While we are increasingly forced into silence, submission, and distancing, imposing norms that subordinate us to the power of the oppressors, we choose touch. On Zagreb’s main square, where the forces of power have met and clashed for generations, where politicians, athletes, entertainers, believers and tourists take turns on stage, we bring an affective intervention. We put sensation and touch at the forefront – as a feminist act of rebellion, resistance and intimacy.
Our lives are shaped by numerous asymmetries – gender, class, race, status – that forcefully determine our place. At home, on the street, in the family, at work, in society. From this space, through tactile and sensory mobilization, we today choose to embody defiance and pleasure. We are not here to suffer. We are not here to disappear.
We are here to hear each other, to absorb, to caress.
On April 6th, we won’t be cooking lunches, dusting, or taking our grandchildren for walks – even though it’s stone cold and the devil has come for his own.
We invite comrades and colleagues, as well as all those who resonate with this call, to join us in this election.
The performance Milovanje by Selma Banich and Nikolina Butorac was premiered as part of the performance program of the Visible project, curated by Ana Škegro (MSU, Zagreb). The inter-institutional project and exhibition Visible was created in collaboration with the MSU Zagreb, MMSU Rijeka, the Dubrovnik Art Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts Osijek and the Split Art Gallery.
The performance Caress in Zagreb is realized with the support of the Domino association. We invite all interested parties to visit the exhibition Kapitalocen vs. “Earth is our lover!” from the exhibition series It’s Too Late to Give Up on the History of Feminist Performance in Croatia, at the Zagreb City Museum, before or after the performance.
Meet the artists
