BERTA* IS AMERICA - Smuggling Handbook
Participatory Lecture performance on the deserted border crosspoint between Slovenia and Austria, various duration, 2019
Mark Požlep in collaboration with Jožica Hribar, Majda Lekše, Irena Butoln, Vesna Škreblin*
Phenomenom of “Švercanje” - to run, to smuggle, to bootleg things over the border, was a well know neccesity and almost a national sport in Slovenia from 1947 until 2004 when Slovenia became a member of European Union. People were smuggling everything what was impossible or hard to get in Slovenia - than Yugoslavia, from Coffee, eggs, butter, liquer, ciggaretes to TV, computer, sound equipement and Jeans.
Using the medium of contemporary storytelling, in collaboration with elderly , performance opens a stage for a memory, dreams, utopian wishes and economic funtion / dysfunction of the national borders.
*Berta is a legendary shop on Austrian side at the border between Slovenia and Austria on the crosspoint Šentilj.
Produced by:
Transborders festival, A, 2019
