Critical Practice - Made in Yu - First Cycle - Belgrade

Emerging authors (writers, critics, researchers, theoreticians) and those interested in further professional development in the field of critical practice in contemporary performing arts can advance their writing and discussion skills within within the framework of Critical Practice (Made in Yugoslavia).

This Critical Practice edition draws on the on conceptual performing arts platforms that have been recently developed at the geo-politically non-existing territory of Yugoslavia, such as those generated by TkH [Walking Theory], Nomad Dance Academy, Maska, Frakcija etc. It consists of three one-year non-residential programme cycles focused on the education and practical work of participants. Its purpose is to advance the professional development of authors from the region of former Yugoslavia and elsewhere, and to encourage a more profound, more visible and more accessible critical reflection on the contemporary performing arts, enhancing their visibility and stimulating dialogue with audiences. Its concrete outcomes will be articles, essays, reviews and other formats of critical writing published online or in diverse publications, as well as live discussions, interviews and talks with dance and performance makers.

The cycles have a modular structure, combining seminars, workshops and practical engagement at certain events (festivals, conferences, exhibitions, etc.) as group work structures, with the continual individual or collective work of participants.

The first programme cycle starts in April 2014 and ends in April 2015.

Within this cycle, four gatherings in different European cities are organised:

• 1 - 7 May 2014 in Belgrade; program focus: a seminar with Ana Vujanovic, hosted by Station
• 11 - 15 June, 2014 in Brussels during the Working Title Platform; seminar with Bojana Cvejic, hosted by Workspace Brussels
• 21 - 26 October 2014 in Belgrade; program focus is the Kondenz – Performing Arts Festival, hosted by Station
• 27 October - 1 November 2014 in Skopje during the LocoMotion Festival, hosted by Lokomotiva

Furthermore, there are occasional Skype conferences, regular email communication and the programme’s blog as well as the possibility of self-organised work.

Tuition fee as well as travel costs and accommodation (Belgrade / Brussels / Belgrade / Skopje) amounting on average to 3,500 EUR for each participant are covered by the programme.

This Critical Practice edition offers a small-scale educational, research and working studio whose disciplinary framework is predicated on issues and questions coming from critical theory, artistic practice and cultural policy. Against this backdrop, our programme is envisaged to produce a vivid transversal discussion within and about the performing arts – among the participants as well as in public.

For more information about Critical Practice (Made in Yugoslavia) visit: http://criticalpractice-madeinyu.info/ and check the online blog: criticalpracticemade.ipage.com

Critical Practice (Made in Yugoslavia) partner organizations:

Nomad Dance Academy www.nomaddanceacademy.org
Station Service for contemporary dance, Belgrade www.dancestation.org 
Lokomotiva – Centre for New Initiatives in Arts and Culture, Skopje www.lokomotiva.org.mk 
Tala Dance Center, Zagreb www.tala.hr
Workspace, Brussels www.workspacebrussels.be
Hetveem theater, Amsterdam www.hetveemtheater.nl  

ABOUT THE FIRST SESSION IN BELGRADE

The Critical practice program is oriented toward empowering discursive reflections on contemporary performing arts and their breakthrough to the larger public. 

The first phase is finishing today in Belgrade, in Magacin in Kraljevica Marka, where a group of younger European writers has had the first seminar held by Ana Vujanovic, the programme's mentor, and with interventions of Prof. Misko Suvakovic and Marijana Cvetkovic.

In contextual terms, Critical Practice (Made in YU) is focused on but not restricted to the post-Yugoslav region. Among the reasons for such orientation, there is on the one hand a lack of regular and publicly visible critical writing about contemporary performances and performing arts events in the region and the strong recent development of performing arts theory coming from this context on the other. Therefore, this venture draws on the already existing platforms of the magazines TkH (Belgrade), Maska (Ljubljana), and Frakcija (Zagreb), as well as of Nomad Dance Academy (The Balkans). It attempts to help both professional development of emerging authors (writers, critics, researchers, theoreticians) from the region and elsewhere and a more profound, more visible and more accessible critical reflection on the contemporary performing arts, which would enhance their visibility and the dialogue with the audience.

However, the program is not restricted to the region. The importance of not being restrictive in those terms lies in our belief that only through communication and debate with the colleagues coming from different contexts and learning about a variety of local scenes as well as about international scene, an art critic can acquire multifaceted knowledge, skills, vocabularies, and mindsets necessary for a relevant contribution to the complex Artworld of today.

With such an ambition, the disciplinary framework of the program is predicated on the issues, questions, and knowledge coming from: critical theory, artistic practice, and cultural policy. Commonly seen as separated fields of knowledge and expertise, theory, artistic practice, and cultural policy are considered here interconnected constituents of performing arts scene. In our view, there is no critic who can profoundly reflect on a piece of art without being aware of the cultural context or the theoretical debate that surrounds it or that it provokes. Against this backdrop our program is envisaged to produce a vivid transversal discussion within and about performing arts – among the participants as well as in public.

Content-wise the program is not centered by a subject to be advocated but is framed through several thematic focuses, which are our concerns. They will be formulated as conceptual lenses through which various phenomena (performances, festivals, and other events) will be observed. Possible focuses are: registers of politicality of performing arts: content, medium/form, and conditions of work; ‘the cult of personality’ in contemporary dance and performance; self-organization and Do-it-yourself aesthetics; somatic practices and post-Fordist labor; Go international, or else – Stay local; etc.

Within our program we understand the notion of critical practice not only as a topic to be studied and an activity to be done, but also as an all-compassing politics and ethics of working together. This will oblige all of us involved in the program to reflect and self-reflect our doing in a critical dialogue, to learn how to question our approaches and positions by means of analysis and argumentation, and to foster learning by doing, wherein we should be able to correct ourselves when needed. Accordingly, the participants and the mentor are seen as a working group of colleagues facilitated by the mentor, wherein mutual respect and confidence feature the backbone of collaboration. This might sound utopistic - if not hippie - and therefore it will be our challenge to create a temporary structure, which is to render it actual.

The next meeting will take place in Brussels, at the Working Title Platform organized by the partner, workspacebrussels and Charlotte Vandevyver. In October the participants will come back to Belgrade and work around the 7th edition of Kondenz Festival of performing arts and dance, after which they will go to Locomotion Festival in Skopje.

The selected participants Milka Ivanovska (MK), Jasmina Zaloznik (SI), Magda Lipska (PL), Heike Broeckerhoff (D), Marialena Marouda (GR/D), Maja Mrdjenovic (MN) were selected by an international jury among 85 applicants from around Europe and will work in the Critical Practice until the end of 2014.

Follow the further development of the program and texts of the participants at the blog criticalpractice-madeinyu.info 

Partners of the project:

Lokomotiva – Centar za nove inicijative u kulturi, Skoplje www.lokomotiva.org.mk , Nomad Dance Academy www.nomaddanceacademy.org, Tala Plesni centar, Zagreb www.tala.hr, Workspace, Brisel www.workspacebrussels.be, Hetveem theater, Amsterdam www.hetveemtheater.nl,

The project is supported by the Programme Culture of European Union and the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Serbia.