USPJESI PREDHODNIH SEZONA EX-POZICIJE:

***Predstava EX-POZICIJA igrala je 04. 12. 2010. na međunarodnom festivalu INTERFERENCES U rumunjskom gradu Cluj-Napoca u Transilvaniji.


**Predstava EX-POZICIJA (process_city 02) je bila predstavljena na
  International Festival “Chemnitz – Schonste Blume Des Ostens!"
28 - 29 svibnja, 2010, Zieschestrasse 28, Chemnitz,Njemačka

USPJESI SEZONE 2009.
Bacači Sjenki su zaključili svoja međunarodna gostovanja u 2009. na novoosnovanom međunarodnom/regionalnom kazališnom festivalu Desiré Central Station 2009 - West koji se održavao od 22.–29. studenog 2009. u Subotici (Srbija) pod umjetničkim vodstvom znanog kazališnog stvaraoca Andrasa Urbana i u produkciji kazališta »Kosztolányi Dezső«, jednog od najplodnijih centara inovativnih izvedbenih umjetnosti u Srbiji, ali i regiji.

Predstava EX-POZICIJA se, ovaj puta, naselila u fascinantnu secesijsku palaču Moderne galerije Likovni susret u Parku Ferenca Rajhla.

** Gostovanje Bacača sjenki u Splitu.
-Izvođenje predstave EX-POZICIJA u MKC Split (Dom mladih)
Savska bb, 10. i 11.10. 2009. od 12 do 17

-Uvodno predavanje Borisa Bakala: Bacači Sjenki i hipertekstualizacija grada MKC Split (Dom mladih) Savska bb, Split utorak 6.10. 2009. u 13h

** Na 15. međunarodnom kazališnom festivalu PUF u Puli predstavi Expozicija međunarodni žiri u sastavu Bojana Ćustić Juraga (urednica kulture dnevnih novina Glas Istre), Wong Chun Tat (kazališni stvaralac iz Hong Konga) te Branko Dimitrijević (književnik i dramaturg iz Beograda) dodjelio je nagradu OBLAK, glavnu nagradu festivala za: "scensko promišljanje koja svojom cjelovitošću i zaokruženošću ostaje središnjim i prestižnim ukrasom kazališnog neba PUF-a".



05. Dragi kolege i draga publiko najavljujemo nekoliko igranja i gostovanja u Hrvatskoj u 2009.:


Gostovanja izvan Hrvatske (Makedonija, UK, Litva) su još uvijek predmet razgovora, pregovaranja, nagovaranja i dokapitalizacije. Ako želite o tome više saznati ili želite pomoći - pišite nam!



Hvala svima koji su nas posjetili u Zagrebu 26. lipnja te 27. lipnja u okviru međunarodne konferencije Performance Studies International (PSI#15).

Novina ovih novih izvođenja ima nekoliko: to su, prije svega, TRI NOVE PRIČE UNUTAR EX-POZICIJE, u izvodjenju poznatih glumica, koreografkinja i performerica Antonije Stanišić, Petre Zanki i Alle Valle (Španjolska/ V. Britanija), a uskoro nam se vraća i Ena Schulz iz USA tako da nova-stara Ex-pozicija broji sada ukupno 9 priča-putovanja.

Promjena prostora (nekad prostor ex-tvornice emajla Gorica, sada prostor jedne od najstarijih škola u Zagrebu: "Dr. Ivan Merz") dala je zagrebačkim izvedbama novu svježinu, a predstava ovom dijelu grada nove sadržaje. Hvala svim radnicima škole a posebice gospodinu Zvonku Piljaku, ravnatelju, koji nam je u svemu potrebnom za uspješno igranje predstave, izašao u susret.

Već se priča o gostovanjima Ex-pozicije u Dubrovniku, Rijeci i Varaždinu u 2010. godini.

NAGRADE I DOSADAŠNJA IGRANJA

1. BACAČI DOBILI NAGRADU "AVAZOV ZMAJ" U SARAJEVU:
U listopadu, 21. i 22. Ex-pozicija je igrala na ovogodišnjem 48.MESS-u u sklopu svjetske premijere cijele trilogije "Proces_grad" ("Odmor od povijesti", "Ex-pozicija" i ("process_in_progress". Kao i ostala dva dijela trilogije dobila je nagradu "Avazov zmaj" specijalnog žirija lista Dnevni Avaz. SARAJEVO HVALA!!!


