“Counter” was exhibited as a part of a group exhibition “Things to Come” in the “Cultural Centre Dorćol” in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a 180 minute-long intimate performance (by Marija Iva Gocić and Kovina Andrić, costumes and styling by Tamara Stanković) informed by a painting (“Double portrait” by Marko Obradović) hanging above two performers. The painting depicts facing reality, and the performance inspects what avoiding it looks like. The painting shows two characters that correspond to two performers. Performers, incapable of making free movements in a small space, investigate being in a checkmate or in-between position. What brought them there is not being able to get out of an ambivalent emotional space, and being too afraid to make a decision, to mature and grow up. The goal was to externalize at the same time the fear of uncertainty and of inevitability. The central element of the performance is a cramped space that we have outgrown but refuse to leave.

The choreography is performed in a loop, is extremely slow and dance movements are limited. There is no music. Performers roll cautiously in their boxes in every possible position they can occupy, but always relying on each other when making movements—friendship represents the only comfort. In the end they find the only comfortable position, which is when they both curl up together in one box.