Janez Janša

Janez Janša is contemporary artist who, together with two other Slovenian artists, in 2007 changed his name into that of the conservative, two-time prime-minister of Slovenia. Prior to and after this radical artistic gesture, Janša has been working as a theatre director and performer of interdisciplinary works that focus on the relation between art and the social and political context surrounding it, reflecting on the responsibility of performers as well as spectators. Many of his works deal with the very status of performance in neoliberal societies. For Janez Janša artistic practice, theoretical reflection and political involvement are not separated. He is also the director of Maska, a non-profit organisation in publishing, production and education, based in Ljubljana, and has edited several books on contemporary dance and theatre. He is author of the book on early works by Jan Fabre (La discipline du chaos, le chaos de la discipline, 1994). Currently he is a fellow at the international research centre Interweaving Performance Culture at the Freie Universität in Berlin.