boris Bakal; text by the team behind “Father Courage”: Otac Hrabrost (Father Courage), Dubrovačke ljetne igre / Bacači Sjenki (Dubrovnik Summer Festival / Shadow Casters), 2013, Director: Boris Bakal, scénografie vytvořena Borisem Bakalem a Leo Vukelićem / Set design developed on site by Boris Bakal and Leo Vukelić Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: Father Courage is a large-scale urban performance through the Old Town of Dubrovnik, driven by the desire to activate the audience’s relationship to its everyday reality. The performance consists of five parts, each taking place simultaneously and passing through the same set of urban locations, meeting the same place-keepers, but not always in the same circumstances.
• Oliver Frljić

, Travnik
Specialization: director, author, theatre director, set designer, scenographer
Education: University of Zagreb, Academy of Dramatic Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Zagreb Youth Theatre; Croatian National Theatre Rijeka; Atelje 212, Belgrade; Mladinsko Theatre, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Additional information: One of the most prominent theatre directors in Croatia and the former Yugoslavia, Frljić is known for his talent in dealing with the most sublime performance issues and most sensitive social problems, which he addresses profoundly and remorselessly.

'Oliver Frljić'

Exhibiting works

• Georg Büchner: Dantonova smrt (Danton’s Death), Dubrovačke ljetne igre, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Dubrovnik, Croatia), 2012, Director: Oliver Frljić, spolupráce na scénickém návrhu Igor Pauška/ set design in collaboration with Igor Pauška Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: This version of “Danton’s Death” deals with both the theatrical and political points of view. Although the play is presented almost as historical fact, the way the audience is positioned reflects the position of the characters as well as the political awareness of the spectator not only in theater, but also in historical and political processes.
• Damir  Bartol Indoš (Damir Bartol Indoš)

, Zagreb
Specialization: director, actor, choreographer, author, producer, theatre director, teacher, set designer, scenographer, sound artist, visual artist
Disciplines: performer, choreographer, sound installation artist
Education: University of Zagreb, Croatia; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy
Collaboration with theatres: Theatre &TD, Student Centre, Zagreb; The Perforations Festival, Zagreb
Teaching activities: peformance and sound installation workshops
Additional information: A living legend of Croatian alternative theatre who builds his performance strategy around the impossibility of political engagement, Damir Bartol Indoš and his company DB Indoš Extreme Musical Theatre have been a truly unique phenomenon for the past several decades.

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Exhibiting works

• Damir Bartol Indoš & Tanja Vrvilo: Tosca 914 (Tosca 914), DBIndoš Kuća ekstremnog muzičkog kazališta (DB Indoš Extreme Musical Theater), 2014 Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: A counter-opera dealing with the technology of political power and individual and social incompatibility as it is understood today. Inspired by the freedom and turmoil of the early 20th century, the mutinous protagonists wish to constantly diminish and, eventually, eradicate the powers of the state, as well as its pure existence.
• Tanja Vrvilo

, Zagreb, Croatia
Specialization: dramatist, actor, author, stage manager, curator
Disciplines: performer, filmologist, film curator
Education: Academy of Dramatic Arts, Zagreb (acting), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb (film studies)
Collaboration with theatres: DB Indos House of Extreme Music Theatre, Theatre &TD, The Perforations Festival
Teaching activities: Béla Tarr film.factory at Sarajevo Film Academy
Continuing collaboration with directors: Damir Bartol Indoš
Additional information: Tanja Vrvilo works as a filmologist and film curator, as well as a performer and co-author of experimental theatre productions. She is the author of numerous essays and publications and gives regular lectures in the fields of cinema and the visual and performing arts.

'Damir Bartol Indoš & Tanja Vrvilo'

Exhibiting works

• Damir Bartol Indoš & Tanja Vrvilo: Tosca 914 (Tosca 914), DBIndoš Kuća ekstremnog muzičkog kazališta (DBIndos House of Extreme Music Theater), 2014, Director: Damir Bartol Indoš & Tanja Vrvilo Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: A counter-opera dealing with the technology of political power and individual and social incompatibility as it is understood today. Inspired by the freedom and turmoil of the early 20th century, the mutinous protagonists wish to constantly diminish and, eventually, eradicate the powers of the state, as well as its pure existence.
• Igor Pauška

, Bjelovar, Croatia
Specialization: art manager, set designer, lighting designer, media artist, scenographer, visual artist
Education: University of Zagreb, Croatia, Academy of Fine Arts
Collaboration with theatres: Theatre &td, Zagreb, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Žar Ptica Theatre, Zagreb Youth Theatre, etc.
Continuing collaboration with directors: Oliver Frljić , Dora Ruždjak Podolski
Additional information: Multimedia artist and set designer with a specific interest in multi-layered performance spaces. As a light and multimedia consultant, he collaborates with architectural and design studios on intercultural, architectural and design-related projects.

'Oliver Frljić'

Exhibiting works

• Georg Büchner: Dantonova smrt (Danton’s Death), Dubrovačke ljetne igre, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Dubrovnik, Croatia), 2012, Director: Oliver Frljić Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: This version of “Danton’s Death” deals with both the theatrical and political points of view. Although the play is presented almost as historical fact, the way the audience is positioned reflects the position of the characters as well as the political awareness of the spectator not only in theater, but also in historical and political processes.
• Leo  Vukelić

, Zagreb, Croatia
Specialization: architect, actor, media artist, scenographer, visual artist
Education: University of Zagreb, Croatia, Academy of Fine Arts; Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, Germany
Collaboration with theatres: Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Žar Ptica Theatre, Zagreb, Drama Thetare Gavella, Virovitica Theatre
Continuing collaboration with directors: Boris Bakal, Dražen Ferenčina, Dario Harjaček, Oliver Frljić ...
Additional information: Frequently exhibiting in Croatia and internationally, Vukelić researches the medium of photography and executes his works as photo-collages, billboards and space installations, which are often part of his always functionally theatrical set designs.

'Boris Bakal'

Exhibiting works

• Concept by Boris Bakal; text by the team behind “Father Courage”: Otac Hrabrost (Father Courage), Dubrovačke ljetne igre / Bacači Sjenki (Dubrovnik Summer Festival / Shadow Casters), 2013, Director: Boris Bakal, Set design developed on site by Boris Bakal and Leo Vukelić Identification of exhibit: photo, video
  Comments: Father Courage is a large-scale urban performance through the Old Town of Dubrovnik, driven by the desire to activate the audience’s relationship to its everyday reality. The performance consists of five parts, each taking place simultaneously and passing through the same set of urban locations, meeting the same place-keepers, but not always in the same circumstances.