What they say

2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020 / 2019
participating artists

It was great, but also super difficult. You are very confronted with your idea. We came here with an idea that we thought was amazing, but... In the end, something completely different happened. That situation at PARL, where you get feedback on what you can see and not on what you want to do or what your idea is, that situation where you get information on what people can get just based on what they can see, was the most valuable experience at PARL.

When you listen to similar comments for five or six days, you start to realise that you are repeating yourself in the same way all the time. If I didn't hear it all day long, it would take me ten years to realise it. Here, with the help of the mentors, it happened in five days. That was the most valuable thing for me, the space suddenly opened up completely. I recommend PARL to those who already know a little bit about what they want to do and who are not afraid of an intense process in which sometimes you have to face insights that may be difficult to accept. PARL is a very valuable experience.

I think if you have an idea and you think it could be a really good show, you should come to PARL. You will discover that you have nothing yet - but you will build something new. You learn that you shouldn't stop at an idea, but you should really interrogate it. If you think you have a good idea which a lot of people might be interested in it, it is necessary to dig deeper.

I am very grateful for this experience and I am very impressed by the whole process, in which I have been growing as a person and as a creator. This process of developing performance has inspired me and I want to continue with this artistic practice in this sense.

It is important not to be afraid of the void, of failure and of the stages you have to go through to reach a goal. Even though I know that some ideas are probably wrong, I cannot skip it, I cannot rush it, I have to test it. But this is not easy and you have to be prepared for that when you work at PARL.

It is not easy. You work alone and you have to think for yourself what you are doing. Mentors are very different, they have different views and you are faced with the question of what to do or not to do. For me, I always wanted to take a step forward based on the feedbacks. I also came to PARL to see how I fit in the Slovenian performance scene, which is quite different from the English one.

At PARL they throw you around in order to make something new. Mentors are coming from very different disciplines, they have very different perspectives and directions. It is like a washing machine. It tumbles you. At the same time, it is also very fruitful. I am really happy that I made my first performance piece at PARL. I wasn’t expecting that. I came up with a concept, then I made a new one and almost finished the piece. That is quite something to remember PARL from. I would recommend PARL to those who are in the middle of the process or already have some ideas or material.

PARL is an experimental, transgressive and opening experience. It breaks out something in you. We would definitely recommend it to dancers, especially to those who are dealing with theatricality as well as experimentation. Feedback was wonderful from very different avenues of artistry: from actors to dancers to theatre people. Every day we went up and down like a rollercoaster. There were times when we felt it was too much feedback and too many opinions, but you benefit from everyone's point of view and you just keep going. We can only go up from here.

I would recommend PARL to artists who need a safe space to encounter themselves and their work intensively. I never could imagine myself having feedback every day but it helped me to grow, find myself back and trust myself in the process. The hardest part of the feedback was not to freak out and lose connection to my project and to what I love doing. The experience of working with mentors was very nice for me from day one to the end. It was very helpful in discovering so many different sides of myself. I never cried like that before and it never felt that good before.

PARL was challenging and revealing. It gave me an opportunity to observe myself. The feedback was amazing. PARL people are super professional. Throughout this experience, I could really learn a lot. I realized what skills I don’t have and I know I have to deal with them in the future. PARL encouraged me to stand up and go to the unknown. The mentors were honest, sincere and kind with their opinions also when I knew that I didn’t present them with something good. The highlight for me during the 10 days was the last day. I absolutely recommend PARL to everybody.

PARL is an intensive performing experience of rehearsing every day, making changes every day and showing your work every day. Having to work so quickly and intensely is something you can never have anywhere else. I will remember PARL from how far it can push you in your own work. It takes you to places you would never expect. It is like a two-month process condensed into 10 days. The mentors were extremely inspiring. I liked how diverse they were from different aspects of performing art: performers, directors, dramaturgs... PARL is for all performing artist who wants to re-exam their creative process and open it up to different feedback.

After 10 days of constant feedback and banging your head against the wall, the last day - the work-in-progress presentation day - is the best part of the whole PARL process. You finally get to see what you made and show it to the people. I went from frustration, and despair to exhaustion (physical, mental and creative). Making a decision after feedback from mentors with different perspectives is a big challenge. Several times I changed my opinion. This was frustrating. But I’ve learned how to focus on what I want. PARL is for people willing to doubt themselves, work hard and find out who they are as an artist.

