THE SCORE

The Intervention was first performed in Ljubljana, where I walked for several hours with no stopping from one end of the city to the other. Through the most crowded spots, where people hardly noticed anything weird about me. And through the most quiet streets, where only the buzzing sound from my air-conditioning-backpack was echoing around. It was 38˚C that day, yet I dressed like it was “cooled to the cozy 18” – well, why bother with adjusting to the sensorial information from the environment! Why acting so to make-sense?! The walk, with a steady equalizing paste, was an attempt to recreate the contemporary “eternal 24/7 flat line ”.   

On one hand, the score was a satiric response to the contemporary official policies, which promote the belief that we can solve climate problems, caused by technology, by producing even more technology: under the slogan of “green energy”. At the same time, it was also a response to the lay people’s mindset, who themselves equally contribute to the destruction of their own natural environment by cutting trees in their yards (for they are “bothered by the leaves”), and prefer to replace the natural gifts by energy-consuming devices. It was a reminder not only to ask how much energy is needed to power all these devices, but also how much energy and sources are needed/extracted for their production. … And not to speak about the trash-making. However, it was also a critical consideration of how cutting-ourselves-off from the environment (weather, seasons, life of other beings) effects our cognition and sense-making. How the endless low-frequency, constantly pressuring sound from such devices, fixed on a spot, effects our spatial sense and orientation, enhances anxiety, and overruns the most precious auditory quality: silence.

Since the Intervention in Ljubljana was done as a live performance, the cameraman had to jump around me with great effort. However, a week later, we also continued the Intervention in the Karst region, where during that moth a huge area of forest has burnt down in the fires. That part was performed with an aim to make a longer film. As we therefore stopped more often to look for suitable frames, it was curious to see how only two weeks after everything had turned to ash, little green bushes were already sprouting from the ground: LIFE!   

As some of the spectators at the final installation in Cirkulacija2 suggested that the film should continue in the same paste during all seasons, I then recorded the very last scene alone, in wintertime. The “fun” of being both, behind and in front of the camera, was indescribable. Having carried all that heavy, water-and-cold-sensitive equipment in almost a meter deep snow, in the same clothes (this time like it was “warmed to the cozy 25”), and knowing I had exactly one take available (for the footprints in snow would spoil the landscape/scene and I would need to find a completely new location) – all that effort to get one single shot –, was a real test of will.

I believe my experience finally brings up that ultimate question of our human resilience, due to being addicted to comfort.