October 4–November 3, 2013
INSPIRING OLD AGE – body and mind on the fringes of social norms.
Klovićevi dvori Gallery
Zagreb, Croatia
Sexuality, mortality, labour, social and family relationships, domestic violence, memory, cognitive abilities, dementia, loneliness, joy, the phenomenon of aging societies, embellishment and prosthetics, the rejuvenation of the old body and regenerative medicine are just some of the topics that the new edition of the festival Extravagant Bodies: Extravagant Age transforms through contemporary art and theoretical contextualisation into a tool for the examination of the numerous issues that the “golden years” bring.
Extravagant bodies is an international festival held triennially in Zagreb, Croatia since 2007. It deals with the ways in which society sets the boundaries of the normal and the pathological, whether of corporeality, appearance, behaviour, sexuality or life style. In its first edition in 2007, the festival dealt with physical disability and in the second in 2010 with mental and psychic health. The theme of the upcoming festival Extravagant bodies: Extravagant age is old age, that is, the individual experiences and social implications of what is called the third and the fourth age. Old age, of course, is not considered a disorder, rather an inevitable phase in each life that has not ended prematurely already. However, because of the health, physical and psychic changes that it brings, and because of the very fact that old age leads to death, it and its signs arouse a repugnance comparable with that engendered by the body or mind located beyond social norms.
Extravagant bodies: Extravagant age is realized through partnership and collaboration with senior citizen organizations and curatorial organisations for the purpose of initiating direct social inclusion through artistic and collective practices, placing the elderly not only as a mere topic of the project but as active participants in the conceptualization and implementation of activities that consider them straightforwardly. The festival will present artworks, performances, workshops, a skill-sharing program, an interdisciplinary conference, round table and a bilingual publication that address these concerns critically, taking into account the ramifications of the problems and implications that the issue of senescence necessarily entails.
Participants:
Exhibition and performances
Ana Alvarez-Errecalde (AR/SP), Maja Bekan (RS), Hrvoslava Brkušić (HR), Lada Cerar (SI), Boris Cvjetanović (HR), Tomislav Gotovac (HR), DB Indoš (HR), Sanja Iveković (HR), Marko Jeftić (RS), Siniša Labrović (HR), Suzanne Lacey (US), Ana Lendvaj & Ružica Mikulić (HR), Mirjana Miljković & Neven Sviben (HR), Andrea Palašti (RS), Stahl Stenslie (NO), Sandra Sterle (HR), Mladen Stilinović (HR), Sandy Stone (US), Ana Strelec & Tomislava Jukić (HR), Škart (RS), Pilvi Takala (FI/NL), Goran Trbuljak (HR), Silvio Vujičić (HR), Sonja Vuk (HR), Lois Weaver (UK)
Symposium
David Albahari (RS), Goran Arbanas (HR), Nina Czegledy (CA), Jovan Ćirilov (RS), Ana Lendvaj (HR), Jasminka Despot Lučanin & Damir Lučanin (HR), Krunoslav Knežević (HR), Silvia Rusac (HR), Marko Stamenković (RS), Stahl Stenslie (NO), Miško Šuvaković (RS), Ines Vrban (HR), Lois Weaver (UK)
Curators
Ivana Bago, Olga Majcen Linn, Sunčica Ostoić | KONTEJNER
Partner curators
Milica Pekić | Kiosk, Slaven Tolj | MMSU
Organiser
KONTEJNER | bureau for contemporary art praxis, Zagreb
Partners
Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Zagreb (HR) / “Zajednički put” Foundation, Zagreb (HR) / Kiosk, Belgrade (RS) / Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (HR) / Queen Mary University, London (UK) / Live Art Development Agency, London (UK) / G12HUB Gallery, Belgrade (RS) / The Cultural Centre of Belgrade (RS)
Photo credits: Crista Holka (UK)
Model/visual identity of the festival: Lois Weaver (UK)
Design: Dejan Dragosavac RUTA (HR)