THE BODY AS AN UNTRAVERSED LANDSCAPE

inclusive sound and movement journey, premiere of the festival production

Zavod MOJA KREACIJA, Maribor, Festival Platform of Contemporary Dance

The performance lasts 40 minutes and has no intermissions.

The performance will be followed by a brief discussion with the creators.

Creators Mirica Ačko, Alja Petric, Liza Šimenc
Movement Mirica Ačko, Liza Šimenc
Music Alja Petric
Text Mirica Ačko
Costume and Set Design Liza Šimenc
Photography Nina Pernat
Photographic Collage Alja Petric
Production Zavod MOJA KREACIJA, Maribor, Festival Platform of Contemporary Dance
Co-organization DUM Association
Acknowledgments Moj Korak, Cirkulacija 2

Body as an infinite, occasionally untrodden landscape, in all its diversity and variet; A landscape as a space, place, and body that navigates the specificity, uniqueness, individuality, wholeness, balance, and harmony inherent in its nature. Ideas about bodily and spatial landscapes are always accompanied by different perspectives, perceptual frameworks, and viewpoints. This landscape, as a whole, is more real and complete than any of its individual parts. When we view a landscape, we perceive a complex network of similarities and connections. In addition to visible perceptions, there are other forms of perception: internal sensations linked to the functioning of organs, the smell and sound of the environment, the texture of fabric, and the warmth of the ground. Each cell in the body carries its own memory, and through this memory, a universal force is at work. However, we do not always exist in an ideal landscape; rather, we acknowledge and accept this reality with respect.

In their collaborative work, the creators explore the body and their experiences through movement. The joint project In Bodies, What Kind? These Kind! (2024) is divided into two parts. The first part, titled Organically Technological Assemblage, was presented at Cirkulacija 2 (Liza Šimenc, Mirica Ačko) in April 2024. The second part, Body as an Untraversed Landscape, will be showcased at the Festival Platform of Contemporary Dance in Maribor.
 
Mirica Ačko (1974) is a movement artist, geography professor, and university-trained educator. Her interest in dance and performative movement creation led her to collaborate with Liza Šimenc. For many years, she has explored movement through the practice of yoga and acroyoga with Suzana Rožmanec, investigating movement beyond medically ascribed doctrines and methods. To advocate for equal opportunities and personal assistance rights, she has co-created a series of activist performative interventions in public spaces in Ljubljana and Strasbourg. Her dance process incorporates both floor work and wheelchair techniques. The wheelchair, one of these tools, enables a standing body position in movement, opening up new perspectives on body perception, vision, and gravity. This essential tool for movement can transform into an artistic object, where the unconventional view of a marginalized body is reimagined as a form of artistic expression.

Liza Šimenc (1991) is an interdisciplinary artist working in the fields of contemporary dance and visual arts, with a status of self-employment in culture since 2015. She creates holistic authorial projects, where her style includes the expansion of authorial costume design into scenography. She primarily expresses herself through movement and performance, and also creates scenography, costume design, spatial and lighting installations. She performs interventions in public spaces, creates performances, somatic shows, and ambient events. Her education was obtained at the International Ballet School Bled and the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana, and she has furthered her studies abroad (Hong Kong, New York, London, Madrid, Brussels, Vienna, Budapest, Milan, Berlin). In recent years, she has been dedicated to the movement research of extreme states of consciousness and explores perspectives on the stigmatized body.

Alja Petric – allja (1986) is a sound and music artist, singer, and educator. She dedicates her life to exploring musical arts, leading individual and group sound and music workshops, teaching singing, and engaging in sound therapy. She completed her studies in jazz singing and pedagogy at the Private University of Gustav Mahler in Klagenfurt and earned the title of "Peter Hess® Sound Massage Practitioner" from the Peter Hess® Academy in Zagreb. Her artistic inspiration comes from the soundscapes of nature and the everyday urban life in the capital city. Within this framework, she explores the creation and existence of sound, melody, and words, and the richness of their meanings. Through various collaborations, she increasingly encounters artists focused on blending individual creative fields in the free improvisation dialogue, both in music and movement arts. She is particularly interested in the intersection and transition between movement and sound, their intertwining, inspiration, co-creation, and connection.