The dance performance The Slumberland is based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, a graphic masterpiece of dreams and fantasy, that appeared weekly in the New York Herald from 1905 to 1911. In it, a young boy’s fantastic dreams were depicted in the style of Art Nouveau. The Slumberland is the second part of the trilogy SLEEP (2019-2021) that is delving into the theme of daydream(ing) and sleep(ing). The initial project of the trilogy, Sleep | forms, landscapes, creatures (2019), placed at the centre a body in art between wakefulness and dreams. The trilogy is concluded with a dance performance Architecture of Dreams, III. (2021).

Little Nemo sets out on an adventure to Slumberland “where he meets unforgettable characters, magical joys, fears, dangers, monsters, and princesses, all in the landscape of unimaginable beauty and greatness” (Richard Marshall). In Nemo’s fairy-tale world, the legs of animals and birds grow, his bed grows and gallops, the houses grow, and so do the arms and legs of Nemo’s friends. Only Nemo remains tiny or huge in the whirlwind of adventures and mystical events.

Directing, movement and visual image: Barbara Novakovič
Dancers: Igor Sviderski, Kaja Janjić, Dušan Teropšič
Music: Gal Škrjanec Skaberne
Lighting design: Hotimir Knific
Stage design object: Remake Sol LeWitt
Elements of set design made by: Miha Zupan
Photography and graphic design: Mojca Gorjan
Video documentation – camera and editing: Gregor Gobec
Sewing costumes made by: Tanja Lakovnik and Irena Tomažin
Production: Muzeum Ljubljana
Co-production: En-Knap Productions
In colaboration with: Cultural Centre Spanish Fighters, Ljubljana
Financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia

Muzeum is an independent non-profit institute for art production, distribution and publishing established in 1995. Its core is a conceptual theatre (Muzeum theatron “to see” established in 1993), a study of the image-word, space(architecture)-time, movement-gesture, music, (7 auteur theatre projects). Since 1999 the Muzeum’s flexible strategy has resulted in a production of strings of projects which focus on invention, creative challenge and mobility of mind.

This program is presented with support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and The City of Ljubljana.

The story is placed in a kitchen, where the audience members are invited as guests. But the chef has lost his sense of taste. How can he now prepare food and cook? He discovers that he could restore his sense of taste by creating and listening to the sounds. If he is creating music, it is as he would be preparing and tasting food. Therefore, he becomes a musician and composer who now “cooks” sounds, tastes its infinite combinations and enjoys the delicious sound extravaganza. His mouth has become his ears.

The theme of the Sound Kitchen is synesthesia, the intertwining of hearing with other senses, especially taste. The performance establishes connections between music and gastronomy which exist in our everyday life and culture and combines them in a multi-sensory theatre experience.

Concept, directed and music by Peter Kus
Co-directed by Miha Arh
Potato song by Boštjan Gorenc – Pižama
Performed by Peter Kus
Produced by Kuskus
The project was supported by The Ministry of Culture Republic of Slovenia and City of Ljubljana.

Peter Kus is a composer, a director of puppet shows, an instrument builder and a lecturer from Ljubljana (Slovenia) who explores the area where music and theatre meet. The result are puppet-music performances and plays that have taken him to numerous international festivals and have been awarded numerous recognitions for music and originality. Peter Kus is also a designer and the builder of original musical instruments. He designed the famous and widely praised series of exhibitions of original musical instruments Euphonia, presented in several cities in Slovenia. With the exhibition Sound Garden he was a guest in several European countries, and in 2016 at the Kortil Gallery in Rijeka.

What is the message regarding gender equality that is conveyed by traditional fairy tales, one of the first methods of education that children encounter? Can unacceptable situations in fairy-tales be changed without using magical powers?

Cinderella is the daughter of a rich merchant. After her mother passes away her father marries another woman. Her new stepmother and stepsisters force her to do hard and annoying chores, making life difficult for Cinderella. But the Fairy Godmother’s wand is broken, the Genie in a bottle is on vacation, the Prince isn’t charming anymore, and the goldfish is not answering her phone. What can Cinderella do by herself, to make the fairytale fair and just? Help us in this interactive retelling of the age-old story and tell us how would you help Cinderella!

