text: Via Negativa - Culture of Slovenia
  Via Negativa, društvo za sodobne scenske umetnosti
  http://www.vntheatre.com
  info@vntheatre.com
  Na Peči 12, SI-1000 Ljubljana
  386 (0) 31 656 417
  Bojan Jablanovec, Artistic Director
  bojan@vntheatre.com
  386 (0) 41 389 284
  spela@vntheatre.com
  The performance 365 Falls by Via Negativa at Forum Freies Theater in Düsseldorf, Germany
  The performance The Ninth by Via Negativa at the international figuren.theater.festival at Theater der Jungen Welt in Nürnberg, Germany
  Tonight I Celebrate, a concert performance by Uroš Kaurin and Tomaž Grom, produced by Via Negativa, at the Antistatic International Festival of Contemporary Dance and Performance at DNK – Space for Contemporary Dance and Performance in Sofia, Bulgaria
  25 November to 1 December 2018
  The performances The Idiots, directed by Nina Rajić Kranjac and produced by Mladinsko Theatre; Hero 2.0 by Uroš Kaurin and Vito Weis, produced by Moment Arts and Culture Association and En-Knap Productions; 365 Falls by Via Negativa; and a concert by Laibach, at the Desiré Central Station at Kosztolányi Dezső Theatre in Subotica, Serbia organiser more
  The Ninth by Via Negativa at the International Theatre Festival MESS at Sarajevo War Theatre in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  19 November to 27 November 2017
  The Ninth - The Anthropological Machine powered by Beethoven, a performance produced by Via Negativa, and Simona Semenič's we, european corpses, directed by Sebastijan Horvat and produced by Mladinsko Theatre, at the Desiré Central Station Festival at Jadran Stage, Kosztolányi Dezső Theatre in Subotica, Serbia
  Hundred Toasts, a solo performance by Anita Wach, directed by Bojan Jablanovec and produced by Via Negativa, at the Teatri di Vetro Festival at Carrozzerie N.O.T in Rome, Italy
  28 September to 29 September 2017
  The Ninth, a performance produced by Via Negativa, at Forum Freies Theater in Düsseldorf, Germany
  Promising! #10, performed by Loup Abramovici and Tomaž Grom with special guest Roberta Milevoj, produced by Via Negativa and co-produced by Sploh Institute, at the Electro Camp Festival at C32 Performing Art Work Space in Venice, Italy
  Oops, a performance by Anita Wach (Via Negativa), at Nitka Festival, at Fabrik in Potsdam, Germany
  On the Right Track, a cabaret of the political absurd produced by Via Negativa, at the Festival Natura Dei Teatri at Lenz Teatro in Parma, Italy
  20 October to 21 October 2014
  On The Right Track and In Transition, produced by Via Negativa, at Mad House in Helsinki, Finland
  The lecture Hunt for the Real by Bojan Jablanovec (Via Negativa) at the Spectacular - Laboratory for performing arts in San Vito dei Normanni, Italy
  29 June to 2 July 2013
  The gallery performance, exhibition and video installation Via MSU Zagreb - No One Should Have Seen This produced by Via Negativa, the solo performance Drop Dead by Katarina Stegnar, and a trip to the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies (KSEVT) accompanied by Dragan Živadinov as a part of Eurokaz Festival at Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Croatia
  Who is next, a performance by Janez Janša (Maska Institute) and Via Negativa at the LIMIT - Live Art Festival in Belgrade, Serbia
  25 June to 3 July 2012
  MandićMachine by Marko Mandić and Bojan Jablanovec, and produced by Via Negativa; Re-/de-/Construction: Class Enemy produced by Mladinsko Theatre; and Divine Comedy, choreographed by Edward Clug, music by Milko Lazar and Borut Kržišnik, at the 39th International Festival of Alternative and New Theatre in Novi Sad, Serbia
  Oops, a dance solo by Anita Wach, directed by Bojan Jablanovec and coproduced by Via Negativa at Tanzhaus NRV in Düsseldorf, Germany
  23 May to 26 May 2012
  A workshop and seminar by Bojan Jablanovec (Via Negativa) on the symposium The Mobile Artists at Esitystaiteen Keskus Performance Center in Suvilahti in Helsinki, Finland
  23 February to 24 February 2012
  Solo performances Viva Mandić! by Marko Mandić and Invalid by Primož Bezjak, produced by Via Negativa at Black Box Theater in Oslo, Norway
  Performance what joseph beuys told me while i was lying dead in his lap directed by Bojan Jablanovec, produced by Via Negativa at Natura dei teatri Festival at Lenz Teatro in Parma, Italy
  Drop Dead, performance by Katarina Stegnar, produced by Via Negativa at the IHF SkupiFestival in Skopje, North Macedonia
  20 October to 29 October 2011
  Dance performances by Rosana Hribar/Gregor Luštek, Mala Kline, Branko Potočan and theatre performances Tonight I Celebrate and Mandićstroj (Via Negativa at the Perforacije Festival in Zagreb, Croatia
  Via Negativa at the festival of live art New Territories and in Winter School Glasgow at Center for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, United Kingdom
  Established by the stage director Bojan Jablanovec in 2002 in Ljubljana, Via Negativa is an international platform for the research, development and production of contemporary performing arts. Focused on exploring different performing strategies, with an emphasis on the ethics and liveness of performance practices, procedures and genres, the open-type projects of Via Negativa range from devised theatre pieces, solo and lecture-performances to radical body practices and gallery projects.
