An immersive experience, a tribute to the distinguished psychiatrist Gorazd V. Mrevlje, the artist's father.
Dates: April 17th, 18th, and 19th, 8:00 PM
Location: Puppet Theatre, Oder Pod Zvezdami, Krekov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana
Reservations are essential due to limited seating. Secure your tickets in advance.
JAŠA (Ljubljana, 1978) presents "REKVIEM two years later” an immersive, multi-sensory experience that blends visual arts, performance, poetry, and music. This ambitious project, previously shown at the Casa Tartini Museum in Piran, is a tribute to JAŠA's recently deceased father, the esteemed psychiatrist Gorazd V. Mrevlje.
Grief is a universally shared human experience, a complex emotional process that confronts us with loss. But where does this inner journey take us? What does it mean to process grief, and what are the possible outcomes? Art, in particular, can serve as a bridge, creating a space where a son can reunite with his father. This encounter, occurring within the realm of an artwork, offers an alternative perspective on loss, allowing for the exploration of memory and affection in ways that physical reality cannot.
The project's realisation centered on the meticulous crafting of marionettes, a collaborative endeavor with the puppet theater studio and their esteemed professionals. This ambitious process required a year to fully recreate the characters, seamlessly blending traditional puppet-making with contemporary sculptural techniques, resulting in strikingly hyper realistic animated sculptures. These characters allow us to transcend ordinary experience, forging a connection with an alternate dimension and facilitating encounters otherwise unattainable.
The project transcends boundaries, inviting viewers into a gathering of parallels, as JAŠA defines it, a series of situations, figures and sounds, pervades the stage of the Puppet Theatre. JAŠA’s use of space is central to his approach in developing his extensive projects. “REKVIEM” was created within the architectural framework of Casa Tartini, treating the space almost as a 'ready-made' and using it as an ideal foundation for the work. The transformation process once again focuses on the absence and memory of what the project originally was—elements that are essential to JAŠA’s practice. The Puppet Theater’s “The Stage Under the Stars” was chosen for its unique ability to dissolve the traditional separation between the performance space and the audience. The architectural layout is reinserted as a drawing on the floor, eliminating walls and floors, and creating a “see-through” composition that merges the original rooms and their contents into a central installation. This setup allows the audience to observe it from a distance and then walk into it.
“REKVIEM two years later” engulfs viewers on every level, blurring the lines between reality and the newly constructed space. It creates a boundless new dimension, echoing the very essence of movement, passage, and transformation, embodying a sense of renewal and fresh beginnings.
Author: JAŠA
Curator: Laura Rositani
Co-writer of the Script: Etan Nechin
Development of Puppet Base and Space with: Meta Grgurevič
Cast: Lovro Finžgar, Polona Kores, Martina Maurič, and Iztok Lužar
Music Author: KALU
Puppet Engineering: Žiga Lebar, Zoran Srdić
Musical Performance: KALU, Bowrain and Mario Babojelić
Performance: Mattias Gimigliano with Bela Mrevlje, Djuna Greta Vidrih, Pavle Vastl, Puja Grubar Pohar
Design: Rosa Lux
Project Collaborator and Public Relations: Glasilka (Vladimir Mihajlović)
Public Relations LGL: Petra Škofic
Puppet Construction: Žiga Lebar, Olga Milić, Sandra Birjukov, Marjeta Valjavec
Photography and video: Tjaša Gnezda
Co-Production: Puppet Theater Ljubljana (Alja Mihajlović Cerar)
Production: We.Are Institute
Acknowledgments: Mare Bulc, Iztok Leskovar, Leon Magdalenec, Griša Šoba, Matija Sevšek and Franci Zavrl
REKVIEM
Tartini House, Piran
June 22, 2024 – September 7, 2024
The project was awarded to the artist as part of the special 2023 Tartini Award at the 58th Ex-tempore Piran.
The Award is being presented by the Giuseppe Tartini Italian Community.
Rekviem is an interdisciplinary work that transcends traditional art forms . By fusing visual
arts, performance, architectural interventions, puppet art, poetry and music, JAŠA creates a
new comprehensive entity that blurs the lines between reality and constructed space. This
approach engages all senses, allowing the viewers to immerse themselves fully in the
experience.
