Beginnings Marathon

Beginnings Marathon is a performative collage of beginnings and unfinished narratives. Members of the public are invited to take turns reading aloud the first page of a book that is important to them. Participants of all ages are welcome to read from any genre, and in any language, or to sit back and listen to the performance unfold.

Beginnings Marathon has been performed in Osnabrück, Berlin and Zagreb, and made its American debut at the Bowtie Project on May 27, 2017. Past iterations have included multi-generational speakers reading in over 20 different languages.

This performance is part of a Clockshop residency by the Croatian curatorial collective What, How & for Whom/WHW.

Croatian-born artist Vlatka Horvat works across a wide range of forms – sculpture, installation, drawing, performance, and photography – and presents her work in various contexts, from galleries to theater and dance festivals, and in the public realm. Her projects often focus on re-arranging or reconfiguring objects, built space, and social relations. She has been exhibiting internationally since 2004 and her performances have been commissioned by arts organizations and festivals around the world. Vlatka’s work in visual art is represented by Rachel Uffner Gallery in New York and annex14 in Zurich. After 20 years in the US, she is currently based in London.

What, How, & for Whom/WHW is a group of four curators from Croatia who have been collaborating since 1999. Its members, based in Zagreb and Berlin, are Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić, and Sabina Sabolović. WHW organizes a range of production, exhibition, and publishing projects. The group is particularly interested in creative use of public space. Since 2003, WHW has programmed Gallery Nova, a city-owned gallery in Zagreb that hosts exhibitions of international and local artists, as well as lectures and public discussions. Described in the New York Times as “deeply influential,” WHW has worked in many international contexts, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía; Istanbul Biennial; Creative Capital in New York City; and Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel.