Hegel and the Long List of Deceptions
The performance Hegel and the Long List of Deceptions addresses the notion of wholeness and the existence of implicit body matrices (images). We began from Hegel’s postulate that what is true is whole, complete. If something is whole, then it lacks nothing and therefore does not desire. It strives for maintenance, not for change. Bodily matrices are one of his primary tools. If a particular body does not fit the “standard” body matrix (image), it is deemed “inadequate.” The body matrix of a person with a disability seems, from the outset, to assume a lack of certain abilities—therefore, those abilities are written off in advance.
The performance aims to deconstruct these body matrices—both through the inclusion of performers (actors and contemporary dancers) with and without disabilities, and through its meaning (content). It proposes that the standard should become any “possible body.”
Co-production: Group “Let’s…”, KC Rex, and KC Magacin
Text and concept: Marko Pejović
Choreography, costume, and set design: Boris Čakširan
Performers: Jana Milenković, Jovana Rakić, Marijana Kraker, Nenad Galić, Stojan Simić, Dragan Protić Prota, and Danilo Šolović
Dance pedagogue: Jovana Rakić
Drama pedagogue: Jelena Stojiljković
Music: BCH
Stage speech: Milica Ponjavić
Costume production: Vesna Balać, Biljana Bukorović, Bojana Bukorović
Technical support: Jugoslav Hadžić
Sign language interpreters: Ivana Bućko, Marija Marković
Photography: Momira Marković, Maja Ven
Project realization enabled by Japan Tobacco International
…The body is viewed in the performance in multiple ways: as a corpse, an outline like in crime scenes, something to be assembled from everyday objects, as a brand of the cosmetics industry—always with the suggestion that beauty means completeness, something Hegel would agree with. However, perhaps the renowned philosopher would be surprised when Nenad Galić, a wheelchair user, joins the dancing bodies, virtuously, almost acrobatically, on an equal footing.
Dragana Nikoletić, Nova ekonomija, 01.12.2015.
What would he say upon realizing that one of the dancers, Stojan Simić, is deaf?