RESEARCH

UL AGRFT Research Group

A research group affiliated to the UL AGRFT Theatre and Film Studies Centre is led by Professor Barbara Orel. It conducts research in the fields of theatre, film and interart studies.  

Since 2009, the UL AGRFT programme group has been involved in research programme Theatre and Interart Studies (supported by the Slovenian Research Agency).  

The research programme Theatre and Interart Studies carries out core studies in the field of Slovenian arts, especially theatre, fine arts and music. Its significance, however, extends beyond that into the broader field of humanities. The programme focuses on interdisciplinary studies of the fields in-between individual artistic disciplines, with the emphasis on their connections established in theatre and performing arts. In exploring historical and contemporary (trans)art phenomena, special attention is paid to the development of new methodologies and conceptual tools for their interpretation. By employing the inter- or transdisciplinary methodological approaches that extend traditional academic disciplines, the research programme connects many fields, views and approaches to art theory that are often hermetically closed. The aim of the programme is to bridge the gap between (art) theory and practice and to unify them into an integrative field of research and interpretation of the world around us.

The programme group consists of researchers of three arts academies of the University of Ljubljana: the Academy of Theatre, Film, Radio and Television, the Academy of Music, and the Academy of Fine Arts and Design. They are joined by scholars of literature, art history, anthropology and sociology. The involvement of the group members in international research, artistic and other networks provides testing grounds for the results in intercultural and international perspectives. Members of the group (since 2018) are: Dr Barbara Orel, Dr Darja Koter, Nika Leskovšek, Dr Blaž Lukan, Dr Aldo Milohnić, Dr Katarina Podbevšek, Dr Maja Šorli, Dr Tomaž Toporišič, Dr Gašper Troha and Dr Nadja Zgonik.

In the period from 2009 to 2017, the studies of (inter)art phenomena filled numerous gaps in the history of Slovenian arts and enabled new insights into understanding their development, especially that of the arts of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In the period from 2018 to 2023, the programme’s research studies are focused on Slovenian arts as co-shapers of social and intercultural exchanges. The intertwining of different cultures in the Slovenian space poses an eminent research question, as Slovenia is located at the crossroads of Slavic, Germanic and Romanic cultures and at the same time forms a bridge between the East and the West.

In the years 2024-2029, the program will continue fundamental research in theater, visual arts, and music, as well as research on mediatized culture, especially film and television, and hybrid artistic practices in Slovenia in the 20th and 21st centuries. For the first time in Slovenia, it will connect various disciplines dealing with live arts and mediatized art in the fields of film and television, as well as their policies, into a systematic interdisciplinary research that will historicize and theorize the arts in their connectivity and transculturality. We will be interested primarily in the dynamics of change and the specifics of Slovenian live arts and its related mediatized art of film and television within the European and global context at the intersection of the first, second, and third worlds, north and south, east and west.

The research programme establishes the conditions for a reliable scientific study of Slovenian art (theatre, music, film, television and visual arts), based on modern methodologies. Through baseline research of the intercultural history of Slovenian art, it points out that critical and self-critical theoretical thought is an indispensable part of the broader culture of a given society and, in conjunction with other areas of knowledge, contributes to its high-quality sustainable development. The programme deals with topics that are of key importance for theoretical and historical understanding of art and culture today, and that touch upon fundamental questions of human existence in the world. It points out that the arts are a field that is fundamental to the formation of cultural identity and binds individuals into a community. Disseminating new scientific insights about Slovenian art as the harbinger and active co-creator of social change can make important contributions to the understanding of the key role that art and culture play in Slovenian society. And it is precisely the study of the relationship between art and society, which forms the foundation of the research of the intercultural and intermedial in Slovenian culture, art and society, that allows for more precise definitions of the impact of art on the co-creation of the socio-political space and creates a solid basis for evaluating its importance in contemporary society. At a time when art is particularly under pressure to demonstrate its value according to economic parameters, raising awareness about the cultural capital and social significance of Slovenian art and culture among the general public is all the more important. It is in this context that intercultural arts research can also make a fundamental contribution to acceptance of cultural diversity.

