Nina Kurtela: Economics of spaces

October 17th, 2020
Rijeka, Croatia
in the frame of Zoom festival

At which point the city disappears? Where does a space where untouched nature reigns begin? What are the influences of different environments on a given subject, what are their power relations, and which value systems are valid in each of these environments? Given the current processes of commodification affecting nature and natural resources, to what extent is it still possible to see nature as wilderness and a virginal sphere in which the (economic) categories established by the society cease to be valid?
…The performance ‘Economics of Spaces’ consists of walking from the centre of the urban texture – the central square – towards the edge of the city and then further to the forest, whereat the artist maps the landscape, marking the route as she progresses, and leaving traces. In reference to the Hansel and Gretel story, which was canonized by the Grimm brothers in the Romanticist period, she leaves coins along the way instead of pebbles and breadcrumbs, which serves to explore the possibility of abolishing the value of money along with the change in the environment through which she is walking. In the area of the city itself, especially its centre, as it represents the economic and political power, the coins still retain their exchange value: they are accessible to everyone and open up space for interaction. At the periphery, where the urban area gradually fades away, the value of money is questioned; eventually, in the forest, it may be completely abolished, at least on the symbolic level, although not necessarily on the actual one… (N.K.)

Commissioned by BLOK curatorial collective. First time performed at Urban Festival, Zagreb 2014.

Nina Kutela (1981) works in the cross-media field of research and production between visual and performing arts. Her practice does not exclude any medium and her conceptual and multidisciplinary approach provides a chance to all means of production. She is interested in re-evaluating different social, economic and political relationships of power, labour and work. While questioning notions of space, place, territory, identity, belonging and home, through her time-based art practice she works with choreographic and site-specific practices.