List Of Instructions for the Gallery of Movement (2003)

The project was commissioned for the 20th anniversary of the Dance Week Festival in Zagreb (Croatia) and was presented in the Glyphotheke Museum of Zagreb. In order to question the position of dance, dance scene, personal influences and ways of thinking of the most prominent Croatian dance artists, Ivana Müller asked 8 Croatian choreographers and performers from different age groups and styles to join the project.

The piece was consisted of 8 solos based on interpretations of a list of identical instructions that Ivana Müller proposed to each of the 8 artists. The instructions were related to issues of body, understanding of movement, presence and relationship to the audience. There were referring to personal histories of performers as well as to the history of dance in general. The performers had never heard or seen the instructions before the performance took place and their interpretations were their first (impulsive?), non-fabricated and non-contemplated reactions. Each interpretation was a sort of interview or confession in which the performers answered the questions contained in instructions through their physical/performative languages.

VIBRATE THE SPACE WITH YOUR CONCENTRATION.
DANCE THE FIRST DANCE SEQUENCE THAT YOU CAN REMEMBER.
ENUMERATE 10 REASONS WHY YOU DANCE (or PLAY or PERFORM).
DANCE LIKE SOMEBODY YOU REALY APPRECIATE.
BE LIKE IT WAS THE LAST MINUTE OF YOUR LIFE.

Interpreted/performed by: Snjezana Abramovic, Damir Bartol Indos, Milana Bros, Nikolina Pristas, Irma Omerzo, Zeljka Sancanin, Zak Valenta and Jasna Vinovrski.

List Of Instructions / video choreography (2004)

A year later in the same space and for the same festival Ivana Müller continued the project with the video installation List Of Instructions / video choreography.

8 video documents of solos that were video taped a year before are synchronously projected on 8 screens in the same space in which the live performances took place the year before.

By juxtaposing 8 different interpretations of the same instructions Ivana Müller creates a relational - spatial installation in which 8 performers are communicating in the unity of space, time and task, exchanging the mind frames and dialoguing physically. In such a way they, even without being physically present but rather present as a mediated image, create a performative event together.