Undertree is an art production by Uroš Marolt, multidisciplinary artist, teacher and traveller from Slovenia. I am working in mediums of contemporary circus, street theatre, film and poetry. After graduating as a pedagogue (2012) and forestry engineer (2015) I studied street theatre in the School of Contemporary Street Arts organised by Ana Monro Theatre in Ljubljana (2017). Since 2015 I’ve been active member of Cirkokrog, Slovenian circus association, with juggling as my main discipline. In my creation I focus on outdoor and site-specific events, combining various artistic fields and exploring different forms of poetic.
“My artist mission is to incorporate different disciplines to create a new language and form a small world, happening here and now, between the performer and the audience, gathered in an unexpected place, may it be street corner, yard or riverbank. In my artistic research I often work with natural materials (plants, wood, soil, water, bones) as I seek for expression of primal in human relations and explore our connections to nature, dependence on it and our fascination with it. Through the sound and visual aesthetics, merged with circus virtuosity and inventive interaction, I want to share my vulnerability and strength. While making art I remain traveller.”
The Journey
Undertree was established in August 2018 by Uroš Marolt and Eva Mulej, when we started to travel by land from Slovenia to Morocco, performing on the streets of France and Spain with a comedy show Toilet. Afterwards, we were developing a contemporary circus performance Uprooted at artist residency Dar Slimane near Marrakech. In February we were cooperating with cultural centre Le Chateau in Saint Louis, Senegal, working on a social circus project and developing Uprooted. We continued teaching and creating through Atlas Association in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, in March. In July 2019 we presented our performance Uprooted at Ana Desetnica street theatre festival in our hometown Ljubljana. We continued performing in Slovenia (Floating Castle festival, Reciklart, Ana Mraz, Kavč Festival …) and Croatia (festival of visual arts Artery). During the year 2020 we were researching materials and upgrading Uprooted with a mentor support of Slovenian directors and artists. We performed on the festivals around Slovenia (Junij v Ljubljani, Ana Desetnica, Lent …) and took part in the competition program for the best Slovenian street performance, Urbana Ljubljana Award. Only after a year’s break due to pandemics we started to tour abroad again in 2021. We presented Uprooted in Romania and toured for two weeks around Germany (Von Nord Nach West Street Theatre Festival). In 2022 we decided to continue on separate paths.
Together with Cirkokrog and Mismo nismo collectives I’ve been creating circus cabarets and street shows in Slovenia recently to raise funds for the big circus tent, first of its kind in the country.
I started to explore pocket juggling and develop interactive street performance. Since July 2023 I’ve been travelling by bicycle towards East and performing on the streets, crossroads, yards, schools … of various countries.
“My artist mission is to incorporate different disciplines to create a new language and form a small world, happening here and now, between the performer and the audience, gathered in an unexpected place, may it be street corner, yard or riverbank. In my artistic research I often work with natural materials (plants, wood, soil, water, bones) as I seek for expression of primal in human relations and explore our connections to nature, dependence on it and our fascination with it. Through the sound and visual aesthetics, merged with circus virtuosity and inventive interaction, I want to share my vulnerability and strength. While making art I remain traveller.”