“Graffiti artists, adventurers, travellers and other curious folks break into this riddled ‘chapel’ of a fictional future through any possible crack. Landed on a mountain top like a forgotten flying saucer from another galaxy, the Nonument asks: What meaning are we going to give it? Or how much dynamite are we going to put in it.”
National ICARUS Award 2019 – Nomination for Contemporary Dance and Performance
A screening of a movie, shot during the first presentation of the performance on the 14th of September, 2019, in front of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party on Buzludzha Peak.
Nonument is a performance, utilizing the format of a Radioballe through a prerecorded audio-play. It was first presented on 14th of September 2019 in front of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party on Buzludzha Peak. Led by an audio file, which each member of the audience listens to on their own with a headset, the participants take a walk around Buzludzha Monument, experience its architecture, revisit historical scenes and are invited to perform casual gestures, which are delicately reminiscent of the protest performances of Jiri Kovanda in Prague in 1976 or of Erdem Gündüz at Gezi Park in Istanbul in 2013. The film captures the experiences of the audience and tells about the monument from an unexpected angel.
Nonument is the third collaboration between the Bulgarian artists Stephan A. Shtereff and Emilian Gatsov-Elbi, and the German collective LIGNA. It was preceded by Secret Radio (2014) and Rapture and Rage: Studies on the authoritarian character (2017).
“Today, Buzludzha’s Nonument is falling apart. It spiritually evaporated as soon as it was built. Its bright star is no longer visible, neither to the North nor to the South. This “home” of ideology today is a ruin. House of Ruinism? Of Buzludzhanism? Of Pessimism? Graffiti artists, adventurers, travellers and other curious folks break into this riddled “chapel” of a fictional future through any possible crack. Landed on a mountain top like a forgotten flying saucer from another galaxy, the Nonument asks: What meaning are we going to give it? Or how much dynamite are we going to put in it.” – Stephan A. Shtereff.
Stephan A. Shtereff is an artist and a producer. He hold a degree in Synthetic Stage Arts from University of Plovdiv, graduated from Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University, International School of Theatre Anthropology and Body Unlimited program of Arts Academy of Novi Sad and was awarded DanceWeb scholarship. He is actively involved in the local and the international theater and dance scene, as well as cinema and television. Director of the Informbureau Association; Co-founder of Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance; European Theaters’ Night; Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria and Toplocentrala Association
The performance is part of M.A.P.S. project and “MemoryBUT” project, funded by The National Culture Fund, and is realized in collaboration between the Museum of Humour and Satire (Bulgaria), Informbureau Association (Bulgaria), MoTA (Slovenia), WHMEDIA (Austria), Tačka komunikacije (Serbia), Centre for Central European Architecture (Prague), ArtOS Foundation(Cyprus) and with support from Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission, the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria and with the collaboration of Stara Zagora Regional Government.