Requiem generally refers to a musical composition for those who are no longer with us, a
final tribute to the deceased. JAŠA’s Rekviem holds a special dedication to his late father, the
esteemed psychiatrist Gorazd V. Mrevlje, who recently passed away. In this tribute, his
father is one of the three protagonists represented by marionettes. These marionettes were
crafted by the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre according to the author’s design and in
collaboration with artist Meta Grgurevič. The marionettes—Father, Author, and Giuseppe
Tartini, the renowned 18th-century violinist and composer—inhabit a parallel, extratemporal
reality, with which JAŠA challenges the notion of an ending.
The exhibition setup encompasses most of the museum rooms at the Tartini House. JAŠA
utilises these spaces, incorporating them as ready-made objects alongside selected existing
exhibit items. Combined with visual, sound, musical and situational interventions, these
spaces are transformed into living pictures. They serve both as complete units and as
fragments of a story that weaves through the entire architecture of the house.
Laura Rositani, curator:
Casa Tartini becomes a gathering of parallels, as JAŠA defines it, a bouleversement of
situations, figures and sounds. It is the architecture of a dream, which shifts and changes
continuously. The house itself, its rooms overturn and move as in a magnificent Piranesi
architecture. It is a dreamlike work, a precious window into the most hidden desires and
conflicts.
Three is the recurring number: three are the characters and the third is the dimension of
Tartini’s sound, almost imperceptible but the result of a perfect harmony: the interference
effect between two sounds which, if perfectly in tune, generate a third barely perceptible
one. Two fragments can give life to a whole, a third dimension. Jaša is the conductor of this
piece that comes to life and intertwines with the figures of his father and the famous
violinist. And in doing so, he traces a circle, a set of parallel narratives that seemingly never
met. He gives us a new score, a script rewritten according to an eternal movement.
Author: JAŠA
Curator: Laura Rositani
Co-writer of the script: Etan Nechin
Puppet design with Meta Grgurevič
Puppet makers: Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana – Zoran Srdić, Žiga Lebar, Olga Milič, Sandra
Birjukov, Marjeta Valjavec, David Klemenčič, Lorena Bukovec, Gabrijela Fleischman
Original score: KALU
Puppeteers: Lovro Finžgar, Polona Kores, Martina Maurič Lazar
Live music: KALU, Bowrain
Performance: Mattias Gingliano, Al tempo di Tartini, Bela Mrevlje and others
Producer: Piran Self-Governing Community of Italian Nationals and Piran Coastal Galleries
Coproducer: Ljubljana Puppet Theatre
Technical production and PR: Glasilka
Production: WE.ARE Inštitut
Partners: Italian Community »Giuseppe Tartini«, Tartini house
Sponsor: Zavarovalnica Triglav
Graphic design: Rosa Lux
Sound design: Mario Babojelič
Technical team of Ljubljana Puppet theatre: Damir Radončić (sound), Danilo Korelec, Kristjan
Vidner (light), Darko Nedeljković, Slobodan Ilić (scenography)
Proofreading: Noah Charney
Support: Bojana Leskovar, Vuk Ćosić
Producer: Piran Self-Governing Community of Italian Nationals and Piran Coastal Galleries
Co-producer: Ljubljana Puppet Theatre
Technical Production and PR: Glasilka
Production: WE.ARE Inštitut
Partners: Italian Community “Giuseppe Tartini,” Tartini House
Graphic Design: Rosa Lux
Sound Design: Mario Babojelič
Technical Team of Ljubljana Puppet Theatre: Damir Radončić (sound), Danilo Korelec, Kristjan Vidner (light), Darko Nedeljković, Slobodan Ilić (scenography)
Proofreading: Noah Charney
Support: Bojana Leskovar, Vuk Ćosić
Awarded as part of the special 2023 Tartini Award at the 58th Ex-tempore Piran, JAŠA's solo exhibition is presented by the Giuseppe Tartini Italian Community.
In collaboration with the Piran Self-Governing Community of Italian Nationals, Piran Coastal Galleries, and the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre
Supported by Zavarovalnica Triglav d.d.
