Fent Cua / While waiting is a project and performance that takes as its focus and starting point the action of queueing, waiting in line. It is a site-specific participatory performance that puts the experience of the audience in the center of the research.
At a first glance, queueing seems such an annoying every-day action, but the more one thinks about it, the more complex it gets, since all the notions and depths of the topic start to unfold. It is true that waiting in line is mostly a mundane act - we all wait at some point. Usually for something rather banal, when we wait at the checkout, in a traffic jam, at the post office, and we rarely stop to think and relativize this waiting, that is for many people not banal at all, as the wait can also be for an important operation, crossing the border, visa… Therefore, this every-day action raises many important topics such as social status, xenophobia, bureaucracy, gender, origin and discriminations of various kinds that the project wishes to address.
In our busy lives, waiting in line is an obstacle. It is not in accordance with the rhythm of our society, in which we always want to be served first, get to the goal the fastest way possible, achieve everything quickly. Waiting creates anxiety, it breaks our individualistic approach to life. It forces us to stop. So, could we instead of experiencing this imposed break as an annoyance, look at it differently? Could it be considered not as lost time, waisted in the expectation of something we want to achieve, get, accomplish, buy, but as time we gain, time that is given to us?
Exposing the above mentioned topics, the Fent Cua / Medtem ko smo čakali project opens space and gives time for reflection on different aspects of queueing and waiting.
In addition to the live performance, the authors developed the Queueing Survival Kit, a package with a “performance to go” with which they want to help you survive the annoying moments of waiting on different occasions.
The Queueing Survival Kit offers exactly what its name promises: everything you need to make waiting in line or at the doctor’s more bearable. It comprises a booklet for you to read, different audio materials to listen to and a little surprise that can help you survive the excruciatingly annoying waiting.
So that the Kit could truly serve its purpose, the authors suggest that you take it with you next time you expect to wait for example at the bank, post office or the dentist's.
To order the kit write us at: info@emanat.si
Concept and performance: Joana Serra Forasté and Urša Sekirnik
Authorship: Joana Serra Forasté, Urša Sekirnik, Carlota Grau Bagès
Dramaturgy: Carlota Grau Bagès
Set design: Mercè Lucchetti
Music: Joan Cot Ros
Technical director: Sergio Roca Saiz
Technical support: Janko Oven
Costume design: Urša Sekirnik
Photography and video: Nora Baylach and Nada Žgank
Graphic design: Špela Drašlar
Executive production: Sabrina Železnik
Production: Emanat
Coproduction: Antic Teatre, Espai de creació, Barcelona
l’Estruch - Espai de creació de les arts en viu, Sabadell
Festival Escena Poblenou, Barcelona
Partners: KUD NUM; Bunker / Old Power Station, Ljubljana; Secondary Preschool Education and Gimnazija Ljubljana; La Visiva, Barcelona; La Poderosa, Barcelona; JSKD - Public fund for cultural activities Republic of Slovenia
Financial support: City Municipality of Ljubljana and Ministry of Culture RS
Special thanks: Blaž Šef, Judit Obach, Laura Vilardebò, Vicky Gallego, Bel Villares, Mar Sabé, Glòria Forasté and to all that accompanies us in this process.