To be, or not to be an artist? Solo physical-visual performance inspired by inner anxiety that leads to discovering. Isolation, creative process, doubts, constant evaluation of the work, processing of (un)success - this is a cycle, in which artists constantly exist during the creation of a new piece.

“Slovak theatre scene has offered only very few stories since the year 2000 that could compete with the uniqueness of Sláva Daubnerová’s professional resume. Masterpiece’s premiere marks the end of the performer’s life’s chapter in which she wasn’t “merely” a director, but also a co-author and the cast. This opens up an opportunity to analyse both a specific piece and the wider context within her practice. The performer offers a story without any gratuitous pathos or egocentrism in which an artist’s existence is a world with no limits between the personal and professional. She offers a whole universe in which an artist has to inevitably come into conflict with society and herself. The interpretational line of enquiry built on tracing the female in the narratives of Western art history is also significant...The piece suddenly becomes a centuries lasting battle/process for recognition of women’s relevance in art and art criticism. A battle with society, feelings of loneliness and ignorance, or inner uncertainty about the validity of one’s chosen path suddenly ceases to be a story of an individual. It is a story of many generations of women makers who were unable to access the exclusive world ruled by men. Daubnerová thus declares her current social identity as co-created by swathes of her women predecessors. Her work (both in terms of this specific performance and her work in general) expresses respect and lays claim to their legacy.” Miroslav Zwiefelhofer

Concept, script, director, performer: Sláva Daubnerová Stage and costume design: Sláva Daubnerová Choreography: Andrej Petrovič Music: Martin Burlas Video: Jakub Gulyás, Jakub Pišek Light and sound design: Milan Slama Voiceover: Michaela Vrábová Producer: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Production: Mana, s.r.o. Premiere: September 11, 2020 SĽUK, Bratislava

Financial support: Fond na podporu umenia, Bratislavský samosprávny kraj, Grantový program hlavného mesta SR Bratislavy na podporu kultúry ARS BRATISLAVENSIS and Nadácia Tatra banka

Selected festivals: The International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra 2020, Drama Queer Festival 2020

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Foto: Ctibor Bachratý, Collavino

Physical-visual performance inspired by a banal story about increasing aversion among people, which suggests that this is one way in which extremism is born. Based on the real-life story of a woman in a small town in southern Slovakia, who terrorised her neighbours by playing the same aria Di Quella Pira sang by Placido Domingo from six in the morning to ten at night in an endless loop – for 15 years.

Written, directed and performed by Sláva Daubnerová Stage and costume design: Sláva Daubnerová Choreography: Renata Ptačin Music and sound design: Matej Gyárfáš Voiceover: Ján Gallovič, Petra Vajdová, Sláva Daubnerová Light design: Slavomír Šmálik Lights: Jan Ptačin Sound: Boris Adamčík Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Premiere: December 18, 2015, Sľuk

Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava SelfGoverning Region, Literary Fund

Awards: Nominations in categories The Best Production and The Best Direction of the season 2016 in Dosky Awards, Nomination for Tatra Banka Foundation Prize for Art 2016 in category Theatre, Student’s Jury Award at the New drama 2016 festival

Selected festivals: Raising the Velvet Curtain festival London 2019, Nová dráma/ New drama, Bratislava 2016, International festival Divadelná Nitra 2016, International festival Divadlo Plzeň 2016, Touches and Connections festival Martin 2016, Akcent 2019- International festival of documentary theatre Prague, Multi-Genre festival Mobilis Liptovský Mikuláš 2019, Industra Brno 2019, Moving Station Plzeň 2019, Creative Days For You festival Divadlo Štúdio tanca Banská Bystrica 2016, Pro-téza – festival of author’s theatre Bratislava 2016, Festival Vlnoplocha – Czechoslovak festival of progressive theatre Banská Štiavnica 2016

"Sláva Daubnerová (1980), Slovak performer, director and author, carries out an intensive documentary research within the scope of selected themes, which she subjects to her own, authorial interpretation. In her physical expression, she usually achieves aesthetically unique intermedia projects. An example of this is the highly appreciated Solo lamentoso (2015), which was particularly well received by the theatre and critic community. In it, Daubnerová gives an account of “singing house” case in Štúrovo, which has been given a broad mass media coverage. It was a story of a woman, who was a nuisance to her neighbourhood: for fourteen years, every single day, she would pester her neighbours by putting on reproduced music, an aria sung by Plácido Domingo. In this case, too, the author, director and performer Sláva Daubnerová got hold of an almost unbelievable-sounding theme, all via the documentary approach – her own targeted research of a real case. Through this case emerged a noteworthy theme with a wider reach: the human right against society in defence of their freedom/independence… By combining music, movement, accompanying words of the protagonist, excerpts of authentic television shots, Sláva Daubnerová expresses man’s solitude." Miroslav Ballay