  Tonight I Celebrate by VIANEGATIVAtheatre on YouTube
  1 Performance cycles
  1.2 Via Nova
  1.3 Irresolvable
  2 VN Lab
  The concept for Via Negativa evolved out of a need to re-examine the ideas, meanings and explanations that underpin theatrical production and to challenge the dominant production models and normative standards of making theatre. Understanding theatre as a principle of communication rather than aestheticisation, Via Negativa is known for applying a method of reduction in exploring the relationship between the performer and the spectator, which is conceptualised as a complex flow of expectations, judgments, stereotypes, fallacies and prejudices, which trigger various emotional, rational or irrational responses.
  Collaborating with a range of established and emerging makers, Via Negativa has been developing its work through the following performance cycles:
  The cycle (2002–2008) was dedicated to the negative drives of life as the basic dynamic of subjectivity and was developed within the thematic framework of the seven deadly sins. It resulted in seven performances, including Incasso (2005), which received a special jury award at the 11th INFANT International Festival Novi Sad in 2005.
  This performance cycle (2009–2011) reflected on the relationship between creation and destruction, theory and practice, copy and original, presence and absence, and value and price, and featured small format projects, mainly solos or duets, among them also the solo piece by Marko Mandić MandićMachine (2011), which was awarded by the Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia , at the Slovene Festival of Chamber Theatre (SKUP) , and at the INFANT International Festival in Novi Sad. The performance-exhibition Via Nova Museum received the Audience Award for Best Performance at the 2009 edition of Eẋ Ponto International Festival.
  The latest of Via Negativa's cycles (2012–ongoing) addresses the utopian foundations of modern society, ideas such as justice, freedom and equality, which are the subject of permanent ideological manipulations and irresolvable social tensions.
  For more about Via Negativa's projects see below.
  Via Negativa regularly presents its work at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station (initially also at Mini Theatre and Glej Theatre in Ljubljana) and often collaborates with other institutions, for example, Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana, City of Women Festival, Pekinpah Association, Institute Maska, Sploh Institute, etc.
  In cooperation with Bunker Institute, City of Women and Contemporary Dance Association Slovenia, Via Negativa also co-organises the series of public discussions titled "The Audience Council", aimed at encouraging reflection and the exchange of the audience's views.
  The VN Lab is Via Negativa's laboratory for performance art, organised as a series of workshops intended for practitioners from the fields of performance art, theatre, dance, experimental research or body practices to explore the question of why and what to perform. Led by Bojan Jablanovec, Katarina Stegnar and Gregor Zorc and following the method of self-staging, developed on the basis of Via Negativa's creative practice, besides developing individual participant's creative processes, the workshops often result in performance pieces that are presented to the public. The VN Lab is organised in collaboration with Bunker Institute.
  Via Negativa uses workshops to develop a model for the international production of contemporary theatre works that would not be driven by the logic of limiting the number of permanent members. Including international teams of performers, Via Negativa has produced work in collaboration with University of Zagreb – Student Centre – Teatar &TD; the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre Zadar Snova; Kampnagel, Hamburg; Eurokaz, Zagreb; the Croatian National Theatre Opera Zagreb; Oblivia, Helsinki; Maat Festival, Lublin; JaJaJa NeNeNe Association, Warsaw; Forum Freies Theater, Düsseldorf; Tanzhaus nrw, Dusseldorf; etc.
  Via Negativa performances have been presented at various international festivals, such as the Venice Biennial; the Contemporary Drama Festival Budapest; the International Festival Perforacije Dubrovnik; the International Festival of New Theatre Eurokaz; Es.terni Festival – International Festival of Contemporary Creation; Desiree International Theatre Festival Subotica; Fabrik Potsdam; Sacred Homelands Festival, UK; Electro Camp Festival, Venice; Infant Festival; Mladi levi Festival; Exodos International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts; etc.
  Via Negativa website
  Via Negativa projects
  "The Spectator's Performing Body", an article on Via Negativa by Tomaž Krpič in New Theatre Quarterly