Ex-pozicija se mijenja:
U ovogodišnjim igranjima Ex-pozicije možete uživati u tri nove priče: Antonije Stanišić, Alle Valle & Petre Zanki. Uskoro nam se iz USA vraća Ena Schulz te sveukupno možete vidjeti, proputovati, čuti i osjetiti 9 priča/putovanja. Svakako dođite!!!
Glasine:
Šuška se o još nekim gostovanjima, pa pratite vijesti-novosti na blogu.
Uskoro će također biti audicija za nove suradnike pa vas pozivamo da nam pošaljete svoje kontakte.
Vidimo se.

2.
"Ex-pozicija" je 24. i 25. srpnja gostovala u mađarskom gradu Segedinu (Szeged) na 18. međunarodnom festivalu THEALTER.

Fotografije sa gostovanja u Mađarskoj pogledajte ovdje.


Hvala svima koji su nas posjetili u Zagrebu na predstavama 18, 19 i 20 travnja. Bili ste nezaboravni i divna publika - opet!
Slijedece predstave u Hrvatskoj (najvjerovatnije) će biti u Zagrebu u drugoj polovini travnja 2009.
Svi koji žele dobiti informacije o tom igranju neka nam pošalju svoju e-mail adresu. Uskoro će se znati točni datumi, vremena i mjesto igranja (moguće je da ćemo promijeniti lokaciju igranja u Zagrebu!?) kao i gdje možete doći do karata

Informacije, sugestije i primjedbe na broj 098 28 73 73 te na e-mail bacaci_sjenki@europe.com.

2.
Prema mišljenju kazališnih kritičara u susjednoj Srbiji hrvatska predstava «Ex-pozicija" Bacača Sjenki predstavlja vrhunac proslogodišnje sezone (2007.).
Tako legendarni kritičar tjednika NIN, Vladimir Stamenković, stavlja "Ex-poziciju" na sam vrh svoje liste, ispred svih domaćih i stranih predstava i gostovanja, ističući da Expozicija "suštinski je proširivala i produbljavala pojam dramatičnog u teatru." , a Aleksandra Glovacki iz Večernjih Novosti na četvrto mjesto, iza Jurgena Goscha i slavnog "Macbetha", "Barbela" Dejana Mijača i Biljane Srbljenović te predstave "Hitler i Hitler", Ateljea 212. I ostali kritičari navode "Ex-poziciju" kao poseban događaj sezone i prizivaju njezino ponovno gostovanje.



3.
Hvala, zaista hvala svima koji su nas posjetili u Zagrebu: (tvornica Gorica, 2. kat, Šubiceva 55.) 18. i 20. listopada 2007. kada je Expozicija prikazana u okviru "Best of Croatian Theatre" Showcase-u koji je organizirao Hrvatski Centar ITI-UNESCO (International Theatre Institute). Meditirajte zajedno s nama u nadi da će dio bivše tvornice Gorica ostati na korištenje Bacača Sjenki i time omogućiti da se igranje Expozicije u Zagrebu nastavi.



3.
Za vaše komentare i primjedbe pišite na bacaci_sjenki@europe.com.






4.

Expozicija je jednoglasnom odlukom dobila Specijalnu nagradu međunarodnog stručnog žirija ovogodišnjeg 41. međunarodnog kazališnog festivala BITEF u Beogradu, te drugu nagradu publike, dok joj je prva izmakla za ciglih 0,01%. Ex-pozicija je igrana od 27. do 29. rujna 2007. u terminima od 12.00 do 18.30h. Prostor u kojem se predstava igrala je bivša robna kuća KLUZ u Masarykovoj ul. br. 4., a na uglu s Resavskom ulicom. Za informacije o festivalu i nagradi: www.bitef.co.yu.

7.

Expozicija je nedavno prikazana (12. i 13. rujna) i na ovogodišnjem Festivalu internacionalnog alternativnog teatra FIAT koji se održao u Podgorici od 08. do 30. rujna 2007. Više o tome na našem Weblogu.

Predstava se igrala u Podgorici u Grand Hotelu Crna Gora u Bulevaru Sv. Petra Cetinjskog 2. Ulaz (početak predstave) u predstavu bio je svakih 20 minuta (od 12 do 18 h) u kavani (podgoričani je zovu Bašta!) hotela na za tu priliku označenom stolu.



