Together apart
Artist's film 11'15'' screened at the Whitechapel Gallery 2021.UK ; Crawford Gallery, Dublin, 2021.
Hammer Museum as part of online screening, 2021. 67.
Martovski Festival, Belgrade 2021.
director Neda Kovinić
kamera Marko Tošić
editor Arion Asllani
actors and dancers: Joana Knežević, Vladimir Čubrilo, Ana Obradović, Isidora Poledica, Aleksandar Isailović, Đorđe Galić, Rade Obradović, Katarina Orlandić, Olga Uzikaeva, Nemanja Bošković, Katarina Ilijašević
production: CCB, Neda Kovinić
2021.
Together apart is a video, based on a public performance, that confronts both the participants and the public with the (in)ability of performing and communicating in the times of pandemic culture. How are we supposed to practice togetherness and care through dance now when physical distancing is the ultimate performance? How can an interactive art process, which implies the practice of togetherness, palpable and corporal, not only virtual, be possible in the world of the pandemic?
I was inspired by the thoughts on pandemic, disaster capitalism, body politics, and care by P. B. Preciado, Pavle Levi and by the various statements I collected from everyday speech of my friends, neighbors and social media. I connected these verbal, theoretical, and poetic observations with body movements. The dancers faced the difficulties of dancing in the public space because of constant changes of the measures of social and corporal distancing. The expressive narration in the video culminates in a choreographed movement "knee-on-neck." The repression of the ruling structures raises the question of whether the immunized society, which is now being sought, represents a danger to the survival of art, sociability, and even human beings.
The performance narration
These are not normal times, these are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures!1
The coronavirus has managed to bring the entire world to a halt for an indefinite period of time.
The coronavirus has managed to bring the entire world to a halt for an indefinite period of time.2
One of the most important questions hanging in the air and oc- cupying the thoughts of the majority is – will organized human life survive in its essential form? Perhaps this generation will have to provide an answer for this question? Grab as much as you can for yourself, knock down everyone else – this is human nature – according to capitalism! Is it? I don’t think so. 3
Guys, I have no money to pay my bills with! Nobody cares about that ... nobody ... And what if they put us under lock- down again? What if they put us under lockdown?
1 Blake, Aaron ( January 22, 2017). "Kellyanne Conway says Donald Trump's team has 'alternative facts.' Which pretty much says it all". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
2 Pavle Levi: „Nefiltrirane kino misli u doba pandemije“, https://www.mi2. hr/2020/05/pavle-levi-nefiltrirane-kino-misli-u-doba-pandemije/
3 Noam Chomsky, Destruction of solidarity, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=HdI55qd-Ri0
4 Adam Curtis, HyperNormalisation, BBC, 2016.
5 Pavle Levi: „Nefiltrirane kino misli u doba pandemije“, https://www.mi2. hr/2020/05/pavle-levi-nefiltrirane-kino-misli-u-doba-pandemije/
How has it come to this, that we are living in these strange times of suicide bombers, floods of refugees, Trump, Putin, Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic? Those whom their political roles put in a position to be controlling all this are unable to do it, and no one has a vision of a better future. Politicians, financiers, technological utopians are retreating from reality rather than facing its com- plexity. Even those who believed they were attacking the system, radical thinkers, artists, musicians, together with all of counter- culture, have actually become part of the deception because they have taken refuge in a land of dreams. They used to start revolu- tions. The society is apathetic, without dreams, and it is expected that all that politicians say are lies and all that is broadcast on TV is not true!4
I’m anxious, I’m anxious...I’m anxious...I’m unwell, turn on the light, I’am not good, turn on the light..Do you have any Xanax? Come on, turn on the light. Turn on the light!
Patriarchal white masculinity is hegemonic. Small groups of rich individuals (businessmen and, of course, various pop-folk celebrities) live in isolated compounds and in skyscrapers, far from the filthy, dangerous streets. They rely on a combined network of support provided by the apparatuses of private fa- vours, entertainment and citizen control – personal assistants, doctors and firefighters, concubines and police officers.5
Go on, step away, keep your distance, that’s riiiiiiiiight, slide, slide a bit! to a distance of 2 metres...okay, now you can move to 1.5 metres...
Come on, come on, come on, Come on! Just come and shop!Come on, let’s head to the stadium! Come on, we certainly do need sports. All that cheering, our side winning, screaming at the top of our lungs.
4 Adam Curtis, HyperNormalisation, BBC, 2016.
5 Pavle Levi: „Nefiltrirane kino misli u doba pandemije“, https://www.mi2. hr/2020/05/pavle-levi-nefiltrirane-kino-misli-u-doba-pandemije/
6 Terry Smith, Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity, 2014. 7 Paul Preciado, https://www.artforum.com/print/202005/ paul*b*preciado-82823
We’re on top of things, mind you! Did the professionals say so? Let’s head to the stadium. What the hell are we afraid of?
Art exhibitions are the only places left where the routine of everyday life, imposed by the dominant system, is interrupted. The openings of exhibitions are the only remaining public so- cial events where people come together for free, as opposed to contemporary social habits taking place in cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and other consumer hot spots.
Come on, let the exhibitions and the museums happen, anyway there are 50 people max that come to these things. Let’s be honest, how many of you are here? How many people actually come to see exhibitions? We can’t even get fifty people in one place. Why wouldn’t we let those artists do their silly things, so what?
It’s fifty people, a meagre fifty! Don’t you agree? Yes, I can see you do ...
But keep your distance! The masks are a must. Okay, okay, we’ll wash your hands for you! Come to the shopping centres! Oh, you’ve been shopping?
Since it inevitably happens that we touch surfaces others have already touched, despite wearing masks and gloves and isolat- ing ourselves in our homes the multiply contaminated surfaces remind us that others have to be fundamentally involved in our existence and wellbeing.
SIMPLY PUT – WE ARE NEVER ALONE!
I like things better since the emergence of “Covid”. What about you, haven’t you been feeling the same way? You guys, was I sick of those airports! I’ve set up my laptop in the
6 Terry Smith, Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity, 2014. 7 Paul Preciado, https://www.artforum.com/print/202005/ paul*b*preciado-82823
pantry, the kitchen is within easy reach, the kids spend some time on the phone, some on my computer, we take turns, and we’ve all learnt to enter platforms. I mean, it is a little sad that some children don’t have computers or smartphones, some can see each other and take part in Zoom classrooms, while some can’t... but that’s just how things are, what can you do? I’ve been having a great time since the emergence of Covid, a great time...
pantry, the kitchen is within easy reach, the kids spend some time on the phone, some on my computer, we take turns, and we’ve all learnt to enter platforms. I mean, it is a little sad that some children don’t have computers or smartphones, some can see each other and take part in Zoom classrooms, while some can’t... but that’s just how things are, what can you do? I’ve been having a great time since the emergence of Covid, a great time...
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