On the deliberate foreclouse of emotional response
This essay takes two different cases – Žiga Kariž’s Terror = Décor project which occupied the Slovene pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2003 and Laibach’s comeback concert held in Trbovlje July 24th of that same year – and through them explores processes of provocation into emotionality coupled with the systematic foreclosure of the expression of emotions provoked. I focus especially on the techniques Slovenes use to block the open expression of emotions in relationship both to Slovene grappling with emotionality more generally and to a wider, primarily Western European, push for civilized response.