The Veternica Collective is an organization whose work is based on the principles of collective work and flexible leadership, and it is created with the common goal of encouraging the personal development of specific groups through group work and creative energy. Since 2013 Veternica has worked with children, youth and people with disabilities through various inclusive programmes in the field of culture and art, with a particular focus on experimenting with different theatre techniques, especially concentrating on the body and ‘play’.
In their work they include non-verbal physical theatre and dance theatre, acting, dance, music, puppet and shadow theatre, creating a collage of games and exercises aimed at integrating the sensory, emotional, intellectual and social dimensions, in a protected environment and through a discreet and subtle form. Their work has addressed questions such as the decriminalization of Cannabis, patriarchal domination, children’s critical mass, autism awareness, etc.
In their ongoing collaboration with Trisomy 21 – Skopje (The Association of Citizens for Assistance and Support of People with Down Syndrome) since 2018, they established an inclusive ensemble that was primarily focused on performing Macedonian music. In 2022 the ensemble performed at Manifesta 14 in Pristina, in the frame of the performance work Confutatis – What Are Heroes Made Of? (Confutatis – Od shto se napraveni heroite?) by the Macedonian visual artist Velimir Zernovski, with a collective dance piece that explored the topics of mourning, loss, remembrance, masculinist ideals of heroization, normative corporeality and neurodiversity, forms of discrimination and exclusion.