8.
HVALA SVIMA KOJI SU NAS POSJETILI NA BOK FESTIVALU U BJELOVARU I NA NEPOKORENOM GRADU (SPRAVIŠĆU) U KRIŽEVCIMA .

Za ostale informacije: bacaci_sjenki@europe.com

Za predbiljezbe zovite:
+385 1 462 08 60 (10-16h)
+385 98 28 73 73 (12-18h)

Ex-pozicija je do sada učestvovala na slijedećim festivalima i manifestacijama:
Urbanfestival Zagreb, srpanj, 2005.
Eurokaz - Zagreb, lipanj, 2006.
Bokfest - Bjelovar, travanj/svibanj, 2007.
Festival Nepokoreni grad - Spravišće - Križevci, srpanj, 2007.
FIAT, Podgorica, Crna Gora, rujan, 2007.
BITEF - Beogradski medjunarodni teatarski festival, Srbija, rujan 2007.
3. Hrvatski kazališni Showcase - Zagreb, 17-21, listopada, 2007.
THEALTER, Segedin, Mađarska, srpanj, 2008.
48. MESS - 18-29, listopada, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina, listopad, 2008.
PSI#15, Zagreb, Croatia, lipanj, 2009.
15. PUF - Pula, 1-5 srpnja, 2009.
5. Hrvatski kazališni Showcase - Zagreb, studeni, 2009.
DESIRE, Subotica, Srbija, studeni 2009.

Predstava Ex-pozicija, je bila nominirana za nagradu Hrvatskog Glumišta (nagrada HDDU) u kategoriji najbolja režija u Hrvatskoj u 2006. Više o tome pročitajte ovdje.

Alternativnom igranom filmu Ex-pozicija, koji se snima po motivima istoimene predstave Bacača Sjenki, odobrena je potpora Ministarstva Kulture Republike Hrvatske iz sredstava za sufinaciranje filmske proizvodnje u 2006.te od strane Grada Zagreba (vijeće za film) kao dio Programa javnih potreba u kulturi grada Zagreba za 2007. godinu.

“Individualiziranost performera i njihovih »navigacija« prostorom svakako je ogromna vrlina ove predstave, no još se važnijim čini otvaranje različitih političkih polja, poput građanske sukrivnje zbog hrvatskog nacionalizma, zatim problema gradskog zapuštanja kompletnog tvorničkog prostora (»nestajanja« čitavih sustava zapošljavanja i načina rada), kao i umjetničke kritike samog obrasca tvorničkog »rada«, svedenog na bespomoćno, ponižavajuće rintanje za sitan novac. Boris Bakal s grupom autonomnih suradnika stoga je ostvario jedan od najzanimljivijih kazališnih projekata sezone, čija prostorna marginaliziranost izvedbi nipošto ne oduzima moć umjetničke istinitosti. Dapače: čini se da prljavština i prašina napuštene tvornice više govore o zrelom kapitalizmu negoli su to u stanju konvencionalno »dotjerana« kazališna zdanja.”
(Nataša Govedić, Putovanje kolektivnom krivnjom, Novi list, 29.10.2006.)

"U odnosu na ovogodišnji slogan o intimi, najrafiniranija predstava Eurokaza, nešto kao nježnost koja hoda, bila je predstava "Ex-pozicija" Borisa Bakala i grupe Bacači sjenki, u kojoj su glumci držeći za ruke – jednog po jednog – vodili gledaoce zavezanih očiju i toplinom koja ništa ne košta pričali im priče koje su ovi davno zaboravili."
Bojan Munjin, "Shakespeare na kokainu", Feral Tribune

“Mnoge se predstave i projekti Borisa Bakala referiraju na prostor kao vidljivu površinu unutarnje devastacije (tipično geslo skupine Bacači sjenki glasi: Čovjek je prostor), odnosno na prostor kao “arhiv” različitih političkih osporavanja ljudske slobode, kao i ljudskog trajanja (…)
Umjetnost je postigla ono što izmiče golom aktivizmu: stvorila je osobitu zonu kreativne i kritičke vidljivosti, poklonila je izdržljivost lokaciji kojoj je prije Eks-pozicije prijetio skori nestanak, pokazala je da grad živi u čovjeku koji čuva njegova zdanja, a ne samo u nedokučivom urbanističkom planiranju, kao i da umjetnost može stvoriti osobitu vrstu azila za arhitektonske “gubitnike” i “bezemljaše”. Legitimiranje prostora izvedbenim fikcijama veoma je vrijedno i iz užekazališnog aspekta: u Bakalovim projektima čitav grad poprima obrise kazališta, širi se izvan ravnateljskih politika, pozornica više ne potpada pod pasku državnih institucija, razglobljene su granice privatnog vlasništva i općeg dobra, dramske priče i scenskog objekta, performera i gledatelja.”
(Nataša Govedić, Polit-lokalizacija žive riječi, Zarez br. 192, 16.11.2006.)

