ELENA
ŠTROK
A storyteller’s life is
an excitement indeed:
All tales of unknown
I hope once to read
ELENA
A storyteller’s life is
an excitement indeed:
All tales of unknown
I hope once to read
THE BURA SUITE
BOOK
written by: Elena Štrok
graphic edit: Elena Štrok
additional edit: Leonie Englert
text edit: Chris Wallace
FILM
written by: Elena Štrok
directed by: Diane Mahín and Elena Štrok
camera and video edit: Elena Štrok
costumes, props: Elena Štrok
actors: Amanda Payne and Sabine Pendry
assistance: Leonie Englert, Luka Rodela
advisors: Loes Schakenbos, Tatyana van Walsum
PERFORMANCE
idea and performer: Elena Štrok
composer and musician: Ante Medić
photos: Elena Štrok and Tom Philip Janssen (performance)
The story follows two scientists who are seduced by the idea that the wind, sea and other natural phenomena are more than the surface reveals; the idea that they are indeed ancient conscious entities. Driven by an insatiable desire for knowledge, they embark on a search for Bura, the oldest wind on the planet, in hope she will provide them with answers for their burning questions. Their journey, however, brings even more unexpected questions and challenges.
So what happens when, after years of research, Bura disappears? When the long-term stagnation takes over, and women have to face their own subconscious, questioning reality and their idealistic values?
MOVEMENT I
The first movement of the suite comes in the form of a book. The story in it starts in medias res, in the moment the protagonists’ fears and insecurities approach their heights.
The story leads us through the three detrimental days of their years-long search for the wind called Bura. In order to conduct their research, they had to leave everything they know behind and let themselves drift away in the depths of the Adriatic Ocean, with a raft as their home and an orange tree as their food and shelter.
In the video installation, a short film is played on a TV. It shows a scene of a fight between two women as they approach the very climax of their frustrations. Their conflict is shown with a touch of absurdity and humour – the women are portraied as cowgirls preparing for a psychological showdown. Even though their frustrations are very tangible, they never get to the point where they manage to seriously harm each other, arriving finally to the conclusion that their anger should not be projected one onto another.
The second video is projected on the backdrop of the installation. It shows the surface of the sea once the wind Bura blows atop of it.
The second movement is not an illustration of a scene from the story, but a different view on a specific event.
MOVEMENT III
The last movement (so far) is presented through an audio-visual performance. It serves as a meditation on the interplay between two phenomena of the wind and the sea.
The sound is the character of wind Bura, and the Sea is personified by an oscilloscope. The same way that the wind blows as an unvisible force, the sound is created through mediums our eyes mostly cannot perceive. The frequencies of sound are then translated as electrical sygnals through an oscilloscope, thus creating an array of mesmerazing shapes that flow like water.
The performance itself lasts 20 minutes.