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Performance by Costantino Ciervo – “Borders are boring and nations are nuts“ – 2016 ART STAYS FESTIVAL – 9 JULY 2016 – PTUJ SLOVENIJA.
The performance takes place on a stage in the public space, Slovenski Square. There is a table with a cooker on it on which a pot of soup is simmering. All around the room, a barrier tape is stretched out, surrounding the table and forming an asymmetrical network. The tape is stretched from ceiling to floor and between a surrounding fence. 8 young woman and a young man are standing around the stage wearing the t-shirts with the slogan “Nations and borders are boring” or “Borders are boring, nations are nuts”, with a simple piece of rope as a belt.
Outside of this “spider’s web” formed by the barrier tape is the soprano in the red dress, facing the audience with the list of names in her hand. The tenor is next to her with the list containing the population figures for the individual countries in his hand.
The artist acts as the conductor. He gives the start signal and the soprano sings the name of the first nation on the list: Albania. The artist gives the tenor a sign and he begins to sing the population figure for Albania: two million, seven hundred and seventy-four thousand people. After that the artists points with his hand at a certain actress, who takes her scissors, moves position and cuts through 2-4 strips of tape. She then returns to her original position, putting the scissors back into her belt. The artist gives the soprano a sign again and this continues until the last county, the Ukraine, is over. By this time all of the tape has been cut through and the room has been freed, meaning that the artists, together with the soprano and the tenor, can now serve the soup to the audience and the protagonists in the bowls.