Montažstroj


Montažstroj is a Croatian art collective that produces works across theatre, dance, music, and visual and audio-visual arts. It was founded by artistic director Borut Šeparović in 1989.

Etymology

Montažstroj is a Croatian neologism derived from the words "montage" and "machine". According to the collective, "montage" represents ideas of fusion, film/video editing, and assembly line work, while "machine" refers to early 20th-century ideals of order and discipline.

History

Early projects

For the first several years after its creation, Montažstroj focused on the theatricalization of football and elements of pop culture, producing performances, installations, videos, and choreographic works. The group lived through socialism, the shifts of post‑communism in Croatia, and the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which substantially shaped their early artistic language and concerns.
Montažstroj's first professional production, "VATROTEHNA", premiered in 1990, drawing on Promethean myth and the fate of V. E. Meyerhold. "RAP OPERA 101" further linked theatre, mass media, and the wartime context through a hybrid performance idiom aligned with the collective's pop‑cultural and agitprop aesthetics. In 1991, the group also produced the patriotic video "CROATIA IN FLAME", part of its broader engagement with media and national upheaval.

Performingunit

In 1997, Montažstroj began pursuing a long‑term goal of building an international company with a strong artistic identity not bound to a particular culture. The founder of Montažstroj, Šeparović, founded the group Performingunit in the Netherlands. The group focused on an individual's position and identity, highlighting performers as the main component of the production.
During this period, works such as "TERRIBLE FISH" were produced, based on Sylvia Plath’s poetry; "WHO IS? WOYZECK", based on Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck; and "The Encyclopedia of the Dead", based on a story by Danilo Kiš.

Interdisciplinary projects

Montažstroj's projects "T‐FORMANCE", "T‐FAKTOR", and "THE THEATRE YOU DESERVE" were multimedia interactive events that explored terrorism and media spectacle, with a pronounced use of new media and participatory formats. "THIS IS THE THEATRE YOU DESERVE" is documented as a participatory project that tests audience expectations and responsibility.
In 2008, the theatrical production "TIMBUKTU" addressed themes of social exclusion in its staging and concept.

Social engagement

"MY HEART BEATS FOR HER" juxtaposed football and the realities of unemployed women, reconstructing Croatia's victory over England at Wembley on 21 November 2007, with a women's cast and participatory framing. In 2010, "VATROTEHNA 2.0" revisited the group's early vocabulary to reflect on a decade of social change through an updated performance matrix.
In 2014, "LITTLE MAN WANTS TO CROSS THE LINE" drew on the spirit of the Yugoslav new wave compilation Paket aranžman to stage a large community "choir of little people," blending professionals and non‑professionals. Montažstroj's 2014 music video "COMMUNISM" forms part of the broader multimedia project "WHERE'S THE REVOLUTION, SCUM?", extending the collective's engagement with social critique across video and performance platforms.

Film

The project "COUNTERATTACK" addresses the problem of landmines in the broader context of environmental pollution and the long‑term repercussions of war on society. Conceived as a film and performance initiative, the project employs audiovisual and performing arts strategies to highlight the issue of landmines and their human consequences. Within the collective's dance practice, the project is framed as one "in which dance is more than art and every step a matter of life and death," underscoring its risk‑conscious, advocacy‑driven approach.

Crossover

  • 1989. THE FOOTBALL BOOT IN THE ART GALLERY
  • 1990. ACHTUNG ALARM
  • 1991. CROATIA IN FLAME
  • 1991. HOP & RAS, DVA
  • 1991. ATLETA SRCA vs. BARBAROGENIJE
  • 1992. MONTAŽSTROJ LIVE!
  • 1995. NO DISTANCE
  • 2009. THE FOOTBALL BOOT IN THE MUSEUM
  • 2010. ACHTUNG ALARM! 2.0
  • 2010. FIRESTARTER
  • 2010. B.D.L.2.0
  • 2011. CROATIAN CREATION – MONTAŽSTROJ CALLS FOR WITNESSES
  • 2013. COUNTERATTACK
  • 2014. CONSUMED
  • 2014. SWASTIKA
  • 2014. COMMUNISM
  • 2014. RABIES