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Mala Kline: Venus. Between captivity and flight

VENUS: between captivity and flight is a performance based on Sandro Botticelli’s painting
The Birth of Venus depicting the moment of her emergence from sea foam. The birth of
Venus occurs as a cut that distinguishes between heaven and earth, thus creating an in-
between, wherein creation occurs continuously. Without a cut, there is no gaze and no
creation. Only inertia.
The painting is the starting point for the creation of text and the dance material which, each
in their own way, offer the possibility of different readings and meanings. The performance
juxtaposes the two worlds simultaneously present. The world of dream images constantly
interrupts the here and now of the body, inhabiting it, challenging it, and transforming it.
The space between is one of boundless creativity, from which a multitude of forms and their
variations emerge. They create a visual poem in time, one that poses questions about
corporeality and sentience, relationality, the gaze and responsibility, desire as a drive of
creation, human participation in ceaseless becoming embodied in nature. The
performance’s imagery invites us to contemplate the constant birthing into space and time,
creative imagination and the beauty of creation.
‘VENUS: between captivity and flight is a performative reflection on the relationship
between image, body and dreams. The performance that refers to the painting of the same
name by the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli is really a contemplation on how can we,
through the images, move beyond the images, into a more direct experience of life, of
nature in its constant becoming. The whirlwind of moving images, poetry written from
dreams and music unfold several intertwined topics such as the body in its experiencing, the
relationship to the other, the gaze and its responsibilities, desire as the driving force of all
creation, and how we partake in the ceaseless becoming that nature is.’ (Mala Kline)

‘On stage is Mala’s real and virtual body or several of them; the projections onto a veil-like
surface on a visual level establish layers of images and play with shadows, (in)visibility, by
multiplying, deconstructing and reassembling the image, thus bringing the world of dream
images to the stage.’ Nika Arhar
All text in the performance is in English
.
Concept, choreography, text in performance: Mala Kline
Set-design, costumes, light-design, photography: Petra Veber
Music: Kristjan Krajnčan
Film direction: Mala Kline, Hana Vodeb
Camera: Hana Vodeb in Darko Herič
Video synhronization and mapping: Hana Vodeb
Film edit: Hana Vodeb
Light-design in technical direction: Jaka Šimenc
Translation: Katja Kosi
Executive production: Ajda Kline
Produkction: ELIAS 2069 in Mercedes Klein
Co–production: Center kulture Španski borci / Zavod EN-KNAP, Kino Šiska and Nomad Dance
Academy Slovenia
Support Ministry of Culture of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana, Department for Culture
Thanks to Domen Hajnšek, Vid Martinčič, Katarina Morano, Blaž Celarec, Gašper Puntar and
Matija Zvezdan Puntar Kline.