PRIRODA I DRUŠTVO

Durational performance
Commissioned by BLOK curatorial collective
First time performed at Urban Festival, Zagreb 2014
Performed in different cities

Video documentation (Zagreb) – Srđan Kovačević i Jasenko Rasol

Foto documentation (Zagreb) – Damir Žižić

Given the current processes of commodification affecting nature and the natural resources, to what extent is it still possible to see nature as wilderness and a virginal sphere in which the (economic) categories established by the society cease to be valid?

“The performance Nature vs. Society consists of walking from the centre of the urban texture – the central square – towards the northern edge of the city and then further to the forest. Thereby I mark the route as I progress, leaving traces. In reference to the Hansel and Gretel story, which was canonized by the Grimm brothers in the Romanticist period, I leave coins along the way instead of pebbles and breadcrumbs, which serves to explore the possibility of abolishing the value of money along with the change in the environment through which I am walking. In the area of the city itself, especially its centre, as it represents the economic and political power, the coins still retain their exchange value: they are accessible to everyone and open up space for interaction. At the periphery, where the urban area gradually fades away, the value of money is questioned; eventually, in the forest, it may be completely abolished, at least on the symbolic level, although not necessarily on the actual one.” (N.K.)