NOMAD St. Moritz 2020

For Nomad St. Moritz, the studio Draga & Aurel presented “Mimetic Dialogues”, a site-specific installation that has clothed the Nomad Stüva in unique furniture and abstract paintings.

“The word we have chosen to describe our project is ‘dialogue’, which in turn embraces ‘conversation’, ‘art’ and ‘theater’”, explain Draga and Aurel.

The ‘mimetic dialogue’ is the first form of direct dialogue without a narrator or caption, thus opposed to the monologue. Mimesis, in a generic sense, means ‘imitation’ but, returning to the context of poetic-theatrical culture, Plato and Aristotle suggest a very different acceptation of the word and, in doing so, enable us to grasp its deeper meaning. Mimesis is representation, or rather, ‘performance’: it implies ‘enactment’ on the one hand and contemplative and participatory fruition on the other. Representation is mimetic as it can engage the spectator, provoking empathy.

“Our project thus aims to be theatre, poetry, and art: a stage and a curtain, where dialogue will be the focus of the scene and will engage the public of Nomad as spectators and actors at the same time. Unique transparent objects, salvaged and reinvented pieces, as well as abstract immersive works, will welcome and surprise in this place of meeting and dialogue, where they, too, will become topics of conversation”, continue Draga and Aurel.