“Da nije bilo Bobe Jelčića, ZKM-a, Bacača sjenki i dramskog pisca Mate Matišića, ova kazališna godina prošla bi nezapaženo gotovo kao da je nije ni bilo.”
(Bojan Munjin, Godina sjenki, Feral Tribune, 27.12.2006.)

“Razlika je bila toliko drastična da se osjetila čak i nominacijama za Nagradu hrvatskog glumišta, u čijoj se selekciji (prvi put u povijesti ove američki konzervativno osmišljene nagrade) pojavio Boris Bakal, nominiran za režiju »Eks-pozicije«, predstave koja izravno tematizira kontrolu javnih prostora te posebno arhitektonskog statusa propale zagrebačke tvornice Gorica. Bakal je na kraju ostao bez nagrade, ali definitivno je uznemirio domaće poimanje »velike predstave«.”
(Nataša Govedić, Prevagnula umjetnost izvan institucija, Novi list, 31.12.2006.)


"Tako svaki posjetitelj, kao u pojednostavnjenim mitološkim koncepcijama, od Ex-pozicije dobiva onoliko koliko sam u nju donese, jer čak i kad je u zaista čvrsto strukturiranoj priči, njegova je pasivnost zapravo privid ispod kojega je itekako aktivno suzbijanje nevjerice i, na kraju krajeva, pristajanje na šetnju."
Igor Ružić, "Duhovi iz kuće priča", Vijenac

""Ex-pozicija" se na metafizičkom planu tiče Kafke i bazira na svijesti o zarobljenosti čovjeka u vlastito tijelo, povijest i grubu stvarnost koja mu govori da snove izbaci iz glave i da pazi tko mu je iza leđa, ali praktično gledano fascinantan je bio naknadni doživljaj publike koja je na tom virtualnom putovanju eksplodirala izbacivši iz sebe lavu ružnih događaja koji joj se neprestano vraćaju kao i onih lijepih koje je bila prisiljena zaboraviti.

Među publikom koja je "potpuno odlijepila", jedni su plakali, drugi su izlazili egzaltirano, a treći skidali povez jer nisu mogli izdržati do kraja, no karakteristično je mišljenje Aleksandre Jovičević, profesorice na Fakultetu dramskih umjetnosti u Beogradu: "Ova predstava pomera granice pozorišta jer prisiljava publiku da izađe iz zaštićene zone gledališta i da sudeluje. 'Ex-pozicija' je brehtijanska predstava na način Stanislavskog jer potpunim uživljavanjem u imaginarno briše svaku pozorišnu iluziju i traži od gledaoca da se bez foliranja suoči sam sa sobom." "Ex-pozicija" je na BITEF-u dobila tek specijalnu nagradu od međunarodnog žirija koji je zasjedao do dva ujutro svađajući se da li da nagrade podijeli zaista novim kazališnim tendencijama (što jest zaštitni znak festivala sve ove godine) ili – starom dobrom vinu."
Bojan Munin, "Počasni krug kredom"Feral Tribune, 4.listopada, 2007

******************

Ispričavamo se svima onima koji nisu uspjeli vidjeti našu predstavu “Ex-pozicija” na Urbanom Festivalu 2005. u rujnu mjesecu, onima koji je nisu uspjeli vidjeti u srpnju ove godine na 20. jubilarnom Eurokazu, te isto tako onima koji su je propustili u jesenjskom izdanju od 19. do 26. listopada 2006., također nam je vrlo žao što ste to propustili u travnju i svibnju 2007. u Zagrebu, Bjelovaru i Križevcima, a posebice ako to niste uspjeli ni u Podgorici ni u Beogradu netom završenog rujna. Stoga se ovom prilikom unaprijed ispričavamo i onima koji je možda neće vidjeti niti u budućnosti, kada je budemo ponovo igrali u Zagrebu, Bologni, Oslu, Skopju, Budimpešti, Berlinu, Rijeci, Zadru i možda negdje drugdje.

