AUDITION – project MONUMENTS by Nikola Krgović N/OBE and Saša Božić

Monuments is an interdisciplinary performance for five young dancers, merging contemporary dance and experimental electronic music in an artistic exploration of Yugoslav history, architecture, and sculpture under the creative direction of Zagreb-based composer N/OBE and choreographer Saša Božić. Developed as part of a transmedial extension of N/OBE’s yet-unreleased eponymous album of contemporary club music, the performance is conceived around six Yugoslav socialist monuments to the Partisan Revolution.

The selected monuments’ sculptural and architectural characteristics are interpreted through movement and sound, juxtaposing the formal and symbolic futuristic tendencies of Yugoslav high modernism with the stylistic mutations of experimental music and contemporary dance.

How are these monuments, the forgotten gentle giants of desolate sceneries, a reflection of cultural memory in ex-Yugoslavia? How has their meaning and legacy been affected by the harsh political changes during the past 30 years? Symbolically, how does the monuments’ present-day state of decay — caused by political apathy towards their legacy — comment on the shared living space of Southern Slavic nations? Internationally, are the utopian universalist and humanitarian values of Yugoslavia’s non-aligned ideology embodied by its monuments (anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, etc.) socially relevant in today’s era of ever- growing political divide?

Furthermore, how can the monuments’ groundbreaking aesthetics inspire similar degrees of futurism in adjacent artistic practices within the Yugosphere? How do static sculptural and architectural shapes translate into dynamised forms of movement and sound? How does abstract dance respond to complex rhythmic patterns of traditional Balkan music?

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Nikola Krgović N/OBE is a Zagreb-based electronic music composer, DJ, producer, promoter, and radio host. His music is marked by detailed production values, complex rhythmic formations, and a textured, dramatic intensity, often employing orchestral strings and Balkan ethnic instruments. His work has so far been released by the German label Kaer’Uiks and Italian imprint Early Reflex, and his tracks have been supported by numerous world-renowned artists and played on radio stations worldwide, including NTS and Rinse FM. As a DJ, he has performed throughout the Balkans, Italy, and Hungary, as well as at a Boiler Room event. He is a co-founder of the club music collective VOLTA, which has since matured into one of Zagreb’s most respected electronic underground crews, and has hosted two music shows on the FM-broadcast radio station Radio Student. He works as a media composer in Zagreb, scoring for theatre, dance, short films, and gallery installations, having collaborated with some of Croatia’s leading drama artists.

Saša Božić is a Croatian theatre director and dramaturg present in the field of European contemporary dance. His interests lie mainly in the widening of the performing arts field – working on a thin line between theatre, dance and performance, examining the porosity of their frames, and the position of the performer within the disparate modes of performing. As such, his work rarely fits neatly into the category of choreography or directing, as his distinctive combination of movement materials, visual imagery and texts follows the transformations between his multidisciplinary roles of choreographer, director and dramaturge. His work has been performed at every major theatre and performance venue in the Balkans, as well as at a multitude of European festivals and production houses. Among his national and international accolades are two nominations for best director of the year by the Croatian Society of Theatre Artists and a Jardin d’Europe prize at Impulstanz festival in Vienna. He is associate professor of theatre directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, and is the founder of Croatian performance production company de facto.

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Visual: Vladimir Crvenković