Elements NOT coming to Croatia and Italy

Posted on March 13, 2020

Photo by Damir Silov

We were supposed to bring our new multidisciplinary project Elements to Italy and Croatia, but due to the Corona virus we ha to cancel it it. Hopefully some of the performances will be postponed for June, with another try to go to Italy next winter. Our grand finale for photo shoots include Vesna’s new dress, snow and the Alps, so stay tuned for next February or March. We had a bit of difficulties booking regular jazz clubs, so if you know of a space that would welcome this project please email me and we will make it happen!

Elements is a multidisciplinary project that includes a concert, a felting workshop and a photography exhibition of the hand-made woolen dresses through a journey on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The program lasts for 3 hours and begins with the Vesna Jakic’s lecture on wool from the island of Cres, Croatia, on ecology and traditional textile production. The audiences are encouraged to try felting, they are literally getting their hands in the soap and creating their own woolen flower. The photographs of Francesco Moretti, a photographer from Milan, Italy, are also presented through this lecture. Francesco was following Astrid and Vesna on this journey and captured their work on stage and behind it. This way the audience can experience first hand the story behind Astrid’s music and Vesna’s work, as well as learn about photography. The event finishes with a concert of the Croatian vocalist Astrid Kuljanic and American bassist Mat Muntz who also plays “primorski meh” – bagpipes that come from Istria and Kvarner area in Croatia, with it’s specific, eerie Istrian scale that is protected as UNESCO non-material heritage. The musical program consists of traditional Cres’ tunes and folk songs in modern arrangements as well as Astrid’s originals. The program is useful for audience development because it attracts various visitor profiles by one art form promoting another (visitors are attracted by one segment of the program but get exposed to other segments and experience something unexpected, something new).