17. ANTISTATIC FESTIVAL: Unstable Comrades

The performance explores and reflects on new ways of combating capitalism through the ideas of fluid identities. It interrogates the legacy of queer emancipation through a constant process of constitution and warping of resistance influenced by Western ‘’liberаl“ societies and socialist values for a fairer society. As a theoretical approach addressing intersections of capitalism, class struggle, and queer culture, queer Marxism challenges traditional Marxist analyses by critically examining categories of gender, sex, and sexuality, emphasizing the fluidity and complexity of identity and sexual desire. From such a theoretical perspective, the performance scrutinises various mechanisms of normativisation, oppression, control, and exploitation through which capitalism, patriarchy, and other systems of repression intersect and interact.

Through a comparative analysis of historical intersections of queer culture, art, and Marxist ideology within international socialist/communist and capitalist societies (Yugoslavia, Romania, Russia, USA, UK), the methodology of the performance sought examples of artistic practices directed against social and state dogmatism, hegemony, authoritarianism, and depoliticization, including instances such as critical realism and partisan dance in interwar Yugoslavia, punk ounter-culture in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav new conceptual art, queer-artistic opposition in communist Romania, queer-core practices of the American new left, Stonewall protests, etc.

Igor Koruga is a freelance artist working within the field of contemporary dance and choreography. His educational background in anthropology (University of Belgrade) and dance authorship (UdK/HZT Berlin, DAS Third Amsterdam), set his artistic practice in applying choreography as an artistic tool for interpreting socio-anthropological phenomena within apparatuses of theatre, museum, and multimedia. He works continuously as a stage movement choreographer within institutional theatre and film. As a member of a regional team for archiving and historicizing contemporary dance in the (post)yugoslav context through the regional network Nomad dance academy, Koruga contributed to the prominent regional magazines for dance and performing arts (Maska Ljubljana, Walking Theory Belgrade, Movements Zabreb). Engaged as a freelance pedagogue, Koruga worked within various educational platforms by Station Service for contemporary dance Belgrade; Goethe Institute; Yugoslav Drama Theatre Belgrade; Belgrade Dance Institute; Petnica Science centre Serbia etc. He was a recipient of several international dance fellowships and locally relevant accolades.

The performance is part of the European project   SEEDS is co-funded by the “Creative Europe” Programme of the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed there are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA are responsible for them.

This guest performance is made possible with financial support of the the “Creative Europe” Programme of the European Union, the National Culture Fund, under “Creative Europe” programme, and the Sofia Municipality Calendar of Cultural Events, 2024.

Post-show talk with the artists moderated by STANIMIR PANAYOTOV.

*******************
The international program of Antistatic Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance is organized is organized by the "Brain Store Project" foundation and the "Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria" association, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, Goethe-Institut Bulgarien,  Sofia Municipality - Calendar of Cultural Events, National Culture Fund, programme “Creative Europe”, SEEDS - South-East European Dance Stations project - co-funded by the “Creative Europe” Programme of the European Union, and in partnership with RCSI "Toplocentrala", "Derrida" Stage, National Gallery “Kvadrat 500” and Club “DOM”.

Bulgarian Dance Platform is realized with the financial support of Ministry of Culture.

The Educational programme “Without Distance” 2024 is part of the project „Life Long Burning – Future Lost and Found (LLB 3)   and is realized with the financial support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, National Culture Fund, programme “Creative Europe”, and in partnership with Goethe-Institut Bulgarien.