PERFORMING REALITY

10 October 2020 will mark the centenary of the Carinthian Plebiscite regarding the question whether parts of Carinthia should remain as part of Austria. The remembrance of the so-called Abwehrkampf (defensive struggle) continues to shape both Carinthian historiography as well as the state of affairs in Carinthia today. This is particularly evident in the simmering conflict surrounding the official position regarding the Slovene language. This three-year arts-based research project, located in the artistic realm of the theatre, investigates the engagement with the memory of the event of the plebiscite and takes into view the conflictual and hardened perspectives on Carinthian history (the German Carinthian traditionalist movement vs. the Slovene minority). Our main hypothesis is that the artistic means of the theatre can help to liquefy those hardened perspectives and to provide new views on Carinthian history and on life in contemporary Carinthia. Reaching across various disciplines, the nature of the project envisages a transdisciplinary co-operation between director and theatre maker Bernd Liepold-Mosser and researchers in German speaking historical and cultural anthropology at the Institute for Cultural Analysis at the University of Klagenfurt (Ute Holfelder/Klaus Schönberger). The project aims to promote a dialogical experiment, where process-oriented movements of searching and reciprocal reflexion become part of a mutual research process. Our common objects of research are various textual and visual materials as well as data generated via observations and interviews. The generated insights will be translated into scenic arrangements (discourse-theatre installation, musical theatre, multimedia theatre production) via the dramaturgical concept of transdisciplinary montage and will be performed in several locations (Carinthian Museum of Modern Art, Carinthian State Museum/Rudolfinum, Municipal Theatre Klagenfurt). The project is highly relevant, both politically and in the field of arts-based research: It contributes to the processes of working through Carinthian state history and incorporates innovative and transdisciplinary methods. The nature of the co-production between theatre and cultural analysis a) enables the generation of extended insights and b) provides a testing ground for new forms of representation via the concept of transdisciplinary montage and the involvement of cultural researchers.

The memory of the referendum and the so-called defensive struggle (100th anniversary on October 10th, 2020) shaped the history of Carinthia and is expressed in the conflict over the status of the Slovene language. The "Performing Reality" project was based on the assumption that reality is produced in performative acts and that the event of the referendum in 1920 is therefore also continuously performed and updated through the ritual practices of the October 10 celebrations and public discourse. The social relevance of the topic led to a broad artistic discussion and, above all, to regional and national perception and discussion as well as reporting on the artistic results. The goal of participating in the process of liquefying hardened discourses was achieved. The audience response was great. More than 2500 people visited the theater project "Servus Srečno Kärntenpark" in the municipal theater, 380 spectators* the discourse theater "The other country", the exhibitions "The other country" in the MMKK and "Carinthia / Koroška von AZ" were the most successful exhibitions of the respective years, the Internet project "Fluid Identities" recorded over 3600 hits and numerous perceptions and dissemination on the social media channels., The piece "Steinacher: Hamsuchung" was visited by more than 300 people during the festival and in the reported extensively in the media. This impact has contributed to promoting new forms of discourse in the country.