video/ single channel video installation, 27 min, HD, color, stereo
installation / props, photocopied text, dimensions variable
The Eumenides is a video based on J.P. Sartre’s drama The Flies, delivering Act IV as a dénouement to Sartre’s initial three acts. Raščić working with Andreja Dugandžić used text from Sartre and references to ancient Greek mythology, theatre, tragedy, philosophies of existentialism and individualist anarchism in the creation of a new narrative. The plot of Sartre’s The Flies is rooted in the Greek myth of Orestes. Sartre’s drama is a metaphor for non-action and subservience written during the Nazi occupation France. Raščić assumes the roles of Electra and Orestes, while the central motive of the Eumenides, ancient goddesses of revenge, is treated as musical number. The Flies end with Orestes leaving the city of Argos. Rascic continues the story on the premise that Electra, Orestes’ sister inherits the throne. Electra’s traditional tragic role is subverted in this video, showing her as an empowered female figure, a queen, a leader full of ideals, coaxing her subjects toward a better life. Electra’s speech is dripping with ideological and utopian possibilities for a better society. By the end of the video Electra becomes disillusioned with the attitudes of her subjects and decides that the masses are unworthy of such high ideals, they are mired in a Nietzschean slave morality. The video asks: has humanity lost its potential to revolt, are we so alienated in this interconnected world to imagine a healthy society, have we been oppressed so masterfully that we do not fathom real freedom?
The installation exhibited in the UNO Campus Fine Art Gallery includes a sculptural installation resembling a stage set.
written by: Andreja Dugandžić & Lala Raščić
camera & light by: Ivan Slipčević
costume: Marijana Kramarić – Citoyenne K
music by: Black Water& Her Daughter (Ilvana Dizdarević, Andreja Dugandžić) vs. Midi Brigade (Nedim Čišić)
voices by: Carl Hugmeyer, Andrew Freeman, Sophie Lvoff, Rajko Radovanović
sound recording: Haris Sahačić
sound post-production: Tomislav Domes
filmed at: Kriterion, Sarajevo
acknowledgements: Sabina Šabić, Vanja Lazić, Nina Schwanse, Dan Rule, UNO – New Orleans
Lala Raščić 