Artist:
Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater (founded 1983 by Eda Čufer, Miran Mohar, and Dragan Živadinov in Ljubljana, Slovenia; terminated 1987).
Documentation:
A group portrait of NSK [Neue Slowenische Kunst] members in front of a model of Tatlin’s tower from the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre production. Photo by Marko Modic.
Description:
In ‘The Founding Act’ (of 13 October 1983), the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre (SNST) announced its plan to revive the performing arts in three stages: underground, exorcism, and retro-classical. Foreseeing the accomplishment of this revival in three to four years’ time, the SNST also predicted the end of its activities, which would be executed in an act of ‘self-destruction.’ The plan was founded on risk, since the retro-classical stage dictated the realization of the Scipions’ programme in the frame of an actual political-economic and production platform, which implied also the institutional legitimization of the group’s work.
“The Scipions’ successful breakthrough from the underground stage to the largest stage (that of the Gallus Hall) of Cankarjev dom, then a new establishment, attests both to the SNST’s acumen and determination in pursuing its stated goals, and to the willingness of Slovenian institutions to not shy away from challenges, but instead overtly participate in the broader processes of democratization that were taking place in late-socialist countries in the mid-1980s.
“The invitation to perform at the venue had originally been issued as early as 1984 by the artistic director of the Cankarjev dom theater section, Goran Schmidt. He invited the Scipions to realize a celebration performance on the national cultural holiday in 1986, and the event planned for that year was a staging of the central modern Slovenian national myth, the lyrical epic poem ‘Baptism at the Savica’ by France Prešeren.
—Eda Čufer, “SNST, Retro-Classical Stage, Retrogarde Event Baptism under Triglav, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, 6 February 1986,” in From Kapital to Capital: Neue Slowenische Kunst: An Event of the Final Decade of Yugoslavia, ed. Zdenka Badovinac (Ljubljana: Moderna Galleriaat, 2015), 19-20.