This experimental explorational play is interactive and educational, combines various theatrical elements and all children, youth and adults are invited to participate.

Performers: Jaka Andrej Vojevec, Metka Bahlen Okoli, Danijela Zajc, Teja Bitenc
Photography: Jan F. Podbrežnik, Erik Školiber, Gero Angleitner
Video: Jaša Jenull
Financial support: Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities /Javni sklad Republike Slovenije za kulturne dejavnosti

The theater-activist group binds its activities to Theatre of the Oppressed, the theatre for social change. The Transformator Group was formed in November 2010. The goal of the theater-activist group Transformator is not to produce high art but rather to approach people. Its members draw their creative energy from burning social issues which are offered to the audience (spect-actors) in order for them to try, process and reshape it and give constructive criticism. Given the variety of areas that can be covered by the members’ professional or educational background, the techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed are combined or used primarily through the prism of personal involvement.

The Other God is a play which discusses the complex notions of power, greed, and political ideologies. It is set in the tiny municipality of Vukova Jedina, whose quirky inhabitants possess a series of recognizable characteristics. They are the Mayor, who has been in power for several years; the Reverend and his younger sister Klarisa, the town’s legal expert; Mirko and Krme, two local civil servants; and Malta and Hortenzija, the Mayor’s secretaries. As their working day goes by, the different characters all do their part to complete shady deals, use public funds to solve their personal problems, and avoid doing any actual work. However, everything changes when the Mayor has a sudden realization and asks himself – is this all worth the trouble?

PUBLIC FORUM ABOUT THE OTHER GOD
moderator: Lucia Filičić

Starting at 19:15h, the performance will be followed by a 30-minute public forum with the cast. The young actors, who are all high-schoolers from the Rijeka area, will share their thoughts on the topics of the play: nepotism, corruption, local strongmen, and other connected issues. Moreover, they will answer any question that the audience may have for them, as well as explain their acting process in preparing the play and its characters. The public forum will be open to anyone willing to participate, but it is recommended for middle and high school students (aged 12 to 18). Lucia Filičić, who is a student of pedagogy and English language at the University of Rijeka and one of the teachers at TRY theatre, will moderate the event.

Script: Ivan Verunica
Director: Enea Dessardo
Directors Assistant: Lucia Filičić
Performs: The Rijeka Youth theatre

TRY theater is a Rijeka school of acting in English that has been staging successful plays for many years, but also shaping children into open and free young people using theatrical techniques as methods of education. Through acting and various activities, participants gain knowledge about acting and self-confidence in an organic way – not by learning, but by creating their own experiences.

Invisible Beauty is an interactive, kinetic installation in space based on the laws of physics. The endless expanses of darkness from which the bodies of the universe bathed in the light of incandescent giants. Black holes as representatives of the destructive force of the Universe are the theme of the artistic work of Filip Borelli. The invisible relations of dark matter with the physical worlds are presented in the form of kinetic sculpture illuminated with UV light. Highlighting the invisible spectrum with the use of the UV wavelength, the artist endeavors to emphasize the frequency of motion as the main element of all relations in the Universe.

Ambient music composed by the author provides background for the kinetic sculptures that imitate the interaction of the forces of nature. In guided tours, the author guides the visitors and explains the forces in action by changing the rotations or adding new elements to the sculptures. The audience is also invited to take part in the construction of a new sculpture.

Autor of the concept and sculptures: Filip Borelli
Tour guides: Filip Borelli i Tanja Puklek

Filip Borelli is a Croatian multimedia artist who deals with research into the interaction of light, sound, movement and music. He graduated from the New Media department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and the Academy of Economics Faculty in Zagreb, but since 2009 has worked as performer, musician and author of luminous concepts. In his works he often uses scientific approaches in the study of natural phenomena. Kinetic sculptures, interactive installations, performances, and experimental films are the most common forms of his artistic expression.