BREATH

Premiere shows in Projektni prostor DUM on Kolodvorska 6 in Ljubljana:
June 5th, 8th, 14th and 16th 2026 at 8PM.

[free entry]

When a stone begins to grow,
it grows at first so dreadfully slow.
You do not notice it has grown,
you step on it, with thoughts your own.

– Gregor Strniša, Poem of the Stone Threshold (prevedel Joško Bohunsky)

No spotlights, no projections, no, flickering, no microphones, no amplifiers, no new media, no mobile phones, no artificial intelligence, no leafing through newspapers, no privatization, no cutting hair or nails, and above all, no bringing outside food. There is no room in the breath for two scents at the same time.

The project stems from singing as the most intimate form of presence: a voice that does not perform, but opens up space. There Is Nothing Bad For Me In Here is a vocal performative exploration of space as a refuge, a vibration of bodily memory and Oblivion. In a time of constant external exposure, the work turns attention inward, to the soft, vulnerable parts of the body where sound is created before words, meaning, and interpretation. Breath is a medium, a biological loop, and a collective metronome, which, in the permutation of fragments of the voice, noises, and melodies, raises the question of how much closeness we can still tolerate and how much silence we can still hear. Singing catapults us into a paradoxical landscape of the infinite self-presence of everyone and everything, where there is no longer any need for understanding.

The vocal arrangement invites the visitor to slow down for a moment and connect with the rhythm of being. It emphasizes the importance of presence, silence, and the conscious experience of the moment. Every tone is an attempt at closeness, and every inhale is a fact of existence. Accordion. Armenia. Ball. Bell. Bicycle. Book. Chair. Cinnamon. Cloud. Computer. Curtain. Field. Fire. Fog. Frog. Garden. Glass. Gold. Grass. Jacket. Lamp. Leaf. Letter. Life. Mountain. Needle. Pepper. Pier. Pillow. Pocket. River. School. Seagull. Ship. Song. Spoon. Stone. Stream. Sun. Table. Tent. Thumb. Tooth. Tree. Umbrella. Water. Wind. Window. Winter. Maori Haka. From time to timelessness. As soon as possible. As slowly as possible. As gently as possible. As emotional as possible. As sustainable as possible. As sincere as possible. Sparkling, stable, and fragile. A cappella for crying atop a smile.

There is nothing bad for me in here is not an affirmation. It is an exercise in listening. For a mixture of the penultimate vagabond and the first stowaway on a journey to Venus. Half a melon on his head, stripes of a shirt painted on his skin, and two leather soles nailed to his feet. It seems that only I see him. As he passes people, dolls wink at him, the traffic lights give him three bright blue lights, and the oranges from the corner fruit tree throw their blossoms at him.

I was a woman who sang so quietly that you had to quiet down with me. My voice did not want to conquer the world. It wanted only to soften it for a moment. And perhaps that is all we seek in singing: to arrange our breathing for a few minutes in this wearing world. I would like to speak to you as a communist to a communist. In your breath in June, it is beautiful to see half of December in silence, an hour’s walk long and a two-hour walk wide.

Duration: 43 minutes

· direction: GVR
· performance: Irena Preda
· dramaturgy: Nina Meško
· take one: Tatiana Kocmur, Jurij Podgoršek
· a=tF²: !gor #352;
· photographer: Sunčan Patric Stone
· special thanks to Roberta Flack, Astor Piazzolla and Jang Man

· production: GVR Zavod za umetniško produkcijo
· co-production: DUM Association, KIBLA Maribor, Cirkulacija²
· the performance is co-financed by the Municipality of Ljubljana