PAPERWORK
performance
For the Time Being
performance program
Maja Štefančíková
PAPERWORK
28. 2. 2018, 19:00
Zuzana Žabková
DREAMS OF THE BURNING PUPPETS
15.3. 2018, 18:00
curated by: Eliška Mazalanová
venue: tranzit.sk, Beskydská 12, Bratislava
For the Time Being, the program of performances arose due to the need for a break, a temporary slowing down of the work process in order to find time for more reflexive work and for the creation of more permanent values and relationships. It is an introduction to the tranzit.sk’s long-term project entitled Start and Finish conceived by Judit Angel, which will focus on the functioning and economy of contemporary culture based on projects, and, among other things, it will also pursue the search for new scenarios and ways in which artistic institutions can operate.
Both performances work with an intuitive, irrational and ritualistic form of reflexivity. While the performance of Maja Štefančíková is a criticism of the current system of production and work in general (i.e., definitely not only in culture), Zuzana Žabková creates the groundwork for a different way of experiencing reality, through metaphysics, esoterica and meditation.
ERSTE Foundation is main partner of tranzit.
This project has been supported using public funds provided by Slovak Arts Council.
Paperwork
performance by
Maja Štefančíková
performers: Lucia Čarnecká, Veronika Dubravová, Simona Gottierová, Ivana Kleinová, Dominika Párnická, Viliam Slaminka, Maja Štefančíková, Dana Tomečková a Divadlo Atrapa (Dagmar Bordáková Labáthová, Tímea Čániová, Katarína Donáthová, Jakub Lazarčík, Adam Štrba)
28.2. 2018, 19:00
tranzit.sk, Beskydská 12, Bratislava
Who/what are we and what are we doing when we work? And, with respect to erasing of borders between work and leisure time, does this question make any sense?
Work is work is work. Work is no longer work, it is our life, it becomes a performance.
Paperwork, the performance conceived by Maja Štefančíková, focuses on the working subject. It analyzes the permanent cycle and monotony of the working process, and articulates pseudo-activity, unnecessary work and surplus labor.
This project emphasizes the irrationality of the contemporary economic and social system based on the premise of permanent growth and enhancing of productivity through rationalization. Instead of de-personalized mechanisms of bureaucracy, emotionality and animality rise to the surface. When is labor dehumanized, and when does it become inhuman? It is not only massive robotization which leads to the extinction of manual labor. For a long time, leftist authors have spoken about wage slavery; along with the exploitative and disrespectful working conditions there could, however, exist even more subjective and not simply articulable reasons. For example, when we are not able to understand work and its meaning.
key words:
Sisyphean task, unnecessary work, surplus labor, bureaucracy, machine, de-humanization, hand, animal, ir-rationality