Christina: “I loved the system of gathering different artists. Feedback in teams takes a pressure out and offers you that you choose what you want from it. The system is amazing.” Olja: “I enjoyed Neforma very much, because it opened us as a group and me as a performer.” Sara: “The best feedback is the one with constructive criticism. Sometimes I felt that there was a person pushing me from behind.”

PARL is an intensive, generous process. The coaches with a very broad range of discipline in performance art are giving insightful feedback every day. It is a huge energy and critical boost into the piece that you are making. During the feedback you go from despair to joy. You want people to critique your practice, you want to be given confidence that you can create better.

Every single day of working I thought I would be overwhelmed, but I wasn't. Every day I was finding new aspects of me or my work. It was tantalizing for the brain. It was so beautiful and valuable... I really appreciated the difference between morning classes.

When I saw the space, in which I was working, for the first time, I immediately knew that it made total sense for me to work there. Morning training was amazing. It was super inspiring. The best way to prepare yourself for the day. My advice for the next participants is to stay together in the same accommodation during the PARL. After the demanding feedback you need to talk to somebody who understands and has the same experience.

I appreciate feedback, although sometimes I had a feeling that they are too careful. In some moments I missed brutally direct and honest feedback. It was super interesting to have all of this rainbow of feedback, each day was something different.

PARL is very useful if you are in the middle of the process and you are not afraid of being fragile or vulnerable. To have different insights of the people from various fields of performance art is very valuable. The coaches are coming with direct and to the point questions. It is a challenge how to deal with their comments and how to relate to them and translate them into the work.

Daniele: PARL is demanding, condensed and hard. You get so many inputs and inspirations from the morning classes, feedback and lectures. It is a challenging environment, in which you have to invent yourself everyday. Luca: It was difficult to enter the performance art with the usual tools of science communication that we use, however the coaches were available and generous in their feedback. It was intensive. We gained a lot. Thomas: It is like a crash course in performance art. We really enjoyed it, because we did something that we didn’t even imagine that we would do.

The structural support of PARL is an astonishing luxury. The day began with physical work at morning classes, so you were warm and awake and you were already creating. For the most part the feedback was brilliant, even the painful moments were very valuable. The lectures were the best lectures I've ever been to. Each taught me something about what I was doing.

Jule: Displacement. Putting us outside of what we think we know is a very positive but not very comfortable experience. PARL is for people who want to confront and expose themselves to very radical, different views and they want to grow from this. Irena: Many times we demand ourselves to be prepared to try to work something, but then you expose yourself in this vulnerable, not knowing moment. The feedback people were very much aware of that. Sticking to what they perceive is fruitful. I gained so much that is gonna take days, months to digest.

PARL was an opportunity to have my artistic method fully scrutinised. This can of course be an uncomfortable experience as one is confronted with unexamined habits and blind spots, but the pay off is worth it - what the artist is offered is a wider perspective of their work and, given the richness of the critical voices at hand, the tools to take brave new steps.

A context where to cultivate a (culture of) work. Hospitable spaces, all the time needed, classes in the morning and a very careful organization. But, above all, the meetings with passionate people were really nurturing: coaches and colleagues engaged in sharing perspectives, experiences and questions. Our work can’t be the same after PARL. We are glad for this.

PARL was very inspiring for me and I have learned a lot from. I would recommend this program to all who want to develop their artistic practice and go further with their creative ideas. PARL can be very supportive for those artists who are constantly searching for new methods and ways for their artistic approach to the certain topics.

PARL was an invaluable experience. Having daily feedback from diverse viewpoints allowed the development of the project to accelerate in a way I could not have accomplished outside of the program. It gave me the time and space to focus on the work in a concentrated manner. PARL was challenging, exhilarating, frustrating, and liberating.

Intense, stressful, confusing, beautiful, useful, enriching experience – 10 days dedicated to and focused on our work only. Sharing our process with coaches from different artistic fields made us question every detail of our practice. We kept on asking ourselves questions we have never asked before; we kept on shaking our believes, means of creation and modes of performing. We survived!

Excitement. Adrenalin. New people. I want to be an artist. Expression. Be smart. Fail. It was not a fail. Second try. New opinion. Think. Yes. Something. Rethink. Idea. Morning class. Blood. Broken nose. Stop. Hospital. Still thinking. I don`t want to be an artist. Sleep. Nose hurts. I am an artist. Back on the stage. New idea. Take a risk!