The Grand Creative, Cultural, and Research Artistic Photo Finish of Shadow Casters at Pogon

It has been willed by the Almighty that Shadow Casters have, even today, and still far from their own throne, brought to a close yet another artistically and culturally rich year in which we consciously and unconsciously provoked all those who cannot, will not, or do not feel like it.
We have shown that we can, that we want to, and that we are able to work with children, youth, those in need, and the gifted; with those just stepping into professional waters and those whose professional paths have been polished with awards, recognitions, and achievements. We have shown that we love and want to work with the 54+ generation, even the 90+ generation, and that we love to do so in the smallest towns of Croatia and the world, so that for all our users, the world might be easier, more beautiful, fulfilling, meaningful, and inspiring.
Through our films, performances, public rehearsals, as well as film and heritage workshops, we have connected people in almost all counties of the Republic of Croatia with their innate rootedness in creating artistic works of various disciplines.

In this intense photo finish of the year, we continue our collaboration with our dedicated partners at Pogon – Center for Independent Culture and Youth, where we will host three of our projects: rehearsals of the new sensory performance Izvrnuta izvedba (The Inverted Performance), which transforms the stigma of intense mourning for close ones into a cathartic journey through a thousand and one fairy tales; at the request of a demanding audience and professional public, we continue exploring audience responsibility for performance through new Probes for Memory – Ex-position – 20 Years of Performing, and we elevate everything to another level with a workshop by renowned Slovenian director, intermedial artist, and politician Janez Janša on creative renewals in performing arts, as part of the project Živa baština (Living Heritage) and project activity – “Performance is Archive, Archive is Performance – Critical Approaches and Innovative Methods of Preserving Performing Arts” – a symposium that explores, discusses, and proposes methods, ways, and forms of recording, archiving, and creatively renewing recent and canonical performances.

Thus, we invite the audience to Pogon for:

December 12, 15, and 16 – open rehearsals of The Inverted Performance: from 10 AM to 1 PM and from 3 PM to 7 PM
Register HERE

December 17 – unique memory rehearsals in honor of 20 years of performing the most famous Croatian peripatetic independent theatre performance – Ex-position: from 10 AM to 1 PM and from 3 PM to 7 PM
Register HERE

December 20 – Janez Janša – Workshop on Reflecting Creative Renewals of Performances
Register HERE

Izvrnuta izvedba – this participatory performance, which uses the sensory language of performance to be authentically Shadow Casters, invites the audience to co-create it with Shadow Casters. Thus, the audacity of the performance becomes even greater, and the well-known high-risk dramaturgy method of Shadow Casters becomes even more transparent in revealing the keys to chance and necessity, form and content, story and improvisation.

Authors and Performers: Boris Bakal, Pavle Perković, Katija Bratković, Mak Ratković Rajvajn, Sunčica Škornjak, Ivana Bakal, and Tomislav Krstanović.

Collaborators: Tigar Teatar, Anton Mezulić, Leo Vukelić, Mario Kovač, Nikša Marinović.

Project Support: Ministry of Culture and Media & City of Zagreb – Office for Culture and Civil Society

Živa baština – the scientific-research and educational project “Performance is Archive, Archive is Performance. Critical Approaches and Innovative Methods of Preserving Performing Arts” explores ways of recording, archiving, and reinterpreting performing arts through practical, reflective, and interdisciplinary approaches. It is led by Dr. sc. Sandra Uskoković and restorer and cultural professional Viktorija Pilon.
The project involves artists, documentarians, performing arts critics, archivists, and researchers such as: Siniša Labrović, Bojana Burnać, Boris Senker, William Aitchison, Nika Radić, Ivana Keser, Nikolina Hrust, Janez Janša, Igor Ružić, Petar Grimani, Goran Sergej Pristaš, Tomislav Pletenac, Aideen Barry, Stanko Juzbašić, and others.

Project Support: Ministry of Culture and Media & City of Zagreb – Office for Culture and Civil Society

Ex-position – exactly 20 years after it first swept through Zagreb audiences as a sensory, emotional, and philosophical journey through the city and consciousness, Ex-position returns. This time not as a classic performance but as a performing process of memory: a space where the audience goes behind the scenes and witnesses the performance being re-examined, reconstructed, deconstructed, and — created.

The small hall of Pogon Jedinstvo becomes a laboratory of memory and performing heritage. Visitors will be able to follow rehearsals of legendary scenes, watch archival footage, listen to testimonies of participants from over 30 countries, participate in open discussions with artists and critics, and — if they wish — intervene to some extent in the process of creation.

In this anniversary version, which also marks the beginning of the project on performance resources, the performance is not mechanically reconstructed: it is examined and rewritten through the joint work of performers and the audience. Ex-position remains a story about the boundary between watching and acting, about audience responsibility, and about how theatre can be a space of change.

Project Support: City of Zagreb – Office for Culture and Civil Society

How to participate in these programs:
Schedule and registration for The Inverted Performance rehearsals: https://forms.gle/ieumrzwt4vpLGcKf7
Schedule and registration for Ex-position: https://forms.gle/orJ97QhCbWpmphL19
Registration for Janez Janša workshop: https://forms.gle/GG1Cubg6pgBYGeHVA

For all other inquiries about the program or Shadow Casters – contact us at info@bacaci-sjenki.hr or phone 01/4640262

Shadow Casters (Zagreb, Republic of Croatia) is a multi-award-winning and internationally acclaimed artistic and production platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, creativity, and reflection on intermedial art, successfully and seamlessly intertwining international collaboration, film production, theatre performances, urban intermedial projects, activism, pedagogical work, video art, and curatorial practice into a comprehensive artistic endeavor.

Support for Shadow Casters: City of Zagreb – Office for Culture and Civil Society, National Foundation for Civil Society Development, Kultura Nova Foundation, and Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC).