Descriptions & images of videos
Pain with the Thousand Teeth
Presence of Pain and Inadequacy in Video Works of Young Slovenian Artists
Curated by: Vesna Bukovec, Metka Zupanič (KOLEKTIVA)
Migraine
Ana Grobler
2007
Duration: 00:05:23
The video is some sort of a migrainic self-portrait. It was made in the time of a migraine attack, from shooting the scenes to the montage. The whole process of making the video is consequently permeated with those sensations.
Video effects are used not only to show, but to draw near and to assist the spectator to feel the condition of a person in the time of the migraine attack. Migraine headaches experiences 10-12% of the population, a major part of the patients are women. In childhood the number of boys and girls who suffer from migraine is similar. But in the adolescent period the number of women increases steadily. In the ages 35-40 the ratio is even 3 women to 1 man. At the end of the video the spectator is confronted with a question of the origin of this phenomenon. Is it biological condition or occurrence stimulated by society?
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The academic painter Ana Grobler is a postgraduate student of video art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. In the academic year 2009/10 she has received a study scholarship from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia. She had exhibited at home and abroad and had received nominations and awards for her work. She has a permanent on-line exhibition of selected videos at the http://Artfem.tv and has been exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana (2005) and National gallery in Ljubljana (2007) in Slovenia as a nominee of the Essl Award of Essl collection from Klosterneuburg in Austria. She participates in the International feminist and queer festival Red Dawns in Ljubljana as a member of the selectors of visual art program and is an assistant at the Alkatraz Gallery at Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova City. In 2009 she had curated the first exhibition of Slovenian feminist art in the frame of the festival Red Dawns at the SCCA – Ljubljana, Centre for Contemporary Arts’s Project Room. Her book on feminist art in Slovenia is just about to be published at the Research institute of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. She has also been active as a member of the working group of Station DIVA, Digital intermedia video archive (SCCA-Ljubljana). She is involved in curatorial work and attends the School for curators and critics of contemporary art World Of Art at the SCCA – Ljubljana, Centre for Contemporary Arts.
In My Head 2
Špela Pavli
2009
Duration: 00:03:59
Video work is based on personal experience, through my illness. When you’re depressed, you may have feelings of extreme sadness that can last for a long time. These feelings are severe enough to interfere with my daily life, and can last for weeks or months, rather than days. Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men. Female depression is much more sensitive. Through tears I have a process of healing. Those tears are uncontrolled. I cannot stop them or challenge. I combine painting that is my therapy and meditation with video art which is much more on expression.
Meditation could be considered to be an act of replenishing the mind or spirit and during meditation, painting I focused on the thought of reality and my existence, my being.
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Špela Pavli (Slovenia,Trbovlje, 1982)
I graduated at the University of Education in Maribor, department of Fine Art. In 2005 I participated in a study exchange in the Czech Republic (Art Centre, Olomouc). In 2008 I enrolled in master degree in Theory and philosophy of visual culture at the Faculty of Humanities in Koper; now I work PhD on Contemporary art, my mentor is prof. Aleš Erjavec. In 2008 I was volunteering at a non-profit organization EDIRISA (www.edirisa.org) in Kabale, South West Uganda. I work with traditional media and new artistic techniques, through writing and thinking, I explore issues of contemporary art and philosophy. I combine practice work with theory. In spring I start to attend Course for Curators (SCCA -Ljubljana) and Course for Critic of contemporary photography (Revija Fotografija). I currently work as associate program in the Department of culture, Labor Home Trbovlje.
Wear V-VIII
Tomaž Furlan
2008
Duration: 00:11:24
The Wear Project
The videos are only a part of The Wear Project. It is a kind of analytical reflection on the simple use of interactive pieces. The pieces, or should I say sculptures, proved to be extended functions of the body in some forced process. In Wear Project videos they are used as scene props in the form of clothes for the simple function of doing something. The name Wear comes from this, which suggests that these pieces are actually clothes, but they are also functional objects made for a certain production or ritual action. As I was alone when making them, I also tried on and used these pieces. It feels pretty silly to wear these “hard-wears”, use them, and explore their purpose. So why not make it even sillier by recording it on camera? The recorded material is the payback for the effort.
Music and accelerated movement are very important. Together they should create a new old space in which the action happens in its own environment on the introverted level of the protagonist as an emotional level of the public. It was interesting to close myself in the studio and install a camera and record myself carrying out some basic and simple kind of work and process. Not only from the artist’s point of view, but also as a common person (a civilian), caught in a sphere of democratic work – rights, suppressed freedom of choice, and the individual need for physical activity. The intention, however, is to produce and use these pointless “hard-wears” to try and experiment with a simple need to create an individual action without any pragmatic or production reasons. The Wear Project is an attempt to fight against banality with stupidity. Naturally it is unsuccessful, but it is also absolutely necessary in order to remain as human as possible.
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Born on 3rd of February 1978 in Kranj. After finishing secondary school I signed Academy of Fine Art in Ljubljana and now I am finishing the degree in sculpture. My late work is a video shoving the use of my devices, dresses or body accessories made for certain purpose. The doings documented in video have no sense; you could say they are stupid, even imbecile. Yet through their stupid – imbecile character they are supposed to display a certain anarchic charge.
I live in Ljubljana and work in my studio in Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova City.
One More Kick
Ana Čigon
2009-2010
Duration: 00:03:40
One More Kick is a short video with a meaningful ironic message that is slowly revealed while watching the video. Tension is created by the unfinished sentence and even more by the performance. The repetition of kicks which at times look painful, at times full of energy and at times even funny is creating a suspense which is continuously building up until the very end of the video. Then finally the whole purpose and meaning of the performance and all letters are revealed.
