Miklavž Komelj and Leja Jurišić have, alongside Alice Pamuk and Darko Suvin, reminded us of the importance of Victory Day
Nikolaj Pirnat, Žrebec, year of creation: unknown
On Victory Day, Leja Jurišić and Miklavž Komelj performed a reading of the dialogue between Capital and Revolution from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s play Stilna žival. Pasolini, who carried his Poem in the Shape of a Rose through the depths of contradiction, closed the book with the verse: “And yet, this is a day of victory!”
The gathering also featured interventions by Darko Suvin and Alice Pamuk (joining online), Boris A. Novak, and Janez Kardelj, who presented one of his paintings in our studio. The space was shaped by Petra Veber.
The eightieth anniversary of Victory Day arrived at a moment when it had become unmistakably clear that what was thought to have been defeated in 1945 remains far from vanquished. In this context, the reflection on Adorno’s thought—that one should remain silent about such matters unless willing to speak about capitalism—gained renewed relevance. At the same time, the event reawakened the question of what victory truly is. Has triumphalism not always been a way to obscure its essence?
As Emily Dickinson wrote in her poem (in Marta Ogna’s translation):
»Nihče iz Množice v škrlatu, / ki Prapor je pribojevala, / ne mogel jasneje bi določiti / Pojma Zmage / kot ta, ki je poražen – ki umira – / in v čigar prepovedano uho / oddaljeno hrumenje zmagoslavja / ostro in boleče vdira!«
Amid these tensions, it was the language of art that most fully captured the moment. On Victory Day, Leja Jurišić and Miklavž Komelj performed a reading of the dialogue between Capital and Revolution from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s play Stilna žival. Pasolini, who carried his Poetry in the Shape of a Rose through the depths of contradiction, closed the book with the verse: “And yet, this is a day of victory!”