EE-0, 2018

EE-0
2018
36’, HD video, color, stereo
ed 2 of 3 + ap

In the EE-0 video, the Greek myth of Arachne is re-contextualized in a poetic script, taking an imaginative leap from antiquity into science fiction. Storylines from classic mythology are skewed and combined with anecdotal episodes found through field research in and around Prizren, Kosovo. Ideas of repressed ancient female knowledge and power is probed by story-ing of local urban myths, customs, and current sociological, ecological, and cultural phenomena. The video is carried by the performer, who is seen enacting text in a theatrical setting, and her gradual transformation into the spider-character of Arachne, and her recession into an abstract space of darkness from which she emerges as a post human entity, denominated by a face decorated in the style of the Kosovo bridal make-up tradition. These striking Arachne-esque visuals are folkloric forms are overlaid on a neo-myth. Reacting to the specific site of production of EE-0: Kosovo, Europe’s youngest nation-state, the idea of becoming is explored through the idea of genesis, transformation, and metamorphosis communicated by Arachne’s transformation.

EE-0 is the first episode of the Europa Enterprise project and is based on the project’s methodologies and concepts of research and new, feminist, readings of established myths and reconsiderations of the meaning of cultural heritage and the production of artifacts for the future. EE-0 is ground zero for the further development of the Europa Enterprise project founded by Andreja Dugandžić, Jelena Petrović and Lala Raščić. Europa Enterprise is a base for artistic research in which performative, discursive, narrative and audio-visual formats are created based on new readings of Eurocentric myths and regional legends and legacies. EE-0 is a site-specific video shot at Lumbardhi Cinema, Prizren and was commissioned by KADIST and Lumbardhi Foundation, as a part of the three-year project “Not Fully Human, Not Human at All.” It premiered as a 2 channel video installation on September 22, 2018 on Lumbardhi Cinema’s interior and exterior screens.

Directed, acted and produced by: Lala Raščić
Written by: Lala Raščić and Andreja Dugandžić
Concept: Andreja Dugandžić, Jelena Petrović, Lala Raščić
Voice in Arachne’s Chorus: Andreja Dugandžić
Cinematography and light design: Ivan Slipčević
Editing by: Lala Raščić
Post-production and additional editing: Redžinald Šimek
Sound design and mix by: Hrvoje Nikšić
Sound recording by: Hrvoje Nikšić, Ivan Slipčević
Costume design by: Citoyenne K – Marijana Kramarić
Production assistants: Duda Bajrami, Alba Çakalli, Lekë Lleshi
Commissioned by: Ares Shporta/Lumbardhi and Emilie Villez/ KADIST
For: Not Fully Human, Not Human at All, curated by Nataša Petrešin Bachelez