- Do you think that the artists are a part of the society or that they are a society for themselves? Which one is better?
I can speak from my point of view - I’m a musician, so I want people to hear what I’m doing, so I’m inside the society, and I think that an artist should always be aware of what’s around him. Maybe sometimes someone writes a poem because he’s lonely, but I think as a human you always reflect what’s outside and what’s inside.
- Do you think that technology is a new religion or a new drug and do you think that there is any progress in that? Which metaphor do you prefer, and do you think that these parallels could be drawn?
Religion is a strong word which I will not use for that, because religion is not always body-like, but technology has always the need of a machine, there’s no technology without hardware. I think that technology is a progress, but there are also people who play games all night, so they don’t sleep, and that kind of addiction surely is bad.
- Do you think that this addiction distracts people from changing the society to be better?
No, I just think these are communication devices, you can speak to people from every continent at any time, which was not possible fifteen years ago... Earlier, we were connected maybe with our neighbours, two streets away, then the telephone came, which made it bigger, but now we have video communication. Тwenty years ago this was in the science fiction movies, and now it’s just natural, you don’t think about video communication, it’s already old.
- Do you think that this technology should come with a warning, because there’s this authority behind it? The digital voice of Rachel/Peter from Remote Belgrade, which sounds divine in a way, can be used by the humans who, actually, control it to control the society. We saw that information technology has its impacts on nowadays politics.
You are controlled by this machine, other people can oppress you by tracking you through navigation system, but most of the things have their benefits and non-benefits. For example, today, if there’s a demonstration and something happens, somebody films it and it spreads it. So, this is the power you have, thanks to the machine.
- Do you think that this kind of guide that calls itself “shepherd“ and demands trust from the audience could be connected to some dangerous social systems? How do you put boundaries between a good shepherd and a total lack of critical thinking?
A good shepherd protects you, that’s his job. Propaganda is always repeating an idea, telling it again, telling it again, and then, after a few years, you start to think like that. If you repeat it again, it becomes truth. That’s like the migration thing - we hear a lot of apocalyptic announcements about migrations and a lot of guilt is put on the migrants, and as a result we have xenophobia. You can tell wrong things, but people will believe you if you have a charisma.
- Why Remote Belgrade didn’t include some parts of Belgrade with more “naturalistic scenes“ where social struggles and class conflict could be seen more than in a supermarket in the street in the city center? Do you think that it can be disturbing, or that you can’t predict what will happen in that places?
Sometimes we cannot choose the places we visit in our performance because we have to follow the best routes in shortest times, but in other cities, maybe we pass a place where homeless people stay, so we just pass by it, but maybe we’ll make texts about these people, and I think this is also part of the city, so why hide it? I think it’s good for people to see that part of people live like that and it happened on our tour to US, we started at the cemetery at the outskirts of the city and the theatre proposed to us that maybe it would be good if police came with us from the cemetery gate to the train station, and that’s because people in the US are not used to walking, they drive by cars or, if they walk, they feel insecure. I would never be afraid to walk there, but for them, it feels very strange, so I think it depends on what kind of society we grow up in. You don’t have to be afraid of homeless people, because they normally won’t cause you any harm, but I think that homeless people make you afraid because you could end up like them, that could happen to you.
When we were working on Remote Belgrade, we walked from the cemetery to the supermarket, every day at the same time one guy sits at the supermarket - so there is one homeless guy sitting right there, but maybe only I see it because I walk every day, and if you walk just one time, it’s just a guy sitting there.
- Do you think that the audience and the actors of this performance only had this solidarity with other actors of this performance, or with everybody else who walks those streets?
I think it’s not that strong. I mean, you go to the show for two hours and you know it’s a show. I would not say that this makes a big difference, you’re still the same after it.
- Solidarity or individuality - which one is bigger word of this performance?
It’s a very difficult question. I’m really not sure. In this performance, we do a lot of things together, but I think doing things together does not imply solidarity. On the other hand, though, even if you are in the group, you’re always an individual.
- Do you think that solidarity could be present in the society without the voice who would control it, or do you think that some guide has to be present?
I think that solidarity is a natural thing for humans. I think humanity is solidarity. I think that solidarity is the only solution.
