Performative Workshop for Adults on Managing the Center for Shaping Everyday Life

Project “Center for Shaping Everyday Life”, HDD, and Shadow Casters invite you to a workshop:

“Nada Dimić or a Performative Workshop for Adults on Managing the Center for Shaping Everyday Life”

Students and professionals from the fields of performing arts, film, contemporary dance, architecture, history and art history, sociology, anthropology, design, political science, law, economics, social innovations, journalism, culinary arts, public services, urbanism, heritage studies, new media, literature, and all other interested citizens are invited to participate in the performative workshop “Nada Dimić or a Performative Workshop for Adults on Managing the Center for Shaping Everyday Life” within the project “Center for Shaping Everyday Life” by the Croatian Design Society, the Museum of Arts and Crafts, ULUPUH, Shadow Casters, and the City of Zagreb.

When: November 22, 24, and 29, and December 1, 6, and 8 (free hot meal included) – 3 Fridays and 3 Sundays (from 09:00 to 16:00) – applications are CLOSED

Where: POGON – Center for Independent Culture and Youth, Knez Mislav Street 11, Zagreb + the streets of Zagreb

Workshop leaders: Boris Bakal, Sandra Uskoković, Veno Mušinović, Nino Sorić, Andrea Čeko, and Marija Georgiev.

About the project: The Center for Shaping Everyday Life (COS) is a two-year research cultural project by HDD (Croatian Design Society) and its partners (Museum of Arts and Crafts, ULUPUH – Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts, the City of Zagreb, and Shadow Casters) aimed at conceptualizing the establishment and management of a potential new cultural institution in the city of Zagreb. This potential future institution (COS) would, through creative, advocacy, and curatorial activities, promote and understand design and shaping in all segments of reality, everyday life, and human activity and existence in general. The project of conceptualizing and researching the feasibility, effectiveness, purposefulness, and sustainability of such an institution is funded by the European Social Fund through the Operational Program Efficient Human Resources, and by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.

About the workshop “Nada Dimić or a Performative Workshop for Adults on Managing the Center for Shaping Everyday Life”: This workshop will performatively and dramaturgically stimulate and explore possible participatory dynamics of managing a cultural institution in the Republic of Croatia in the context of social circumstances, experiences of participants and leaders, and (un)conditionality of existing legal frameworks and (un)accepted social practices. Every Sunday, we will perform one or more variations of the explored models. The real and imagined space of the “Center for Shaping Everyday Life” places this workshop in the building of the former factories, Nada Dimić and Penkala-Moster (within the historical block of the city of Zagreb Bornina-Erdödyjeva-Branimirova-Domagojeva), considering their historical and hypertextual urban, architectural, economic, and industrial heritage and legacy.

About the building: The original appearance of the then pen factory “Penkala” was designed by the Zagreb design studio Hönigsberg and Deutsch in 1910, while the Zagreb architect Rudolf Lubynski designed the addition of the third floor and the new street facades in 1919. The building was constructed on the Moster family’s plot for a pen factory, and after the death of Slavoljub Penkala, it partially became a textile processing factory (Corona stocking factory, owned by Hinko Goldstein), and a chemical products factory (Piretrin company from July 1930), and smaller textile workshops also moved in: Ivan Braunstein applied in late March 1931 to set up a lace factory on the 2nd floor, and the following year Ignjat Knaker received permission to set up and use the ground floor of the courtyard factory building for his textile factory. During the NDH, the Ustaše took ownership from the Moster family (who ended up in Jasenovac), first to state ownership, and then handed the building over to smaller entrepreneurs: Josip and Jaroslav Bureš thus had their “ribbon and lace factory” Vrpca there, and Jelka Paradovski opened the company STEPAR chemical products and mineral oils. In 1950, the textile factory Nada Dimić opened, owned by the workers, and closed after privatization in the 90s. Although the building is a protected cultural property as an integral part of the historical urban whole of the city of Zagreb, during the ownership of Miće “Romantika” Carić and Ante Nobilo, and especially Željko Kerum, it suffered significant damage and devastation. It is now owned by the bankrupt company IGH or one of their sister companies – the Strpić group. The City of Zagreb recently announced a non-binding competition for its repurposing and renovation.

Questions/topics to be addressed and performed in the workshop:

• On shifting perspectives
• On sharing power
• On semi-independence
• On sustainability
• On advocacy
• On governance
• On management
• On decision-making
• On horizontal and/or vertical
• On laws
• On disobedience
• On participation
• On innovation
• On quotes
• On the scientific approach
• On grounding in Croatian tradition
• On the artistic approach
• On what is true
• On referendums and direct democracy
• On anarchism
• On differences and similarities between monarchy, republic, dictatorship, democracy, and anarchy
• On top-down/bottom-up terms
• On self-awareness
• On fear of discontinuity

Shadow Casters, a multi-award-winning and acclaimed artistic and production platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, creativity, and reflection on intermedia arts, is also one of the leading non-profit organizations in the Republic of Croatia in the field of studying and implementing participatory management and innovative and participatory artistic, creative, and social practices. They successfully intertwine audiovisual creativity, international collaboration, theatrical performances, urban intermedia projects, activism, pedagogical work, video art, and curatorial practice into a comprehensive artistic and cultural activity. As a leading partner in numerous small and large projects on 4 continents, in their 19 years of work and public activity, they have achieved more than 500 professional collaborations in more than 30 countries and realized more than 150 educational, theatrical, and film projects and events.

Shadow Casters see their public and creative work as an agent for changing the perception of their users on various acute social, economic, and human problems and phenomena, and their vision is through fostering micro-community and developing (cultural) practices of self-sustainability, with continuous and systematic encouragement for a more conscious, responsible, and engaged approach to creation.

Recording of the workshop and performances: The workshop and its performative parts will be recorded and photographed for project promotion purposes. By registering for participation, the participant consents to documentation. The documentation material can be used indefinitely in online and print editions related to the “Center for Shaping Everyday Life” project, as well as in print and e-editions published by HDD or project partners.

Workshop organization: The organization of the workshop is co-financed within the Operational Program Efficient Human Resources from the European Social Fund. The content of the invitation is the sole responsibility of the Croatian Design Society.