A highly important segment of spreading the news about our programme are publications of the scientific monographs.

• Jožef Muhovič (ed): Art Between Practice and Theory: Theoretical Reflections on Artistic Reality on the Threshold of the Third Millennium

Ljubljana University Press, 2023

Before us are eleven theoretical contributions to research in the fields of art history, image theory, aesthetics, art theory, theory and history of design, theory and history of conservation-restoration, scenographic and visual arts, carefully divided into three sections: Aesthetics, Fine Art Studies and Theatre Studies.

The initiator of the entire project is the Department of Theory of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, which invited colleagues from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television as well as the participating lecturers from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design to join the project.

• Tomaž Toporišič: Dramske pisave stoletja. Od Ivana Cankarja do Simone Semenič in naprej / Dramatic writings of the Century: From Ivan Cankar to Simona Semenič and beyond

Založba Literatura, Ljubljana, zbirka Novi pristopi, 2023

The book Dramatic Writings of the Century: from Ivan Cankar to Simona Semenič and beyond traces and analyses the transformations and turning points of the last century’s dramatic writings. It starts with Ivan Cankar and his farce Pohujšanje, Slavko Grum and expressionist drama, Ivan Mrak with his avant-garde drama and hymnic tragedy, Srečko Kosovel’s hybrid dramatic attempts, Ferdo Delak’s synthesis influenced by the Futurists. It proceeds with the analysis of the transformations and turning points of the dramatic writings after WW2, from the intimism of Vitomil Zupan and the poetic, existentialist and absurdist drama of the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s as written by Jože Javoršek, Dominik Smole, Dane Zajc, Gregor Strniša, Veno Taufer, Primož Kozak, Peter Božič, Svetlana Makarović, Dušan Jovanović, Milan Jesih, Rudi Šeligo, Ivo Svetina, Drago Jančar. To be followed by the post-dramatic drama of Emil Filipčič, Matjaž Zupančič, Simona Semenič, Žanina Mirčevska, Jera Ivanc and the new generations, to the post-dramatic drama of the first decades of the 21st Century. It theorises and historicizes the shifts within Slovenian drama, but also within theatre and culture, of aesthetic revolutions from the periphery to the centre, and of the changing maps of Slovenian art and culture in the “century of wars” and “the new (that) can only come about as the seizure of ruin.” (Badiou).

• Blaž Lukan: Theatrical Synthesis

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789612970550

Ljubljana University Press, 2023

At first glance, Theatrical Synthesis is the “technical” label for the papers published under this title. But it is not. The texts included in this volume span different fields – drama, dramatic theatre and performance art, its theory and execution – and are unit­ed by a common analytical orientation: the desire to recognize phenomena in their essence, their core. In this way, the title merely aims to illustrate the single “method” with which the debates approach their objects of research: to approach them as close­ly as possible, almost to the point of “obscenity”, and then to step back and see them in their specific manifestations, but at the same time – and this is the most important thing for the book – to see the potential of the contemporary connections they offer through their original embeddedness in an authentic, “historical” basis.

• Tomaž Toporišič: Dangerous Liaisons of 20th and 21st Century Drama and Theatre

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789617128239

Ljubljana University Press, 2022

The book explores the processes of dangerous relationships between drama and the­atre while analysing the body of a dramatic or non-dramatic text as a border area belonging to both the field of literature and theatre. It follows the processes of trans­lation from the literary into the performative dimension and vice versa, and shows some possible uses of the term interpretation as part of the creative process. In the field of drama or post-drama, interpreting can mean in the Slovene language either “interpreting” in the sense of a specific reading, or acting or directing a play in the sense of acting or theatrical interpretation as a Bourriaudian media translation from the literary to staged. However, this interpretation and translation can also coincide with intercultural translation from one culture to another. The basic aim of the book is to explore the analogy between critical (hermeneutic) interpretation and artistic interpretation, which we always require to be productive and coherent and thus convincing to us. While detecting the specifics of the inter­pretation of drama and theatre, the book uses eclectic tools offered by literary and performing arts studies to analyse the corpora of contemporary drama or no-longer drama performing practices.

