The Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre ( sl, Gledališče sester Scipion Nasice) was founded on 13 October 1983 in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

by Eda Čufer, Dragan Živadinov and Miran Mohar, three Slovenian students. The founders also wrote a manifesto ("The Sister Letter"), setting this theatre group a time frame of operation—four years—and described its stages from formation to self-destruction. The name refers to

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum (c. 206 BC – c. 141 BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. Born into the illustrious family of the Cornelii Scipiones, he was one of the most important Roman statesmen of the second cent ...

, a Roman Republican politician who passed a decree in 151 BC ordering the destruction of the first Roman theatre.Irwin & Motoh, ''Žižek and his Contemporaries'', p. 32. The Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre (1983–1987) constituted—along with

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neo-classical genres. Formed in the mining town of Trbovlje (at the time in Yugoslavia) in 1980, Laibach represents the musical wing of the Neue Slo ...

and

IRWIN Irwin may refer to: Places ;United States * Irwin, California * Irwin, Idaho * Irwin, Illinois * Irwin, Iowa * Irwin, Nebraska * Irwin, Ohio * Irwin, Pennsylvania * Irwin, South Carolina * Irwin County, Georgia * Irwin Township, Venango County, Pe ...

groups—one of the three pillars of the

Neue Slowenische Kunst Neue Slowenische Kunst (; NSK; German: "New Slovenian Art") is a political art collective that formed in Slovenia in 1984, when the Socialist Republic of Slovenia was part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. NSK's name was chosen to r ...

retrograde movement. Within the retrograde movement, theatre research engaged in the relation between religion, art and state. It focused on rituals and the function of spectacle in theatre and in the function of spectacle the state. The retrograde production of events, as it was announced in the manifesto (The Sister Letter), incorporated an external manifestative part (actions) and an internal creative part (operations). The external part consisted of The Appearance (1983), The Resurrection (1984) and The Self-Destruction (1987); the internal part consisted of three stages of transformation: The Illegality (1984), The Exorcism (1985) and The Retro-Classic (1986). In 1987, the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre performed self-destruction.

External actions of the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre

*1983 – The Sister Letter, Yugoslavia *1984 – The Resurrection, Ljubljana (ŠKUC Gallery) *1986 – The Self-Destruction Act, Belgrade ( BITEF Festival) *1987 – The Self-Destruction, Bohinj – Belgrade – Ljubljana

Internal operations of the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre

*1984 – Hinkemann, The Retrogarde Event, 56 Tito Street (), Ljubljana *1985 – Maria Nablotska, The Retrogarde Event, 17 Town Square (), Ljubljana *1986 –

Baptism Under Triglav, The Retrogarde Event Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

, 10 Prešeren Street (), Ljubljana *1987 – The Self-Destruction / Day of Youth, The Art Event, Bohinj - Belgrade

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

* Jones Irwin, Helena Motoh, ''Žižek and his Contemporaries: On the Emergence of the Slovenian Lacan'', London, Bloomsbury, 2014. * Katja Praznik,
Ideological Subversion vs. Cultural Policy of Late Socialism: The Case of the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre (SNST)
in

Zdenka Badovinac Zdenka Badovinac is a curator and writer, is the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia. She served between 1993 and 2021 as director of the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana, comprised since 2011 of two locations: the Museum o ...

, Eda Čufer, Anthony Gardner (editors), ''NSK from'' Kapital ''to Capital, Neue Slowenische Kunst—an Event of the Final Decade of Yugoslavia'', MIT Press, 2015, pp. 355–365. * James K. Tan,
The Ambitions of Scipio Nasica and the Destruction of the Stone Theatre
, ''Antichthon'', vol. 50 (Nov. 2016), pp. 70–79.

External links

Official site

Baptism Under Triglav

Baptism Under Triglav, Flickr

Marija Nablocka, Flickr
1983 in theatre 1983 establishments in Slovenia European artist groups and collectives Avant-garde art 1987 disestablishments in Slovenia 1987 in theatre Arts organizations established in 1983