Real or Fictional: On Lea Kukovičič

Lea Kukovičič (1994) is a theatre maker who began her artistic path at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana, in the Department of Dramaturgy and Performing Arts. She continued her studies at the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague, where she completed a master’s degree in Directing for Devised and Object Theatre. After finishing her studies, she returned to Slovenia, where, in close collaboration with the Bunker institute, she brings freshness to the Slovenian theatre scene through new practices, forms, and content.
In her work FORSALE – Performance Auction House (2021), she introduces political practices typical of visual art in the context of contemporary capitalism—creating an auction house in which she sells the theatre piece Ich Kann nichts Anders by the collective Beton Ltd. She continues to play with the boundaries between fiction and reality in a capitalist society in the trilogy When Men Cry (2023), part of which is the final act The Last Hamlet (2023). In this work, she explores how to dismantle patriarh by addressing male emotionality, symbolized through male tears. Her recent works can be understood through the lens of theatre as an event, a happening, a performative occurrence.

If the fundamental purpose of Context research project and exhibition in one, is to broaden the understanding of a selected author’s work, then Lea Kukovičič presents a tough challenge. Many of her performances created abroad have never been seen by Slovenian audiences. At the same time, her work often crosses into the field of visual arts (for example, What would happen if we found them, 2020), and she frequently creates complex hybrids. For this reason, it would be both difficult and unfair to categorize this young artist with such diverse modes of expression.
This edition of Context therefore avoids a clear-cut definition of her practice. Instead, it focuses on her communities and collectives—temporary and permanent, from Prague and Ljubljana, intimate and professional—and through the people she works with, it tries to uncover: who is Lea Kukovičič.