Barbara Kanc: Searchings Untitled

2014

Barbara Kanc: Iskanja brez naslova / Searchings Untitled foto/photo by: Ana Marija Kanc

About

Adventure may start as pure awkwardness.” Joseph Campbell
To search – as if you lost something or you haven’t found it yet.
In the time replete of noise, saturation, and speed – the speed of doing, of information, thinking, feeling, and understanding.
To search. A part of one’s own, but at the same time universal self.
To live and be. And where to go at all?
Searching, as part of a journey. Listening and hearing. Confrontation. In solitude, silence, and emptiness.

Joseph Campbell, American researcher and comparatist of world myths and religions and the founder of the concept of monomyth, delineates the pattern of the hero’s path in the language of archetypes. This path can be understood as a symbolic, inner psychological journey that affects each and every one. “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day to the region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men.”
What’s important is the call for adventure, which comes up when the lived through life horizon is overcome, when old ideas, ideals, and emotional patterns are no longer adequate. Campbell underlines this moment of separation or departure, as the beginning of a journey. As the beginning of a search for a path.
Five initial stages send the hero on a path of searching and overcoming his own obstacles and hindrances: The Call to Adventure (at a first glance, it may seem as an accident, awkwardness; often there is a musician inviting the hero to the journey), Refusal of the Call (the hero refuses to heed the call, which can be understood as weakness to shake off his child’s ego and its sphere of emotional relations and ideals, that’s why the hero clasps the known and remains at home, refusing to confront the world), Supernatural Aid (responding to and following the call with courage, the hero realises that all powers of the unconscious are on his side), Crossing the Threshold (the hero reaches the threshold, the zone of magnified power, beyond the threshold, there’s no protection; there is darkness, danger, the unknown or unconscious contents; to cross the threshold, the hero must overcome his fears), Belly of the Whale (entrance into the sphere of metamorphosis, symbolised by the belly of the whale – the crossing of the threshold is, in a way, self-annihilation, symbolic death, necessary for a new beginning and the hero’s metamorphosis).
Beginning, leaving … departure. Across the landscapes drawn by solitude, drawn by emptiness. Over traversing images.

Technical rider


Collaborators

Concept: Barbara Kanc
Co-creators, performers: April Veselko / Katja Legin, Barbara Kanc, Samo Kutin (music)
Dramaturgy: Katja Legin
Costumography: Urška Recer
Scenography: Ana Marija Kanc
Lighting and technical guidance: Atila Bošjančič
Design: Luka Mancini
Executive producer: Dare Pejić

Support

Production: Emanat
Coproduction: ŠKUC, Photon Gallery, JSKD
Financially supported by: Ministry of Culture RS, City Minicipality of Ljubljana

Reviews and media

Searchings Untitled succeeds in crafting a seamless and coherent whole, which is clear both in its concept and execution. The two performers approach the material in a relaxed way, but with enough care and deliberation to reveal its intention and progression. The contrast between Barbara’s slowness and the bear’s nonchalance adds just the right amount of comicality so that the performance doesn’t take itself too seriously or fall into over-sentimentality. The overall impression is boosted by the elaborateness of individual elements, from the relation between Kanc and the bear, which immediately wins our affection, to the inclusive use of the gallery space. Searchings Untitled is a pleasure to watch, witness, and to reflect on. 
06.01.2018, Koridor, Barbara Kanc: Iskanje brez naslova, Maša Radi

23.02.2015, tanznetz.de, Ingrid Tuerk-Chlapek, Tiefgang – vielfalt – hoehenflug
22.04.2016, Maska, Festival of diferencies, Pia Brezavšček

Previous events

  1. , ŠKUC, Ljubljana, SI
  2. , GT22, Maribor, SI
  3. , Gibanica, Mestni muzej, Ljubljana, SI
  4. , Galerija Photon, Ljubljana, SI
  5. , Galerija Photon, Ljubljana, SI
  6. , ŠKUC, Ljubljana, SI
  7. , ŠKUC, Ljubljana, SI
  8. , ŠKUC, Ljubljana, SI
  9. , ŠKUC, Ljubljana, SI
  10. , ŠKUC, Ljubljana, SI (odpade/cancelled)

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