nota

NOTA

Photo: Janez Klenovšek

Lapsus-quo

NOTA – Elvis Homan, Boštjan Simon, Liza Šimenc

The audio-visual performance Lapsus-quo is a transdisciplinary project that, with the help of modern technologies, addresses today’s society’s fascination with all-round progress, which is mainly based on the ever-increasing dictate of time.

The everyday traffic jam is a typical example of what the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk calls status-lapsus-quo -> a mistake or a step in the wrong direction in the realization of the modernist kinetic utopia. If kinetics is the only ethic of modernity (as P. Sloterdijk says), then everything is subordinated to more efficient and faster bridging and transportation – which is usually denoted by the word progress. This advancement or leap in mobility is not just about someone being able to move from point A to point B, but about an individual’s increased ability to actually make those moves. When there are enough kinetically empowered and liberated people, however, logistical and ecological problems arise that we did not perceive before.

The traffic jam as a fundamental paradox of kinetic utopia indicates cracks in the conception of fluidity, movement and, ultimately, progress.

To create the performance, the trio uses touch-sensitive mats that create sounds and change the light. The whole composition consists of movements, sounds, images and shadows generated in real time. The work equally combines two artistic genres (movement and sound), where the artists go beyond the boundaries of their own artistic fields to create a common kinetic body.

The Lapsus-quo project is the first product of the artistic group NOTA (None Of The Above), which explores the paradoxes of kinetic utopia – the modern run for progress – running but not moving.

Authors: Elvis Homan, Boštjan Simon, Liza Šimenc

Premiere: 31.8.2022, C2

Repetition: 4.4.2024, Kibla

Production: Cirkulacija 2
Cirkulacija 2 program is co-financed by the Municipality of Ljubljana.

Photo: Janez Klenovšek, KIBLA 2024