Pia Mačerol participated in the Artists Encounter at Spring Forward 2025

‘If you want to find the true truth inside of you, you need to go to the body.’ Pia Mačerol is a 24-year-old norm-breaker from Slovenia, who is on her way to finding that truth. She has created and participated in 13 daring performances, and this year will graduate as a dance artist from ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands. Today we meet at the Spring Forward Festival in Gorizia/Nova Gorica, where she is part of the Artists’ Encounter programme. In her very first interview, Pia talks about entering her ‘retrospective era’ and creating a solo that is ‘deep and dark as the ocean’.

You once asked an audience to describe your performance in one word. So can you describe in one sentence, how you feel about being at the festival?

I feel excitement and curiosity inside my body. It’s very overwhelming to be surrounded by so many people from so many different backgrounds and professional fields. But I think it should be a positively memorable experience.

You made your first work during COVID and have been prolific ever since. How have the 13 performances you’ve created helped shape you, both personally and professionally?

It’s a question that I’m also asking myself. A lot of the time, as artists or as young emerging makers, we always look forward and try to think of the next thing. But I think sometimes it’s important to take the time to look back and reflect on what happened.

I like to use everyday objects, because I feel I have a stronger relationship with objects I use in my everyday life. Then I build an exaggerated, quirky or more distorted relationship with those objects.

Every work I’ve created was connected to where I was at that specific point in time, what was happening around me, and what I was going through. So for me, my personal life and what I create are very intertwined.

At one point you had what you called your ‘rebellious era’. What era would you say you are in now?

I’m in some sort of retrospective era. I’m not a rational maker, more intuitive. I’m also going through some sort of life healing, trying to change certain habits that have been with me for a long time.

I will be graduating this year, so I feel I’m at the point of departure or closing a chapter in my life and beginning something new. That makes me look backwards and I’m trying to understand where to go from now, what happened, and how to move from this point on.

And where do you see yourself going?

I have some upcoming projects and performances going on, and it’s important for me to find spaces where I can really experiment. I don’t want to be bound by rules, so I can trust my instincts and do what feels right in the moment. And I think I want to go more inside myself, because I feel that there is a lot to resolve and reveal inside of me.

Is there anything you’d be afraid to discover within yourself?

I’m going to get emotional. A lot of times, people are afraid to go inside and would rather stay distracted by external things. For me, it’s maybe a fear of realising the depths. Deep oceans can be dark, the deeper you go, the darker the water is. But at the same time, there is so much to explore. So do you stay on the surface, or go deeper, it’s a choice.

Does your new performance go deep?

I’m trying to understand what I’m swimming towards and if I’m afraid of diving deep. It’s OK to be afraid, to not go somewhere because maybe you’re not ready. I like to keep things very layered. I see myself as quite a complex person in the sense that I’m highly sensitive. I experience the world with quite a magnifying intensity, and I think that’s beautiful.

Also, I need to choose if I want to put in some light, or if I want to keep the audience wandering in the darkness. That can be an artistic choice, and I haven’t made it yet.

Does this piece have a title?

Actually, there’s a sentence inside my head – ‘Ful je weird, sam je good’. It’s a mix of Slovenian and English and translates as ‘It’s weird, but it’s good.’ Because I feel kind of weird, but I’m also doing good – so it’s a bit like how I feel at the moment.

And what are your hopes for the future?

To be 10 centimetres taller and a princess living in a castle. No, I’m kidding [laughs]. I like to be a bit cynical and sarcastic sometimes. I want to be daring and I want to be bold, and I want to stand for what I believe in in this world because I do think I have something to say.