Friday, 28 August
21:00, Park Theatre
Jan Rozman (SI): WETWARE – dance “stand up” 50’
Artistic direction, choreography & performance: Jan Rozman Text: Metod Zupan, Jan Rozman Dramaturgy: Jaka Smerkolj Simoneti Video & Laser: Miha Možina Costume design: Andrej Vrhovnik Set design: Dan Pikalo Lighting design: Aljaž Zaletel Music: Veronika Černe Graphic design: Gregor Kocjančič Executive production: Luka T. Zagoričnik
Production: Emanat Co-production: Cankarjev dom, Pan-Adria Financial support: City of Ljubljana, Ministry of Culture RS
Jan Rozman's Wetware is the selected production of the Pan-Adria Network in the 2025/26 season. Network partners are: En–Knap Productions, Ljubljana (SI), Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica (SI), Flota Institute, Murska Sobota (SI), Zagreb Dance Center (HR), Mediterranean Dance Center Svetvinčenat (HR), Croatian Cultural Center Rijeka (HR), Artisti Associati, Gorizia (IT), City of Vicenza Municipal Theatre Foundation (IT)
In a performance that combines stand-up, Elon Musk and the psychopolitics of Byung-Chul Han, Jan Rozman, like many other men in crisis, embarks on a journey of self-discovery. In his latest work, Rozman asks himself: What is it within me that never allows me to feel enough? Will he manage to silence the buzzing in his body before it is too late, or will the next time he turns on a screen once again trigger an unstoppable plunge into the black hole of thought about the impossibility of (bodily) autonomy?
Jan Rozman’s performance Wetware explores the autonomy of the body under surveillance capitalism through a choreographic intervention in the format of stand-up .
The surveillance devices we have voluntarily embraced – our smart devices – track our every movement, voice, glance and touch. The algorithms that power them have become better at anticipating our supposed desires than we have ourselves. At the same time, however, they also realise our deepest fears. Technology has become a total institution that we carry within us. Its psychopolitical systems of reward and control are reflected in somatic processes – in our tissues, organs and bodies – and ultimately, in the artist’s performance.
In Wetware – a term describing a biological computer in contrast to the familiar concepts of hardware and software – Rozman examines the relationship between “can” and “must”: a loop that drives us towards ever more, ever better. Humour becomes one of his principal tools for exposing new forms of totalitarianism, while the body is imagined as a billion smart devices that must function in perfect harmony. Yet under the constant electrochemical flow of consumer desires, this body may be far less free – and far more vulnerable – than it first appears.
21:00, Park Theatre
Jan Rozman (SI): WETWARE – dance “stand up” 50’
Artistic direction, choreography & performance: Jan Rozman Text: Metod Zupan, Jan Rozman Dramaturgy: Jaka Smerkolj Simoneti Video & Laser: Miha Možina Costume design: Andrej Vrhovnik Set design: Dan Pikalo Lighting design: Aljaž Zaletel Music: Veronika Černe Graphic design: Gregor Kocjančič Executive production: Luka T. Zagoričnik
Production: Emanat Co-production: Cankarjev dom, Pan-Adria Financial support: City of Ljubljana, Ministry of Culture RS
Jan Rozman's Wetware is the selected production of the Pan-Adria Network in the 2025/26 season. Network partners are: En–Knap Productions, Ljubljana (SI), Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica (SI), Flota Institute, Murska Sobota (SI), Zagreb Dance Center (HR), Mediterranean Dance Center Svetvinčenat (HR), Croatian Cultural Center Rijeka (HR), Artisti Associati, Gorizia (IT), City of Vicenza Municipal Theatre Foundation (IT)
In a performance that combines stand-up, Elon Musk and the psychopolitics of Byung-Chul Han, Jan Rozman, like many other men in crisis, embarks on a journey of self-discovery. In his latest work, Rozman asks himself: What is it within me that never allows me to feel enough? Will he manage to silence the buzzing in his body before it is too late, or will the next time he turns on a screen once again trigger an unstoppable plunge into the black hole of thought about the impossibility of (bodily) autonomy?
Jan Rozman’s performance Wetware explores the autonomy of the body under surveillance capitalism through a choreographic intervention in the format of stand-up .
The surveillance devices we have voluntarily embraced – our smart devices – track our every movement, voice, glance and touch. The algorithms that power them have become better at anticipating our supposed desires than we have ourselves. At the same time, however, they also realise our deepest fears. Technology has become a total institution that we carry within us. Its psychopolitical systems of reward and control are reflected in somatic processes – in our tissues, organs and bodies – and ultimately, in the artist’s performance.
In Wetware – a term describing a biological computer in contrast to the familiar concepts of hardware and software – Rozman examines the relationship between “can” and “must”: a loop that drives us towards ever more, ever better. Humour becomes one of his principal tools for exposing new forms of totalitarianism, while the body is imagined as a billion smart devices that must function in perfect harmony. Yet under the constant electrochemical flow of consumer desires, this body may be far less free – and far more vulnerable – than it first appears.