Fragments of Maribor

Mentor Volker Gerling

In this workshop the aim is to sharpen our awareness for the beauty of everyday situations and everyday encounters. Based on mentor’s work as a walking flipbook filmmaker and the work Gerucht by Lotte van den Berg (a Dutch theatre director), the participants will go to a self-chosen public place in Maribor for one hour. During this time, the participants are to let themselves be gifted by what they observe, what they experience internally and/or externally. From their observations, findings, memories, inner and outer images, conversations with strangers (...) the participants should create a presentation/performance of a maximum of five minutes each. The form of the presentation/performance is to be chosen completely freely: Narration, dance, mime, presentation of found objects, reading of a text, even people from the street can be brought along and mixed forms can also be chosen.... The performances may not be rehearsed, and no order of the performances will be set in advance, so that what was experienced by the participants is presented as directly and raw as possible. The aim of the performance is not to performatively "evaluate" the entire one hour that the participants have spent at their locations, but to be open to the one (short or long) moment in which something essential happened.

The participants get instructions after the performance on 15 June. There are two Awakening terms dedicated to the individual experiences of the city, on Tuesday, 15 June, and on Wednesday, 16 June, at 10:00 am. On Tuesday, participants walk around and explore, and on Wednesday they (re)visit one location.