Biography

Morana Novosel is from Zagreb, Croatia, she studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and graduated with a BA and MA in Theatre Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. Her main interests are devising theatre and exploring the collaborative creation processes, participatory practices and site-specific performance. 

Some notable productions include A logical place to meet, a devised performance based on the documentary film works of Werner Herzog, which she co-authored and directed at &td Theatre in Zagreb in 2014; Eve of retirement by Thomas Bernhard at the Croatian National Theater Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka in 2016, after winning the regional “Competition for young authors”; and Voids, a devised performance at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, in co-production with UO Odeon  Art. 

In 2023, after winning the Biennale College Teatro call dedicated to site-specific performance, her performance installation Fluid Horizons was produced by La Biennale di Venezia, as part of the 51st International Theatre Festival.

She led the 2017 and 2018 “International drama colony” in Grožnjan, a programme by the International Theatre Institute – Croatia which promotes young international playwrights by staging their work in collaboration with Croatian artists. She worked as an Assistant director in various Croatian theaters.

Artistic project

Blazing Horizons. We are surrounded by various narratives about the climate crisis, each of which envisions a different scenario for the future. I believe that the uncertainty we face when trying to grasp these scenarios is almost as important as the biological reality of the crisis itself. Trying to make sense of the dichotomies that instill a sense of helplessness and futility, and we need art which allows us different ways of relating to these feelings.

How can we indulge in 20th century aesthetics when the world is burning? What is the vocabulary of art that reflects our time? We may be writing epitaphs of our cities – what do we want them to say?

In the speculative glimmers of possible futures, I aim to construct imaginary spaces of failure and explore what that failure means for the specific locations in the Mediterranean, creating participatory and site – specific performances based on intensive artistic research of local contexts of damage and loss due to climate change.

Format: performance installation

Size of audience: variable 

Specific location: urban public space

Timing / duration: to be determined