• Aldo Milohnić: Gledališče upora

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789610604280

Ljubljana University Press, 2021

The monograph discusses performative practices of revolt that took place in Slovene theatre in the twentieth and the beginning of this century. The author starts from the analysis of various practices and theories of performing arts, which he constantly combines with sociological, historical and philosophical views, thus placing them in a broader political context. Characteristically, all the cases considered emerged in specific social circumstances, and although they are often seemingly small acts, they reveal their unique and often seminal role from a historical distance. The author builds on diverse documentary material and existing research with the latest findings and his own critical reflection, treating some phenomena comprehensively and systematically for the first time.

This book was published by Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts and the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television of the University of Ljubljana.

• Katarina Podbevšek (ed), Nina Žavbi (ed): Govor in prostor
  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789617128826

Ljubljana University Press, 2020

The title of the monograph, Speech and Space, indicates the central theme that links the discussions of 18 national and international researchers from various artistic and scientific fields. The authors of the contributions examine the initial space of speech (the human body), the ways in which it is spatialised in society, art and science, and the influence of space on its communicative power. While discussing the manifold relations between speech and space, several authors also present the problems of artistic (speech) education and creation in the specific health and social circumstances caused by Covid-19. The main aim of the monograph is to stimulate reflection and further research on the subject, and at the same time to mark the solution of the spatial problem of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, which finally opened in 2021 in new premises after several years of efforts.

• Katarina Podbevšek (ed), Nina Žavbi (ed.): Govor v pedagoški praksi [Speech in Education Practices]

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789610602804

Ljubljana University Press, 2019

In the monograph Speech in Pedagogical Practice, 33 authors in 28 contributions shed light on the topic from different perspectives. The contributors presented their research in an abridged form at the International Scientific Symposium Teaching Speech on 12-13 April 2019 at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television. The authors, themselves involved in the education system in various ways, have mapped out the developmental path of human speech from the prenatal and preschool period (kindergarten), through education in primary and secondary school and art high school, in faculties and art academies, to special education in speech media with in-depth reflections.

• Tomaž Toporišič: Intermedia and Intercultural Nomadism: On the Connectivity of Media and Cultures in Contemporary Performing Practices

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789610601333

Ljubljana University Press, 2018

The monograph is conceived as both a scholarly monograph and a study material, presenting key concepts, theories, crossroads and dilemmas of interculturality and intermediality. The author not only presents these themes from the point of view of diverse theories, but also anchors them in a consideration of a number of key staged works of the last few decades. This makes the themes of the book more tangible, which is particularly valuable in today’s shoe-string appropriation of theories and practices of performance and otherwise, which is especially valuable in the current climate of unrestrained appropriation.

• Štefan Vevar, Barbara Orel (eds.): Začetki in dosežki slovenskega gledališča moderne dobe : ob 150-letnici ustanovitve Dramatičnega društva v Ljubljani. [The Beginnings and Achievements of the Slovenian Theatre of Modern Times: The 150th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Drama Society in Ljubljana]

The founding of the Dramatic Society in Ljubljana in 1867 is considered the beginning of organised theatre activities in Slovenia and their professionalization. The scientific monograph which was published to mark the 150th anniversary of this momentous event in the history of Slovenian theatre is a comprehensive presentation of the Dramatic Society’s activities since its foundation in 1867 until the cessation of its operation in 1948. The study which is based on archival sources that are kept by the Slovenian Theatre Institute and the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia elaborates on the significance of the Dramatic Society for the development of Slovenian drama, theatre, opera and ballet art. Researchers of performing arts, literature, stage speech, fine arts, music, cultural and art history examine thoroughly the role of the Society in the rise of professionalization and Europeanization of Slovenian theatre. They also shed new light on well-established historical interpretations and highlight the importance of theatre, contributing significantly to the formation of Slovenian national consciousness. The study adds a key component to the history of Slovenian theatre in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and elaborates on the importance of the Dramatic Society for the cultural history of the Slovenian nation.

