MICRO THEATER: La dolce vita

“La dolce vita” is a short-form participatory performance that addresses the economics of art and its direct impact on the creative process. It was created as part of the year-long Micro Theatre project in Komuna//Warszawa in 2016 in which 12 artists were asked to prepare a 16 minute “micro theater” work under very specific conditions: maximum 4 people, 4 lights, 2 microphones, 1 projector and 1 prop that fits in a hand-luggage sized suitcase. “Micro Theatre is a series of exercises in self-restraint,” according to Tomasz Plata, project curator.

Inspired by “10 000 PLN”, “Budget stories” and “Home shopping” from the Polish artist Oskar Dawicki as well as the participatory performance “Incasso” from the Slovenian group Via Negativa, Duncan and Krężel made visible as part of the performance, what is normally concealed to the audience – the budget (5000 PLN) in its physicality. “We found that the budget of this project was the only condition which was not transparent. We felt it was important to use it as a material, in order to understand the working conditions of contemporary artists today.” 5000 one-zloty coins are placed on stage as the only prop, and are used as both subject and proposal: what could we do with this budget together in the space of theater? What creative problems does our “self-limitation” produce when we can’t use the budget for anything else other than a prop on stage?