Jednostavno - to je dio te predstave.

I za prve, i za druge, i za treće - malo podsjećanje o kome i čemu je riječ, te čemu sve to:

 Urbani kazališni projekt EX-POZICIJA nastaje na temelju eseja talijanskog filozofa Giorgija Agambena SUDNJI DAN, a inspiraciju crpi iz Kafkine priče LEGENDA O ZAKONU. Ostale reference predstave su brojne: Jeunetov film Amélie, Wallesov film Proces, Shakespearov Kral Lear, kao i prijašnji radovi Shadow Castersa. Projekt EX-POZICIJA drugi je dio trilogije PROCES_GRAD, koja je započela 2004., na 13. Danima hrvatskog filma svojim trećim dijelom, PROCESS_IN_PROGRESS.

Redatelj i autor koncepta: Boris Bakal
Dramaturgija: Boris Bakal, Katarina Pejović i Stanko Juzbašić
Glazba i zvukovi: Stanko Juzbašić
Autori i izvođači: Boris Bakal, Boris Beštak, Mladen Hrvoje Ilić, Stanko Juzbašić, Jelena Lopatić, Emil Matešić, Bojan Navojec, Katarina Pejović, Ena Schulz, Antonija Stanišić, Alle Valle, Nina Violić, Tanja Vrvilo, Petra Zanki
Posebno sudjelovanje: Tomislav Jurčec
Scenografija: Boris Bakal (Dragan Mileusnić)
Kostimi: Martina Franić
Suradnici: Iva Aras, Maja Bučić, Ognjen Bogojević, Ivan Bauk, Mario Mavrin, Milan Žerjav
Asistent produkcije/mediji: Vanja Žanko
Oblikovanje plakata: Željko Serdarević & Dragan Mileusnić
Produkcija: Bacači Sjenki
Koprodukcija: UrbanFestival 2005, Orchestra Stolpnik (Bologna), Veletržnice Zagreb
Potpore: Ministarstvo kulture Republike Hrvatske, Ured za kulturu, obrazovanje i sport grada Zagreba.
Donacije: Zagrebačka Banka 2005
Posebne zahvale: Damir Bartol Indoš, Damir Klemenić, Ratko Perica i Ivana Perković
Fotografije: Katarina Pejović, Vesna Vuković, Boris Bakal, Ivan Slipčević, Srđan Kovačević i Srećko Horvat.

O prijašnjim nastupima pogledati i na:

eurokaz 2006
urbanfestival 2005
vijenac, br. 322, 06. srpnja 2006.
feral tribune, 06. srpnja 2006.
webzin: F.I.L.M.
webzin: Kupus, (Ivan Kralj, Eurokaz post-festum)
Radio 101
Andrija Tunjić, Nadilaženje jezika i kultura, Vjesnik, 1. srpnja 2006
Igor Ružić, Radio 101, Godišnji pregled 2006: Kazalište
Sandro Novosel, Izlaganje i izmještanje - kazališna atrakcija godine u Križevcima, 12. lipnja 2007
Ivana Matijević, Danas, 29. rujna, 2007. "Ex-pozicija" bacača sjenki pozorište "jedan na jedan"
Ana Tasić, Politika, 02. listopada, 2007. "Beskrajno inspirativno"(BITEF 41.)
Renate Klett, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 04. listopada, 2007. "Tko ne može vidjeti, mora osjetiti"(BITEF 41.)
Bojan Munjin, Feral Tribune, 4. listopada, 2007. "Počasni krug kredom"




Dodatne informacije i predbilježbe na telefone:
Bacači Sjenki
+385 98 28 73 73
+385 91 738 95 06
+385 1 464 02 62
ili na mail: bacaci_sjenki@europe.com



Adresa predstave:
U Zagrebu: o. škola Dr. Ivan Merz
ul. Račkoga 6, Zagreb, Hrvatska


Medijski pokrovitelji:
Radio 101
Monitor
Z1

EXCERPTS FROM SELECTED REVIEWS ON “EX-POSITION”

“… The most remarkable performance (of BITEF) comes from Zagreb; the group Shadow Casters takes over the vacant department store “Kluz” with ‘Ex-position’, in which spectators are pictures seen by no one. Each one passes individually through the black curtain, enters a room and is supposed to abandon her/himself to what unfolds. Each one becomes a victim already in the Waiting Room, where no one knows how long it will take before it is one’s turn to enter beyond the black curtain – if one gets there at all. Some do not finish their journey but have to go back to the Waiting Room and begin the journey all over again. Once on the other side of the curtain, the spectator is kindly greeted, blindfolded and the journey to helplessness may begin.