A joint publication issued by Slovenian Theatre Institute and the University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, published by Slovenian Theatre Institute, Ljubljana, 2017.

• Gašper Troha: Ujetniki svobode: slovenska dramatika in družba med letoma 1943 in 1990 [Prisoners of Freedom: Slovenian drama and society between 1943 and 1990]

Employing the methods of New Historicism and empirical literary studies, Gašper Troha systematically investigates the corpus of Slovenian plays written in the 1943–1990 period, and examines them in regard to their relationship to the authorities. The research on complex relationships between drama, theatre, the authorities and the public is focused on the following issue: why did the socialist authorities allow staging of plays that criticized the authorities, and even awarded them (at festivals and elsewhere). Using Slavoj Žižek’s theses on the strengthening of social ties between the authorities and the people, the author sets up a model of a fragile balance between the aforementioned players, each of whom has completely different motivations for entering into these relationships. In addition, the scientific monograph provides a historical overview of Slovenian drama of the 2nd half of the 20th century, providing its genre typology and examining its social impact, based on empirical data on theatre audiences. The author interprets thriving playwriting of the period in reference to a general Slovenian cultural history, and to the development of European and world literature and Slovenian theatre. The scientific monograph presents a sociological analysis of Slovenian drama and theatre in the second half of the 20th century, extending its conclusions in the field of literary and theatre studies, but also disseminating them to other fields of the humanities (history, sociology of culture).

A joint publication issued by Aristej Publishing House and the University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, published by Aristej Publishing House, Maribor, 2015. Bibliographical references (COBISS.SI ID): 85277185

• Maja Šorli: Slovenska postdramska pomlad [Slovenian Postdramatic Spring]

Maja Šorli uses the notion of Slovenian postdramatic spring to denote the peak period of postdramatic theatre in the Slovenian performing arts of the 1990s. The scientific monograph presents and critically analyses the term postdramatic theatre (Hans-Thies Lehmann), studying its characteristics on representative examples by Slovenian authors and exploring the influence of their aesthetics upon the development of direction and acting. Focus is placed upon the overlooked performance practices of the period and discusses them in the context of production conditions, cultural policies and the role of art in society.

Published by Mestno gledališče ljubljansko, Ljubljana, 2014.

• Katarina Podbevšek, Nina Žavbi Milojević (eds.): Govor med znanostjo in umetnostjo [Speech between Science and Art]

Govor med znanostjo in umetnostjo (Speech between Science and Art) is the first monograph in Slovenia that presents spoken language as a subject of artistic inquiry and scientific research. Interdisciplinary speech studies and the practitioners’ reflections on their own speech-based creative acts offer a comprehensive insight into the specifics of artistic speech, blurring the lines between theory and practice. The monograph’s central topic is stage speech in contemporary theatre (including the opera, puppet theatre, improvisational theatre, contemporary dance) and in other media (radio, TV and film). In addition, several articles in the monograph deal with other speech practices (e.g. storytelling) and speech training.

• Blaž Lukan: Performativne pisave [Performative Gestures]

The monograph deals with heterogeneous forms of the performative and the theatrical in contemporary performing arts, e.g. “new” performance art, the archives as performance, performative reconstruction, body art, puppet and street theatre. It attempts to capture them in view of their continuous dynamics between theoretical concepts and subsequent artistic realizations in representative works by Slovenian authors. While examining their characteristics, the monograph deals with relevant issues concerning their reflection within the so-called new criticism.

Issued by Aristej Publishing House and University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, published by Aristej Publishing House, Maribor, 2013.

• Barbara Orel, Maja Šorli, Gašper Troha (eds.): Hibridni prostori umetnosti [Hybrid Spaces of Art]

This joint monograph by the research group members lists and underlines key shifts and innovations in Slovenian theatre and performing arts since 1990 that have emerged as a result of hybridity processes. The hybrid spaces at the intersections of various arts, media and scientific disciplines are investigated as an open territory of possibilities where the heterogeneous artistic practices enter into unexpected relationships with the existing aesthetic codes, social and cultural-political circumstances and economic interests.

