THE MOMENT BEFORE
Artist: Sanja Nešković Peršin
Following the traces of her earlier works, artist Sanja Nešković Peršin ventures into the most mysterious regions of artistic creation. Using performative film and live performance, she imaginatively creates a sensual cacophony, exploring in this realm the longing and disquiet that inevitably accompany the deeply rooted pursuit of excellence. By juxtaposing vague, indecipherable black-and-white images of individual movements discarded in the past for their lack of perfection with her performative intervention in the space, the artist establishes an internal dialogue from the perspective of an uncertain present, reproducing a feeling of suspense that precedes the actual resolution of expectation. This dynamic interplay of image and sound fragments in the darkness of the exhibition space draws a map of tension and uncertainty that, from today’s perspective, encourages an exploration of the constellation of what could have been and what did not happen.
Using a unique poetic language dominated by a steady cadence of increasingly intense movement variations, which she has practised continuously throughout her dance career, the artist seeks to transcend the boundaries of the physical, emphasising the importance and weight of the irrational as an essential part of our rational perception. Through the iconoclastic exercise of deconstructing repetitive movements, she reveals the uncanny complexity of conflicting emotional impulses that underlie the creative process. Unconscious themes emerge through memories of half-lived, unrealised experiences, creating a dream-like atmosphere in which the artist sublimates the desire for perfection until it combusts.
Curator: Yasmín Martín Vodopivec
Space for Art NÓT, Ljubljana, Slovenia
19 September 2023 – 21 September 2023
The Jamestown Arts Center, Rhode Island, United States
28 October 2023
Ljubljana Art Weekend, Space for Art NÓT, Ljubljana, Slovenia
24 – 25 May 2024
Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia
10 October 2024
Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria
24 October – 22 November 2024
13th International Festival of Contemporary Dance CoFestival, Cirkulacija 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia
25 November 2024
Upcoming events in May 2025: Kyoto and Osaka, Japan
Concept and performer: Sanja Nešković Peršin
Set-up and video: Atej Tutta
Music: Sašo Kalan
Text editing: Vesna Česen Rošker
Proofreading: Postulat
Translation: Arven Šakti Kralj
Co-production: NOT Space for Art
Supported by: Municipality of Ljubljana, Department of Culture
Acknowledgments: Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana (MGML), Maribor Art Gallery (UGM), Hestia Belgrade
Photos: Atej Tutta, Jan, Urška Boljkovac.
Watch the video
https://vimeo.com/atejtutta/review/1019945822/62c45aac00
