Matko Brekalo: composer's notes
Just like Urbofest '79 had its MBZ MUSIWALKS, music walks encouraging composer-passer-by interaction and held at places usually devoid of any music, MBZ 2019 has Matko Brekalo and Ratko Vojtek, who expose themselves in an unusual way to the everyday life of the city and the world.
Urbi et Orbi is a project in which two seemingly disparate situations occur. The collision of contemporary art, a performance wrapped in a modern apparel, with an everyday routine of countless passers-by, who hardly notice anything except for their thoughts and problems that are constantly obstructed by an omnipresent electromagnetic specter.
For that reason, this project is both a reaction and a challenge of drawing attention by using something unconventional and liberal-minded, something for whose perception one needs to leave the microwave ether. Urbi et Orbi is also a certain social experiment without a hypothesis, the aim of which is to convey in an art for art's sake the reactions of random passers-by (whatever they are) to the audience that acts as a subjective observer. This is made possible by the use of streaming (modern technology of live video broadcast) and is realized in collaboration with the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb.
The project title itself (Urbi et Orbi – to the city and the world) refers to a strong motive of the creators and performers of contemporary art that is presented to random audience in an unconventional way, with the sole aim of causing a reaction and avoiding indifference. The title is also inspired by an homage to Urbofest, the MBZ's edition, whose main theme was art on the streets.
This project was realized in collaboration with the multi-instrumentalist Ratko Vojtek and young pianist of a younger generation Matko Brekalo, whose combination of experience and freedom from conventionality gave rise to this unusual project.
Photos: Matej Grgić