Issued by University of Ljubljana, Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, published by Maska, Institute for Publishing, Production and Education, Ljubljana, 2012.

• Blaž Lukan, Primož Jesenko (eds.): Svobodne roke: antologija teoretske misli o slovenskem gledališču 1899‒1979 [Free Hands. The Anthology of Theory Refections on the Slovenian Theatre 1899–1979]

The anthology contains theoretical texts written about Slovenian theatre between 1899 and 1979 that until now have been dispersed in various periodical publications. The selected reflections of 33 authors (theatre theorists, historians, dramatists and other creators, among them, directors, actors and set designers) reveal forgotten thought about Slovenian theatre, integrate it anew and, in doing so, point the way to the studying of its influence on – past and present – theatre practices.

Issued by the University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, published by Maska, Institute for Publishing, Production and Education, Ljubljana, 2012.

• Darja Koter: Slovenska glasba [Slovenian Music]

Darja Koter’s monographs (Slovenska glasba 1848-1918 and Slovenska glasba 1918-1991) bring together an in-depth comprehensive historical survey of Slovenian music between 1918 and 1991. They present the role of music within the cultural and political histories of Slovenians and its embeddedness in a broader European cultural sphere. They provide study analyses of individual composer bodies of work, composition schools and stylistic movements. In addition, they illuminate the role of institutions, teaching practices and organizations that have co-shaped their development. The interdisciplinary approach provides an insight into Slovenian artistic and cultural historical achievements of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Published by Študentska založba, Ljubljana, 2012.

• Gledališki terminološki slovar

Created in collaboration with the Section for Terminological Dictionaries of the Fran Ramovš Institute for the Slovenian Language, the online Theatre Terminology Dictionary provides a revised and expanded edition of the first original Slovenian explanatory, normative and multi-lingual dictionary of theatre terms. The 2007 edition included English and French equivalents, while the online version contains Italian and German ones as well. Its translation component and online availability have rendered the dictionary much more useful and widely accessible to international users. The dictionary was co-edited by the research group members Barbara Sušec Michieli and Katarina Podbevšek.

Published by Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, Sekcija za terminološke slovarje, Ljubljana, 2011.

http://bos.zrc-sazu.si/c/term/gledaliski/index.html

• Barbara Sušec Michieli, Blaž Lukan, Maja Šorli (eds.): Dinamika sprememb v slovenskem gledališču 20. stoletja [Dynamics of change in the 20th Century Slovenian Theatre]

The monograph explores the dynamics of change in Slovenian theatre of the 20th century in an interdisciplinary way. It is mainly focused on the processes of forming and breaking of artistic and social norms, and on the issue of historical continuity. The monograph presents many topics that have been neglected so far, such as contemporary dance, performance art, amateur theatre, avant-garde experiments, the audience etc. In addition, it also presents a long overdue analysis and contextualisation of numerous phenomena in the theatre after 1970 that have not been thoroughly studied and researched.

Issued by the University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, published by Maska, Institute for Publishing, Production and Education, Ljubljana, 2010.

• Nadja Zgonik: Študije iz slovenskega modernizma po letu 1945

Nadja Zgonik’s book provides critical monograph studies and reinterpretations of Slovenian modernist painters in the period between 1945 up to the transition into postmodernism. Her studies fill a theoretical gap in this field, and include a wide range of modernist positions ranging from a pro-Western following of popular lyrical abstraction, existentialist figuration, art informel and pop art to regionalist tendencies. Special attention is paid to the intertwinement of various artistic forms.

Issued and published by Raziskovalni inštitut Akademije za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje, Ljubljana, 2010.

Projects

• Dynamics of Change in Slovene 20th Century Theatre – Processes of Forming and Overcoming Boundaries in Art, Society and Culture (2007–2009), with the support of the Slovene Research Agency (ARRS).
• More information on this project: sicris
• Fundamental Research into Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Slovenia (2000–2003)
• Theoretical and Informational Blueprints for Slovene Theatre History (1998–2003), with the support of the Slovene Research Agency
• Historic Transformations in the Formation of National Theatres (1994–1996)
• Framing Shots in Film Photography (1994–1996)