‘Ex-position’ consists of six city episodes in which time and space are interwoven. Each of these episodes is lived by the spectator, the story being told by the actor but also felt on one’s skin. One walks through unknown rooms, climbs the stairs up and down, suddenly finds oneself standing in the rain in the street, sits in the car, being driven without knowing where to. The world is born out of senses; one hears it, feels it, touches it, smells it; one is abandoned to and immersed in it. One story tells of a pilot by the name of Kluz, after whom the department store was named. The story turns the un-spectator into Kluz’s youthful love that waits for him. Another story tells of Hiroshima and the atomic bomb, ending on a bench outside where the un-spectator makes a memorial crane bird out of paper – blindfolded. In the worst and most penetrating story, one is suddenly transported to the war in Yugoslavia and this is when one might truly begin to be afraid, coming that closely and tightly to the actor as well as to the powerless feeling of being exposed.

‘Ex-position’ for the blindfolded evokes feelings and memories that are not always pleasant (many ‘victims’ interrupt the war episode). The spectator becomes the companion in empathy, degraded or promoted – depending on how one feels.

In the time of spasmodic exhibitionism of feelings, this might exactly prove to be the true therapy.”
Renate Klett, “One Who Cannot See Has to Feel”
(Neue Zürcher Zeitung, October 4, 2007)

The interdisciplinary, site-specific and experimental performance “Ex-position” by the Shadow Casters group, consists of at least three parts. The spectators spend the first part of the performance in a waiting room where the actor/director Boris Bakal tells them a number of different stories, anecdotes and intimate confessions; he does it with energy and poise, varying his attitude from candid to enigmatic and ironic. Bakal’s performative conduct draws the audience into conversation, teasing them and provoking with different proposals, thus opening various questions on the position and function of theatre, radically breaking and subsequently examining the conventionalised aspects of theatrical act.

If the spectators are patient enough and manage to await their turn and eventually pass beyond the black curtain that separates the first from the second part, they are individually paired with a guide-performer and, blindfolded, are taken by the hand to a journey-performance in which they take an active part and directly influence it. The actor of the performance that your critic was awarded with played a series of childhood scenes, taking the spectator into the past, evoking nostalgic and funny scenes with family members, friends and neighbours, all very exciting and moving, and accompanied by various highly evocative sounds, smells and touches. The absence of sight and the guidance of the “blind person” by the hand bring forth the comparison with, for instance, a scene from “King Lear” where Edgar guides his blind father Gloucester and where it is clear that the loss of material sight generates some sort of spiritual enlightenment.  

In that respect, the spectator’s sight deprivation indeed compellingly makes his/her perception more intimate, i.e. activates other senses with greater intensity, stimulating the imagination and a deeper, more serious and focused exploration of (sub)consciousness. The spectator finishes this segment of the performance outside the building, amidst the traffic noise, surrounded by accidental passer-bys, clearly puzzled and curious, who mercilessly bring her/him back to reality. In the story I went through, the guide has left me in front of my own reflection in the mirror, what has furthermore emphasised the coming back to reality, at once analysing the relation between the past and the present into which the spectator is tangibly brought back through this convincing simulation. 

Another truly Shakespearian motive – it reminds, for instance, of those kings deprived of power whose own reflection in the mirror was the only tool left for introspection and self-confrontation after their fall; the initiation and a sort of spiritual revelation.

The third part of the performance takes place in the “control room”, where the audience may share a cup of tea or soup with some of the performance’s authors and other spectators, having the opportunity to talk about the performance but also to hear and see by means of cameras and loudspeakers other performers and spectators that are in the performance at that very moment. This scene with surveillance devices critically reflects global social-political circumstances, questioning the loss of freedom in the conditions of a Kafkaesque-Orwellian-Baudrillard-like controlled society. At the same time, the communal feeling created in this performance through connecting the audience and interacting with it, has a ritual meaning and is considerably more intensive than in conventional theatre, by which it implicitly poses the question on the social function of theatre.