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Photo: Jakub Gulyás, Ctibor Bachratý

Visual solo performance, inspired by work of Francesca Woodman and the sensation of impermanence evoked by photography

“Francesca Woodman built a unique body of work during her short life. Expressive, black and white images, dominated by her naked body in unusual poses, started to gain public attention only after her suicide in 1981. The actress and director Daubnerová systematically aims for a visually attractive, documentary and fragmentary theatre. In Untitled she goes on to show fragments of a creative process. Thus, the audience watches Woodman “live” take her most famous photographs with a self-timer. The concentrated scenes are only complemented by music and a projection of notes on photographs and diary entries. Words are useless. Even with the absence of speech on stage, the audience sees the story in photographs, originating before its eyes.” Soňa Smolková

Concept, director, setdesign and costumes, performer: Sláva Daubnerová Choreography: Stanislava Vlčeková Dramaturgy and technical cooperation: Pavel Graus Light design: Slavomír Šmálik Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Opening night: 10th December 2012, Divadlo SĽUK Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Awards: The Best Performance of the season 2012/2013 - Dosky Awards, Nominations in categories The Best Actress and The Best Direction of the season, Tatra Banka Foundation Prize for Art 2013 as “Young Creative Artist” in category Theatre, Anniversary prize of the Literary Foundation for theatre and dramatic arts for direction

Selected festivals: APAP 2014, New York, International Platonov Arts Festival 2014 Voronezh, Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019 – Slovak section, Move in station – Performance Art Festival 2013 Plzeň, 21^st International festival Theatre Plzeň 2013 – section JOHAN presents, Off Europa Festival 2013 Leipzig/Dresden, BE24: festival NoD Prague 2016, Akademický Prešov 2018, Tabačka Kulturfabrik 2018

“For American photographer Francesca Woodman, the world was a square – a little round one. The emotional geometry of her life was disrupted by depression, in 22 she successfully attempted suicide for the second time. But she did manage to publish a book of photographs and handwritten notes. She usually labeled her photographs as Untitled. This is also the title of a fragile performance, dedicated to the visual artist by Sláva Daubnerová. She is not alone on stage – she surrounds herself with sounds, carefully picked props, but most importantly with emotions. For facts, there are encyclopedias. The minimalist music seems as if composed to the performer's every motion. With choreographer Stanislava Vlčeková, they have created a work of art, delicately touching upon loneliness and nakedness.” Zuzana Uličianska

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foto: Samo Trnka, Jakub Gulyás

Documentary monodrama inspired by the private and professional life and work of the first professional female theatre director Magda Husáková-Lokvencová.

“She was a woman- director in the environment which tolerated it but considered it a bizarre exception. She was a promising artist, but married to a man, who was, for some period, a high political official, then a political prisoner and after her death even the president of the normalised Czechoslovakia- Gustáv Husák. She was a progressively thinking intellectual, and later a quited theatre artist, during the period when politics started to press the neck of art and made their relationship a comrade - like, mutually profitable coexistance. Based on the archive materials about complicated and tragic life of this untill recently almost forgotten artist, the notable Slovak artist and performer Sláva Daubnerová sews for herself a made to measure new story of this documentary drama.” Maja Hriešik

Stage concept, written, directed and performed by: Sláva Daubnerová  Dramaturgy and sound design: Pavel Graus Video art: Lukáš Kodoň
 Choreography: Emil Leeger Opening night: 22nd of December 2009 Studio 12, Bratislava
 Producer: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre and Štúdio 12, Bratislava Opening night: 22nd of December 2009 Studio 12, Bratislava Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Awards: Newcomer of the season 2010 in Dosky Awards, Nomination in category The Best Production of the season in Dosky Awards, Anniversary prize of the Literary Foundation for direction and acting 2010

