Constituents

by Igor Koruga
constituents is a series of nine video works I created during my nine months of treatment for the Covid19 virus and complications it produced in my body as an immunocompromised person (primary immunodeficiency). I started creating the video in March 2020, at a time when Serbia was under total isolation due to the global virus epidemic. In the same month, I was infected, which in my case resulted in the development of latent/chronic infection with the virus and severe forms of pulmonary and immune complications. Since the presence of the virus could not always be proven by standard, but specific analyzes, there were periods of treatment when doctors believed that I did not have the virus in my body. Unfortunately, he was always present, as with many Covid19 long haulers patients.
Reading medical, philosophical, theoretical, literary-dramatic, anthropological discourses on the topic of the current world epidemic, I came across other interesting topics - e.g. care, immunization as a social category, ethics, depression, grief, loneliness, the politics of the plant world, the culture of clubbing dance/music - as constituents of new possible social orders in times of world crisis. Inspired by the already existing artistic practices of reading dance as/through poetry, I wanted to document my movements in different moments of physical stay in isolation (apartment/hospital) and during (conscious/unconscious) carrying the virus in my body. I came across interesting philosophical theses such as the readings of physical movement and dance that I recorded, in the circumstances in which I found myself. Theorists and writers Ann Cvetkovich, Isabell Lorey, Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, Bruno Latour, Judith Butler, Nancy Frazer, Cinzia Auruzza, Tithy Bhattacharya, Bojana Kunst, Dimitrije Kokanov attracted special attention.
During this process, I was interested in applying choreography within video documentation, framing and editing, writing, and dancing or movement. During the creation process, I methodologically relied on several procedures and procedures: intuition and spontaneity (with a burst of inspiration at a given moment, I would design and record my movement, without too much conceptualization of the material); choreo-editing (on some videos I intervened with editing, and some I left in the original duration); appropriation (already existing creative materials in some videos, such as music on/in the material I created), etc.
I included music in the content, after the already recorded material. In terms of technology, I relied on the available means to record video and sound (phone, computer). Within the material, I allowed the appearance of illustrative, caricature, abstract, pathetic, emotional, comic content, relying on the fact that each of the body materials embodies all the feelings I went through during the treatment.
The videos are arranged in a certain dramaturgical structure/order, and can also be viewed as separate units
constituents are part of the artistic research "Where Wild Roses Bloom" in collaboration with Ana Dubljević.

Quoted texts:
1. Cinzia Auruzza, Tithy Bhattacharya, Nancy Frazer, “Feminism for the 99%”, Verso Books London 2019, (dance # 3);2. Scott Berinatto, “That Discomfort You Are Feeling Is Grief”, Harvard Business Review (www.hbr.org), March 23 2020; (dance # 6)3. Dimitrije Kokanov, „Kretanje” (dance # 4);4. Dimitrije Kokanov, „Tamo” / autorski projekat Lounli Planet (dance # 5);5. Dimitrije Kokanov, „Prizori konstruisanih odnosa” (dance #8, dance #1);6. Igor Koruga, „My Corona”/ autorski projekat Lounli Planet, (dance #7, dance # 9); Theoretical sources:
1. Bruno Latour, This Is a Global Catastrophe That Has Come from Within, 06/06/2020; www.theguardian.com2. Bojana Kunst, Beyond the Time of the Right Care: A Letter to the Performance Artist; Schauspielhaus Journal, 21/04/2020; www.neu.schauspielhaus.ch3. Maria Puig da le Bellacasa, Matters of Care – Speculative Ethics In More Than Human Worlds, University of Minnesota Press, 2017.4. Isabell Lorey, Politics of Immunization and the Precarious Life, u:Dance, Politics & Co-Immunity - Thinking Resistances Current Perspectives on Politics and Communities in the Arts, Vol. 1, ed. Gerald Siegmund und Stefan Holscher, diaphanes, Zfuich-Berlin 2013.Music:
1. Stephanie Forryan, “My Corona – a "viral" parody of My Sharona, OneWomanBand” (dance # 2); 2. Portishead, “Glory Box”, Portishead Glory Box Live At Roseland NY, (dance # 3);3. Ark Patrol, “Hex”, HexEP, Heroic Recordings 2016, (dance # 8);4. Elkka, “Community”, femme culture 2020, (dance # 1);