On Saturday, June 8, 2024, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm, the performance "The Base of Trust" by artist Ivana Ivković will be presented at the Non Canonico Gallery.

This performance at 28 Birčaninova Street (1st floor - Lubarda) marks the beginning of a new regional project "Monument of Trust" curated by Miroslav Karić and Sanja Kojić Mladenov, with dramaturgy by Jordan Cvetanović. The performance will feature actors Željko Maksimović, Đorđe Živadinović Grgur, and a group of performers.

"The Base of Trust" continues Ivana Ivković's previous explorations in the realm of delegated performance and experimental forms of performing practices. This serves as a prologue to the complex regional project "Monument of Trust" which unfolds in various gallery and public spaces, institutions, and in collaboration with several authors. The focus of this project lies on the phenomenon of corruption and its impact on social dynamics.

As a symptom or a state of mind and society, corruption seeps deep into the fabric of systems and various relationships, creating pressure and a sense of uncertainty, humiliation, and helplessness in the individual. The thematic framework of the work encompasses the question of trust and hypocrisy in a broader sense, and from an ethical perspective, it interrogates the feeling of irreparable betrayal. It delves not only into speculative ties between crime and the state but also into corruption in everyday, interpersonal relationships. The work raises the question of whether assuming responsibility is a potentially achievable act today.

Set in the intimacy of a salon apartment which doubles as an exhibition space - The Non Canonico Gallery, this chamber performance symbolically manifests the hidden and backstage aspects of corruption, but also brings forth the personal realm of responsibility and possibilities of trust.

In this project, Ivana Ivković continues to address issues of patriarchal order and heteronormative models, viewing corruption as a cause and consequence of an oppressive system. The male body, like in previous works, represents action within gender frameworks and stereotypical expectations.

Through a constant inversion of gazes between male bodies on one side and the audience on the other, the performance functions as a mirror reflecting all these questions, historical contexts, biases, and taboos present in various societies, as well as the complex relationship between the individual and the surrounding world.

Curators of the "Monument of Trust" project are Miroslav Karić and Sanja Kojić Mladenov, with dramaturgy by Jordan Cvetanović, actors Željko Maksimović and Đorđe Živadinović Grgur, composer Anja Đorđević, cinematographer and editor Vladan Obradović, and participation of a larger group of performers and other collaborators.

The next act of the project will take place in September in Podgorica in collaboration with the NGVU Gallery and Jelena Janković, as part of the International Alternative Theatre Festival (FIAT), and at the ART Gallery (Museums and Galleries of Podgorica). The prologue "The Base Of Trust" was produced in collaboration with gallery owner and founder of Non Canonico, Mirko Lubarda.