Selected festivals: 46^th  Borštnikovo srečanje Maribor Theatre Festival 2011, 19^thInternational theatre festival Divadlo 2011 Plzeň, 16^thInternational Festival of Theatre for One Actor in Cheb – Biennial 2011, International theatre festival Bezgranic/Bez hranic 2010 in Cieszyn, International theatre festival Čtyri dny / Four days 2010, Prague, Nová drama / New drama festival 2010 Bratislava, International theatre festival Divadelná Nitra 2010, Open air music festival Bažant Pohoda 2010 Trenčín, Touches & Connections theatre festival 2010 Martin, ArtWife festival 2018 Liptovský Mikuláš

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foto: Katarína Smíková, Samo Trnka

Space multimedia installation based on the monologue- play by Heiner Müller

“Sláva Daubnerová focused mainly on the male-female conflict from the female point of view. Absolute presence of the female element – the only performer, as well as the author of the concept and the director is a woman – creates a key question of the production; to what extent the male element determines the social and private life, or, how a woman copes with the man’s world (literature, history, politics and the private life). Since the female element in the man’s world is a determining factor, many subjects and levels of meaning remain unspoken or latent (present only in the textual, not the scenic form) and, vice versa, some resonate a lot. Daubnerová is one of the few who managed to integrate the video into the performance by using camera and projection in parallel in a very interesting way. Actions on stage are filmed in real time, simultaneously mixed, modified and projected on stage from different angles and points of view.” Martina Vannayová

Set design and costumes, directed and performed by: Sláva Daubnerová Translation into Slovak: Ján Štrasser and Peter Zajac Music and sound design: Matej Gyárfáš
 Visual: Dušan Krnáč Choreography:Emil Leeger Software design:Peter Gonda 
Technical cooperation: Viliam Daubner Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Opening night:1st June, 2007, Bojnice

Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Selected festivals: Monodráma Festival Gárdonyi Géza Színház 2010, Eger, Hungary Stara elektrarna 2009, Ljublana , Yerevan International Shakespeare Festival 2008, Festival Mitteleuropäisches Theaterkarussell 2008, Vienna, Festival Stretnutie 2008, Staré divadlo Nitra, Festival Křižovatky 2007, Olomouc,Czech republic

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 foto: Lucia Stráňaiová

Solo performance coming out of interviews and personal diary records of the artist Louise Bourgeois. 

“The last remarkable production of the festival New drama (awarded a special prize of jury) was the auctorial production of Sláva Daubnerová, Cells, standing on the edge of performance and coming out of the records of the artist Louis Bourgeois. Harrowing confession of a woman lost in her existence and forcing way to its sense, with occasional tendency to observe the self-evident, was extraordinary mainly for its elaborated visual concept and stern acting. Calm, even mechanical declamation coming strictly to the point and circulating in some mini-chorus culminated in a demoniac scream. Director, and actress in one, worked systematically with her body like with a visual and spatial artefact. She didn’t illustrate her inner feelings, she was moving very naturally on the stage, as if she was unconcerned about the audience at times.” Roman Sikora

Written, directed and performed by: Sláva Daubnerová Visual concept:S. Daubnerová / E. Kudláč Dramaturgy: Eduard Kudláč Technical cooperation: Viliam Daubner  Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Opening night: 16th September 2006, A4 zero Space, Bratislava

Awards: Special jury prize for scenic concept and direction at the festival Nová drama/New drama 2007.

Selected festivals: Globo Teatro Festival 2014, Reggio di Calabria, Performing Arts Market in Seoul 2012, International theatre festival Small Inventory 2010,Prague, IETM Spring Plenary Meeting 2009,Bratislava, Slovak republic, Galerija Spomeniškovarstvenega centra Ljubljana 2009, Slovinia, Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée- Biennale Puglia 2008, Festival Mitteleuropäisches Theaterkarussell 2007 Vienna, Nová drama / New drama festival 2007, Bratislava, Femfest – feministički festival Zagreb 2007, Festival Vlnoplocha – Czechoslovak festival of progressive theatre Banská Štiavnica 2019

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 foto: Dávid Augustín, Lucia Stráňayová

The musical-visual concept for two performers (Sláva Daubnerová, Pavel Graus) deals with a fragile relationship between a man and a woman. Inspired by the book of the photographer Francesca Woodman, Some Disordered Interior Geometries, the short story Die Todesanzeige (A Death Notice) by Heiner Müller in which he deals with the suicide of his wife, as well as by his short proses, poems, interviews, autobiography and the poetry of his wife Inge.