The performance “Ex-position” exposes to sight not only the actors but also the audience. The audience is being judged by the performers in the way they are usually being exclusively judged by the audience in conventional theatre, while those roles are being exchanged and explored throughout the performance. The authors also question the issue of time and space of artistic presentation in an open and precise manner, explicitly or implicitly, as well as the relation of real and imaginary, the relation of performers and audience etc. For all these reasons, “Ex-position” is an endlessly inspiring and amusing performance that introduces the spectator to a truly specific world, a world that is intellectually, sensually and emotionally highly provoking.
Ana Tasić, “Endlessly Inspiring”
(POLITIKA daily newspaper, October 2, 2007)

“(… ) An exceptionally pleasant surprise came from the Zagreb group Shadow Casters and their performance ‘Ex-position’, co-authored by the director Boris Bakal, the dramaturges Katarina Pejovic and Stanko Juzbasic, and the actors performing in it.

For reasons dictated by higher force, your reporter has managed to see only one out of six episodes of this performance that are not thematically connected but are all, according to what was heard, created in the identical dramaturgical key, which allows for perceiving the most precious and significant features in it. In the dusty, gloomy room of the former department store “Kluz”, he met Nina Violic who would turn out to be a refined actress with cultivated voice, also an excellent singer, whose vocal apparatus is both expressive and evocative. First she blinded him by putting opaque sunglasses on his eyes; then she took him for a journey, barely holding his hand, while telling him in a quiet, soft voice, almost whispering, the history of Christ’s birth, on Saint Virgin Mary’s rejection to be God’s mother, on her attempt to remain an ordinary woman, up and down the steep escalators of the decrepit edifice, along the street in front of it, to finally leave him alone on the bench in the nearby park where he, once having the glasses removed and gaining back his sight, would experience the trees, the autumn flowers, the drizzling of the rain as God’s miracle: a salvation from the nightmare into which he was literally sucked in during the past half hour.

This experiment, by far not exclusively formal, has refreshed and expanded the notion of dramatic by bringing the spectator, i.e. the listener, into a state of panic, taking him to a mysterious realm beyond the real, disorienting him in time and space, awarding him with a catharsis he has never before experienced in theatre, all of which could be implemented in any other kind of dramatic genre. (…)”   
Vladimir Stamenković, “Everything fluctuates, everything repeats itself”
(NIN weekly magazine, Belgrade, October 4, 2007)

“(…) And just when those performances have begun to cause a serious depression, affirming the conviction that this was the weakest BITEF in several past years, things were saved by Boris Bakal and the Shadow Casters and, naturally, the Düsseldorf Macbeth.

As soon as you enter as visitor the hall of the former department store “Kluz” in which Boris Bakal sits as an MC in front of a black curtain and receives his guests, you are becoming an active participant in the performance Ex-position. From the moment you have stepped in the performance, you don’t know whether you are going to spend in it an hour, two hours or more; you are additionally concerned with a number that you had to choose at the beginning and which apparently determines what it is that awaits you behind the curtain. The entire “waiting room” situation is being performed – by Bakal as much as by those persons present in the space. Bakal demonstrates us his art of story-telling, adeptly adding and retracting the details, while each of his flamboyant stories could easily be embodied in some of the performances that follow.

When you finally pass through the black curtain, you find yourself in a room determined by the number you have chosen from where a specific kind of journey begins. Your “host” blindfolds you and guides you through the space, touching you, whispering in your ear, singing… The abolition of visual aspect shifts the usual perception of a performance, emphasising the senses of touch, sound and smell, making space for intimacy and inner imagination. The stories vary: from a journey to childhood, to a humorous version of the Immaculate Conception, to a disturbing and brutal story of a prisoner of war. They are funny, occasionally frightening, emotional and at times poignant to tears. Underneath this basic experience –exceptionally impressive, one must say – there lies another layer: the exploration of perception of space and city. You are being guided through the cellars and corridors of a forgotten department store, to be then taken out on the street and brought back again to the grimy “Kluz” store. The parallel between the forgotten space and the forgotten (tactile) feeling is inevitably created, where the abolition of the visual establishes a new relation of the body in space/city. The key word is sensuality: the sounds of tramways or high heels, whispers or street noise, the grass in the park or the car seat – all these become part of the bodily, organic experience.

