BETON7

About the performance:

BetON7 combines a wistful ballad with Laibachian touches, mysticism woven from the fabric of everyday life, ethno, the playfulness of jazz, the nostalgia of the past, a monologue on bravery, a meditative revolutionary poem… It is a surprising mixture of all this, as well as stones, cement and concrete intertwined with us. Humans. The starting motif is a poem by Pavla Medvešček, written on her first day at work at the Anhovo cement factory. In the poem, Pavla reflects on the crushing, burning and grinding of stones from the insides of the sacred mountain Jelenk – the guardian of the valley. Pavla’s poetic thought turns to the hope that the cement that leaves the valley in sacks is somewhere else building new roads, bridges, homes…, but she is aware that with the sacks, a part of their valley is also going out into the world. At that time, Pavla could not have guessed the extent of the injustices that the inhabitants of the Posočje valley are experiencing today because of the still-operating cement factory, now also a garbage incinerator. BetON7 was created in dialogue with young and old inhabitants of Posočje, who gathered material, feelings and impressions on the theme of the sacred in urban space. And although this is the story of a very specific valley, it is in fact the story of all valleys and all their inhabitants.

Media reactions:

“In the beginning was the sound. Exploring, investigating, testing. Improvised, but focused. […] The conceptual starting point of the concert […] is precisely the reflection on the transformation of the world […]. With [them] we go on a ride through the wilderness of diversity […].”

Ana Obreza, SiGledal, 2022

About the authors:

Grunt is the musical part of the Teater na konfini (TNK) community of artists from Nova Gorica. In collaboration with TNK’s performance part – the Sakerdon Mihajlović Collective Theatre – they have created BetON7, a theatrical concert that seeks out the sacred spaces of urban environments. The collective consists of musicians, authors, a vocalist, an artist, a sound designer, a video designer, a visual artist, a sculptor, an almost-philosopher, a director, an actress and an actor.

Performed by: Tomi Novak, Anton Lorenzutti, Rok Pavlin, Metka Knap, Tilen Kravos, Žiga Ipavec, Maja Poljanec Nemec, Miha Nemec

Direction: Miha Nemec

Music: Tomi Novak, Grunt

Texts: Maja Poljanec Nemec, creators of the performance

Visual image: Enej Gala

Lighting design: Petra Veber

Sound design: Matej Čelik

Partners: SNG Nova Gorica, MONG, Društvo humanistov Goriške, KUD Morgan