Written and directed, set and costumes by: Sláva Daubnerová Idea and performed by: Sláva Daubnerová a Pavel Graus Music:
 Pavel Graus Translation: Peter Lomnický Choreography: Matej Matejka Videoart: 
Lukáš Kodoň Light design and technical support: Slavomír Šmálik Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Opening night: 2nd and 3rd November 2011, elledanse Bratislava

Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Selected festivals: Nová drama/New drama 2012 Bratislava, Mitteleuropäisches Theaterkarussell 2011 Vienna

“Sláva Daubnerová and Pavel Graus decided to interpret the sickened relationship in their latest stage performance Some Disordered Interior Geometries…Based on their research or “expedition” to the roots of the relationship, all the way to its last stage which is dissolution, the authors created a scenario full of fragments, indications of situations or just moments that depict both partners during the process of disintegration of their relationship. Their testimonies which are delivered in spoken form, by music and songs include accusations, sadness, nostalgia, but also a subtle relief – memories in a form of short holiday videos shot by the home video camera.” Marek Godovič

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foto: Katarína Smíková 

Illuminarium (Cabinet of Curious Phenomena) is an author project inspired by the existence of paranormal phenomena (enlightenments, apparitions and miracles). The performance plays with the boundaries between spiritualism and illusionism and juxtaposes beliefs with scientific theories.

Written and directed by: Sláva Daubnerová Performed by: Emil Leeger and Sláva Daubnerová Dramaturgy, technical cooperation: Pavel Graus Stage design: Tom Ciller Costume design: Marija Havran Music and sound design: Matej Gyarfáš Videoart: Lukáš Kodoň Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Opening night: December 16, 2011 elledanse, Bratislava

Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Selected festivals: Touches & Connections 2012 Martin, Slovak republic

“Do ghosts speak to us? Can people read minds and foresee events? Is magic for real, or is only dexterity put to work? Or is it all completely different? These are questions which „Illuminarium: Cabinet of Curious Phenomena“, another well-made work of Sláva Daubnerová, rests upon. The most recent theatrical opus of actress and director Sláva Daubnerová, whose M.H.L. was awarded the Newcomer of the season 2010 in the Dosky Award is, similar to most of her previous works, constructed as an authorial collage. Three striking personalities step into the limelight – Daniel Home, famous for his ability to levitate, Eusapia Palladino, who in deep trance caused many a paranormal activity to occur, and Viktor Ponrepo, who had ably reinvented himself from an illusionist to one of the first Czech filmmakers…For Daubnerová, whose performances are marked with prominent aesthetics and savy use of video, this theme offers much.” Soňa Smolková

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foto: Katarína Smíková 

Scenic concept based on the novel Melancholy I. by Jon Fosse. The novel’s title follows the name for psychiatric diagnosis of a Norwegian painter (landscapist) Lars Hertervig (1830-1902). Fosse´s account of the artist’s shattered ideas was inspiration to create reconstruction of key moments, that brought him to his mental crisis. "Polylogue" incorporates a cyclic repetition and modification of phrases, ideas, scenes, dialogues and situations taking place within a single afternoon in the autumn of 1853, during the Hertervig's studies at the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf, Germany. 

Written and directed by: Sláva Daubnerová Cast: Robert Roth/Vanda Mesiariková, Emil Leeger, Sláva Daubnerová Stage and costumes, graphic design: Dušan Krnáč Technical support: Viliam Daubner, Monika Lomnická, Pavel Graus Production: P.A.T.platform for contemporary theatre Opening night: August 23 2008, Prievidza and January 18 2010, Municipal Theatre of P. O. Hviezdoslav, Bratislava

Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Selected festivals: Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space2011 – Slovak section, Nová drama / New drama festival 2009 Bratislava

“Concealed behind the mysterious brand of P.A.T. theatre is an ambitious explorer of expression in modern, anti-illusive theatre, Sláva Daubnerová…For the third production of P.A.T. theatre, she found inspiration in Norwegian author Jon Fosse's novel Melancholy. A fragmentary puzzle of feelings, observations and outlooks of an authentic protagonist, Norwegian painter Lars Hertervig (1830-1902) reminds of a relatively well-known pattern – analysis of a mentally unstable introvert, unable to naturally communicate with his surroundings. A drama text, although dealing with a rewarding and reliable subject matter of an asylum, offers a new insight into the world of a special individual – thanks to Daubnerová's development of dialogue and scene sequences out of the novel's fragments. “ Oleg Dlouhý

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foto: Miroslav Kormoš, Noro Knap