Via Negativa’s INVALID is part of Perforations Festival at La MaMa (photo by Marcandrea)
Club La MaMa
74A East Fourth St. between Bowery & Second Ave.
March 11-20, $15
212-475-7710
www.perforationsny.com
www.lamama.org
Held in conjunction with the Perforacije Festival in Croatia, the first Perforations Festival New York will take place March 11-20 at Club La MaMa, consisting of twelve productions from the Eastern European nations of Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Macedonia. Curated by Zvonimir Dobrovic, who also organizes the Croatian festival, Perforations focuses on works by independent artists in such disciplines as performance art, theater, and dance. “State-subsidized venues receive the majority of available arts funding in the Balkans, but some of the most exciting and compelling work in the region is being developed by independent artists working outside of these institutions,” Dobrovic said in a statement. “It is this group of artists that Perforations supports and presents, in part, to counter established funding and cultural policy that has not created a sustainable working environment for these more progressive artists.” The festival begins March 11 with Ivo Dimchev’s Lili Handel: blood, poetry, and music from the white boudoir of a whore…, about the end of the line for a variety show diva. Other productions include BADco.’s Semi-interpretations or How to Explain Contemporary Dance to an Undead Hare, Sanja Mitrović’s Will You Ever Be Happy Again?, Mladinsko Theater’s Damned Be the Traitor of His Homeland, and Via Negativa’s Out. On March 14, Petra Kovačić and Željko Zorica will present the performance installations Act(ing) and Digitalization of Monumental Heritage and Its Commercial Exploitation, respectively, at La MaMa, free with advance RSVP, and on March 21 the New School for Social Research will host a wrap-up panel discussion, “Transgressing Borders in the Balkans: The State of Art,” with Dobrovic and Perforations participants Ivica Buljan, Igor Josifov, and Kovačić, moderated by Croatian journalist Vesna Kesic.