About the performance
The Art of Survival scrutinizes the story that scrutinized the story - we continue the thousand-year-old human tradition of localizing, recontextualizing, and searching for the new, perhaps even the better, within the already existing.
The short story "The Ones Who Stay and Fight" was written by influential Afro-futurist author N. K. Jemisin as a response to world-renowned science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin's surprisingly obscure story, ""The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." In both cases, it is a contemplation of the limits of human imagination. The authors explore how much humanity is capable of imagining utopia. While Le Guin suggests that universal beauty and goodness can only be imagined if suffering is present somewhere, and that people prefer to withdraw themselves if we disagree with the system rather than try to change it, Jemisin's story implies, that utopia actually does not exist.
Jemisin's story, which is deeply rooted in the specific context of the systemic racism of the United States of America, nevertheless resonates with us as well. What kind of utopias can we imagine and what is society willing to do for utopia? How do mass media and social networks influence our collective imagination and action? Where is that golden balance between free speech and hate speech? Can we even establish it - and maintain it? Or is thinking about utopias utopian?
Inan Sven Du Swami graduated in 2019 from the Sigmund Freud Faculty with a degree in psychotherapeutic science, earning the title of Bachelor of Psychotherapeutic Science. Following his studies, he furthered his education at Lezarti’cirque Institute in Switzerland, where he studied contemporary partner acrobatics and physical theater in tandem with Mojca Špik. His current work focuses on movement arts, particularly in the field of contemporary partner acrobatics, modern circus, and visual physical theater. He regularly uses psychoanalysis as a tool for exploring artistic material.
In 2023, he received the collective Borštnik Award for the performance En K te gleda. The shows in which he participates tour various festivals at home and abroad, receiving numerous awards, reviews, and publications.
Zala Mojca Jerman Kuželički was born on April 30, 1990, and immediately began seeking the spotlight. She was particularly influenced by her time at the Barica Blenkuš Drama School under the mentorship of Lucija Ćirović. After completing her master's degree in linguistics, she returned to her first love. Within the framework of ŠtudenTeater, organized by Theatre Glej, she co-created three award-winning performances (Une druge tri sestre [2017]: Vizionar for Best Overall Performance, Predstava po Doris [2018]: Vizionar for Most Original Authorial Project, Iz kokona [2019]: Vizionar for Collective Stage Performance and Gold Recognition). She also collaborated with Theatre Glej as a theater mentor in the international project 4ID. As a dancer and collaborator, she has been heavily involved with the Studio for Free Dance, and more recently has worked as a dramaturge (with Ana Cvelfar on the play O praznih prostorih [2020] and with Urša Rupnik on the play Iz/najdena [2023]). In 2020, she was selected for the project Nova branja under the auspices of SNG Drama, which culminated in a staged reading of her one-act play Tišina, prosim at Mala Drama (directed by Mojca Madon).
