Brina - a Kinaesthetic Monument at ImPulsTanz
Leja Jurišić, Bara Kolenc, Peter Kutin, Patrik Lechner, Mathias Lenz
Photo: David Višnjić
A monument: a structure, a tangible structure, a lasting tangible structure as a reminder of a historical phenomenon, a fixation of a specific memory arising from the fear of loss of memory. It seems that to fixate is to confirm existence. But what if one is movement itself?
Brina - the kinaesthetic monument re-examines the traditional view of monuments as static and unchangeable. How to make a monument that is ever changing? That is not producing a myth, but rather suggests a reorganization of the puzzle that history and memories are. And that shines an (abstract) light on the paradox that monuments are per se.
The generative, reactive and improvised kinaesthetic monument brings to presence the Slovenian contemporary dancer Marta Paulin alias Brina – as she was known among her fellow partisans in the National Liberation Front during the WWII. Brina actively took part in the national liberation movement and was a member of the cultural group operating within the XIVth partisan division. She performed improvisational dance acts for the fighters and the locals on various meetings and gatherings. In the war, her feet were frozen, so she was never able to dance again.
The kinaesthetic monument empowers Brina, as an antifascist and a dancer-choreographer, to rise not as a numb statue but as a spinning movement and echo in space. The emancipatory power of contemporary dance as it was performed by Brina: can it be a remedy against colonising our memories? A rebellious act?
»When, as a dancer, I stood alone in the massive crowd of liberation fighters, aware that I shall be able to use my dance gift and weak body to express what had been uniting us, that I shall also be able to master the vast natural space, I felt strength in my feet, tramping the hard soil of the forest ground.« Brina
Brina - a kinaesthetic monument is a collaborative project of Leja Jurišić, Bara Kolenc and the NO1 collective (Peter Kutin, Patrik Lechner, Mathias Lenz). Produced by Pekinpah; co-produced by Samosvoj; with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Slovenia.