It is interesting to mention that one of the six stories always changes given the space in which it is performed. In fact, the pillar of the story – the life story of the heroine – remains the same, while the contexts change: an approach that politicises the performing space. In this case, the building of “Kluz”, with its political and ideological implications, plays an important role in the local perception of the performance, especially at a time when we are going through an orgiastic revisionism of history from World War II on. The evoking of the story of Franjo Kluz and the former Yugoslavia is not merely nostalgia, as one might think, but is rather a call for a new questioning of what we live today. (…)” 
Olga Dimitrijević, “The Art of Story-telling and the Banality of Violence”
(VREME weekly magazine, Belgrade, October 4, 2007)

“The individualisation of performers and their “navigations” through space are undoubtedly great virtues of this performance; yet what seems even more important is the introduction of different political themes, such as the collective civic guilt for Croatian nationalism, the problem of municipal neglect of the entire industrial space (“the vanishing” of the entire system of employment and a certain type of labour), as well as the artistic critique of the very pattern of factory “labour” reduced to helpless, humiliating toil for trifles. These are the reasons why Boris Bakal and his group of autonomous collaborators have created one of the most intriguing theatre projects of this season; and its marginalised performing space by no means diminishes the power of artistic truth. On the contrary: it seems that the dirt and the dust of the abandoned factory speak more of mature capitalism than the conventionally “made-up” theatre edifices seem able to.”
Nataša Govedić, “A Journey Through Collective Guilt”
(NOVI LIST daily newspaper, October, 2006)

"In view of this year's slogan on intimacy, the most refined performance of EUROKAZ (International Performing Arts Festival in Zagreb) was EX-POSITION by Boris Bakal and Shadow Casters, a sort of walking tenderness in which the performers were guiding the blindfolded spectators, one by one, by the hand and with warmth that costs nothing, telling them stories they have long forgotten."
Bojan Munjin, “Shakespeare on Cocaine”
(FERAL TRIBUNE weekly magazine, July 6, 2006)


“(…) Many performances and projects of Boris Bakal refer to space as the visible surface of inner devastation (a typical slogan of Shadow Casters is: Man is space), i.e. space as the “archive” of various political denials of human freedom as well as of human endurance
(…)
Art has succeeded to achieve what escapes sheer activism: it has created an autonomous zone of creative and critical visibility, endowing resilience to the location doomed to vanish prior to Ex-position. It has showed that the city truly lives in the one who preserves its edifices rather than in some opaque urbanistic planning, and that art may create a special kind of asylum for the architectural “losers” and those deprived of land ownership. Legitimisng a space through performing fictions is highly precious also from a strictly theatrical angle: in Bakal’s projects, the entire city acquires the outlines of theatre; it expands over the boundaries of managerial politics; the stage is no longer under the patronage of state institutions; the borders of private ownership and common good, dramatic story and stage object, performer and spectator, are all blurred. (…)”
Nataša Govedić, "Polit-localisation of live word"
(ZAREZ bi-weekly cultural magazine No. 192, November 16, 2006)

"(…) Thus, similar to simplified mythological concepts, each visitor gets out of EX-POSITION as much as s/he brings into it; for, even when being in a firmly structured story, her/his passivity is actually an illusion that hides a highly active supressing of disbelief and, ultimately, the acceptance of walk. (…)"
Igor Ružić, “Ghosts from the House of Stories”
(VIJENAC monthly cultural magazine No.322, July 6, 2006)

The performance offers to its spectators-participants sincerity, warmth, evoked memories and souvenirs, new experiences and deep ponderings on their own position today and in general. It blesses them with cathartic tears, a blissful smile that doesn’t disappear from the face hours after the walking performance.

Bojana Ćustić Juraga, “A Brilliant artistic and deeply intimate experience”

 (Glas Istre daily, May 5, 2009) 

Spectators are no more witnesses but are in the centre of performative act. Awaiting to be called to take part, the audience bides its time with the director who is constantly confessing his own intimate history. After we are introduced to the guide (performer), s/he puts on a cover over our eyes and takes us through the story… The goal is for us to realise our own blindness and to feel the entire magnitude of our potential to ignore. Director Boris Bakal entices us into this systemic interpretation of stories offering it in the only substantially individualised and sincere way – through experience.

Aida Pilav, “Tempting history”

(Dnevni Avaz daily, October 24, 2008)