Hungarian-Serbian poet and performer Katalin Ladik, who is considered the “Yoko Ono of the Balkans” and a pioneer of noise and performance art in Southeast Europe, shook up the art scene of the time with the project SoundBodyPoetry and the performance UFO Party (1969) and implemented methods of experimental work with voice and physical performance already in the 1970s. The German‑Slovenian tandem of sound dancer Jule Flierl and choreo-vocalist Irene Z. Tomažin has created a tribute that blurs the boundaries between poetry, acting and experimental voice work and at the same time represents the continuation of their exploration of the physical experience of language and the articulation of different layers of the voice. “In this way, they put the knowledge of the emancipated female body from Ladik’s heritage in a contemporary context and move into the field of contemporary feminist currents and new materialisms, in which spectral phenomena, materialities, transcending the centrality of the concept of man, and researching beyond the anthropocentric view of reality are gaining increasing influence” (Urban Belina, Neodvisni, 22 November 2021).
Choreographers and authors: Irena Z. Tomažin, Jule Flierl
Performed by: Irena Z. Tomažin, Jule Flierl
Lighting design: Gretchen Blegen
Sound design: Nicola Ratti
Costumes: Jean-Paul Lespagnard
Historical advisor, dramaturge: Kata Kasznahorkai
Photo: Zavod Sploh
Producers: Špela Trošt (Zavod Sploh), Alexandra Wellensiek
Co-producers and partners: SOPHIENSÆLE (Berlin), Zavod Sploh (Ljubljana), Charleroi Danse Center chorégraphique de Wallonie-Bruxelles (Brussels), PACT Zollverein (Essen)
Supported by: Hauptstadtkultur Fonds, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana
Duration of the performance: 60 minutes
Jule Flierl studied contemporary dance at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) and choreography at EXERCE Montpellier and has worked as a dancer with Bryan Campbell, Martin Nachbar, Ibrahim Quarishi, Tino Sehgal and Meg Stuart, among others. Flierl uses somatic singing methods, the so‑called “Lichtenberger Method”. The friction between her training in various contemporary dance techniques and her vocal training paved the way for her choreographic works that explore voice as dance. STÖRLAUT (2018) reflects her exploration of Valeska Gert’s sound dances from the 1920s.Irena Z. Tomažin is a dancer, experimental singer and philosopher who works in an experimental theatre and music context. Her work has been analyzed by Bojana Kunst (The Voice of the Dancing Body) and Sophie Herr (Geste de la voix et théâtre du corps), among others, and her essays on vocal philosophy have been published in various art publications. She released three albums: Crying Games, Taste of Silence and Lump In the Throat. Her work is a consistent exploration of the non-linguistic voice as a medium in a physical form.