October 30 – November 5, 2025
A new international edition of the contemporary dance, performance, and theatre festival brought together artists from Croatia and Argentina in Buenos Aires!
The festival Perforacije, one of the most significant events of the independent art scene in Southeast Europe, arrived in Argentina this autumn. From October 30 to November 5, 2025, a special international edition of the festival took place at Dumont 4040 (Santos Dumont 4040) and EMAD (Sarmiento 2573) in Buenos Aires, bringing together artists from Croatia and Argentina. Over the course of a week, audiences had the opportunity to experience performances of contemporary dance, performance art, and documentary theatre exploring body, identity, and time through contemporary and experimental expression. The festival was organized by Domino (Croatia) in collaboration with local partners and artists, fostering dialogue between different scenes and languages and reaffirming the importance of artistic exchange and collaboration across continents.
The program opened on Thursday, October 30, at Dumont 4040 (Sala C) at 8:00 p.m. with the performance Once Upon Tomorrow, choreographed by Aleksandra Janeva Imfeld and performed by Mia Zalukar and Bruno Isaković. This dance piece explored the uncertainty of time, space, and human relationships through the story of two characters whose connection continuously shifted between closeness and distance, inviting reflection on the meaning of encounter and the possibility of constant movement toward the future.
On the same day, at 9:15 p.m. in Hall B of the same theatre, the performance Todos mis cuerpos by Gonzalo Quintana and Maiamar Abrodos was presented. This intimate and moving documentary-performance offered the personal testimony of actress and theatre educator Maiamar Abrodos, who, through the story of the bodies she had lived in, reconstructed her own history as a trans woman — creating a poetic manifesto on the right to exist, to change, and to be authentic.
On Sunday, November 2, the program continued at EMAD (Sarmiento 2573). At 7:00 p.m., Croatian-Dutch artist Karlo Štefanek performed Ah, I’m always so temporary — an introspective and powerful work in which the artist became a living sculpture, a body marked by a temporary tattoo of text on his back. Štefanek’s horizontal body represented a site of contention; the work extended beyond the artist’s personal experience of violence to address the vulnerability that artists are subjected to every time they offer their body and presence to the audience.
Later that same day, at 8:00 p.m. in EMAD, choreographer Bruno Isaković presented And Only. Through a strong physical and emotional language, Isaković examined the societal pressure to be “the best version of oneself” and explored the vulnerability of the body confronted with ideals of success and perfection.
The festival concluded on Wednesday, November 5, once again at Dumont 4040. At 8:00 p.m., the performance Feroz simultáneo by Gonzalo Quintana, performed by Colinda Evangelista and Drew Benjamin Jackson, offered a multisensory experience that, through live music, video, and dance, explored migration and cultural transitions in a globalized world. At its center was the figure of the immigrant dancer — constantly translating, redefining, and seeking a space of belonging.
The evening concluded at 9:15 p.m. with a reprise of Todos mis cuerpos by Quintana and Abrodos, once again bringing to the stage a story of memory, transformation, and the body as a space of resistance and expression.
The festival Perforacije was launched in 2009 in Croatia and has become a key platform dedicated to independent artists from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as from around the world. The festival is a recipient of the EFFE Award for its innovative programming approach and has, over the years, hosted numerous artists whose works blur the boundaries between performance genres. The festival’s founder and curator is Zvonimir Dobrović, and it is produced by Domino — an organization based in Zagreb that has been working since 2003 to transform social norms through art, media, education, and international collaboration. In addition to Croatia, the festival has had editions in the United States, France, Greece, Slovenia, and Serbia, and this year, for the first time, it arrived in South America — in Buenos Aires.