The struggle of the individual is presented through the performance and elaborated editing where even the title plays its important part in the creation of content of the video.
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Ana Čigon (Slovenia, 1982) graduated from Painting in 2007 at The Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. Later that year she entered the masters of Video at the same academy. She is currently enrolled in master’s degree of Interface Culture at Kunstuniversität, Linz – Austria. She has presented her works in several solo exhibitions in Slovenia and in numerous group exhibitions at home and internationally, including in cities like Tarvisio (IT), Tolmezzo (IT), Linz (AT), Pula (CRO), Rijeka (HR), New York (USA) and Istanbul (Turkey). She has received several important awards and selections in the field of visual art; the most important to mention are the OHO Award 2009, she was also the finalist for Slovenia Henkel Prize 2010 and finalist for the 2010 Award of Vordemberge-Gildewart foundation.
The ideas she develops in her works have a broad thematic range. They are linked to life situations and existential issues. In her projects she question people’s attitude towards different aspects of life, such as the struggle to achieve happiness, the attitude towards everyday life, the expectations on sexual behaviour, or the perception and reconsideration of social values in general. Many times she uses humorous, ironic or even sarcastic elements.
www.anacigon.si
First Blood
Maša Jazbec
2009
Duration: 00:01:20
Video performance First Blood problematizes generally accepted social syntagm of speed, of playfulness and of simplicity of existence in postmodern world. At first sight innocent play, coordinations, escalations and speed leads to a mistake which reaches into intimacy, discredited envelopes to the blood. This symbolizes pain, determination, premonition of falls apart and decadence that with condescending hand that covers principle of life which has a questionable future.
Through digital technologies I remix a cultural pattern in order to enact a critique of collective imaginary of cinema.
To reassemble fragments of cinematic history is a game with and the huge databases available; somehow it’s a sort of act of resistence to the overwealminig stream of images in which we live.
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Maša Jazbec was born in Trbovlje, an industrial coal mining town in Slovenia. She graduated at Faculty of Education Maribor from fine arts. In her works she explores critical relationships between an individual and society. Her artworks include video installations, sculptures, videos and photography. She is a founding member of artists collective V.A.T. (Visual Alternative Trbovlje). Currently living in Linz where she is a student of Master programme Interface Cultures at the University of Art and Industrial Design Linz.
Ekstaza
Nataša Skušek
2005
Duration: 00:11:28
Video is structured: 10 close-ups of my face while I am wet-nursing my daughter. At first this was very painful work. Close ups are mixed with dissolve effects.
(text by Anne Britt Rage)
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Nataša Skušek was born in 1967 in Ljubljana. She graduated at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts, where she also completed her Master’s degree. She received the Prešeren Award for students in 2000. So far she has participated in many exhibitions – in 2003 she attended the International festival Break 2.2; in 2004 she participated at the international exhibition Kitchen at the Koroška Gallery in Slovenj Gradec. In 2006 she made an independent appearance in the P74 Gallery and Art Center, presenting her solo exhibition MOTHER, NURSE, WOMAN, CAREGIVER, which combined photography, video art, objects and sounds, all of which she also uses in her media of expression in her other works. In 2009 she was invited to the International Women’s Art Biennal Incheon in South Korea. This year she has been invited to the exhibition Feminist Art in Slovenia. She is active contributor in the www.solaprosticas.com. She lives and works in Ljubljana.
Missing (Screens)
Sašo Vrabič
2007
Duration: 00:02:38
Project Missing (Screens) was solo project in Gallery Ganes Pratt. Layered site specific installation inside and outside gallery space, explores fascination with childhood and children and points toward too unstable meanings of images.
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Born in 1974, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. Audio-visual artist, free-lancer. Finished studies in paintings and MA in graphic art at Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. Last 15 years he’s been active in many group exhibitions and solo exhibitions, projects and festivals all over the world. He received many awards for painting, graphic art, web design and music.
www.vrabic.si
Raw Material
Maja Hodošček
2010
Duration: 00:17:20
RAW material is a project that was elaborated in New York together with Black Veterans for Social Justice Organization. It deals with the mentality of war and it’s by products. The essence of the work presents a recorded interview with 21 year old American war veteran who served in Iraq. Transition from war zone back to civilian life is extremely difficult for war veterans because they use survival strategies – that were very useful during war time- in their urban environment. Urban environment becomes a space for potential danger and therefore a constant alert is necessary. The pressure is hard, control is impossible, as a result of that typical psychological symptoms appear among war veterans such as; drinking problems, post traumatic stress disorder, fear of people, anxiety… It seems that the real war zone for war veterans is civilian life.
Because imperialistic wars are a global problem that effects us all it was extremely important that this raw documentary material would be transmitted inside my local environment with the use of re-enactment.
I was interested in the idea of what happens when you ask a young boy (he is about the same age as the new recruits) who has no reference to this disturbing issue to read the text edited from the interview? Is it even possible to think that he could identify with this story?
The boy explains one part of the veterans story in Slovenian language, in the form of a text animation the authentic part of the interview – a constant dialogue between them is established.
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Maja Hodošček (1984) lives and works in Celje, Slovenia. She graduated in 2009 from the Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts, University of Maribor, Slovenia. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally at multiple video festivals and exhibitions. In 2010, Hodošček received the OHO Award for Young Visual Artists organized by Zavod P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The idea of democracy is defined by important characteristics such as freedom and equality. In her work, Hodošček explores deviations from this concept, but also explores to what extent democracy is actually present in contemporary societies. Furthermore, Hodošček surveys the impact of global capitalistic systems on our everyday lives, the essence of her work being the exploration of social exclusion and alternative strategies of living. Her work is based on participatory, process-based approaches and is most often in the form of video, photography, installation and intervention in the public space.
www.majahodoscek.com
Postcards
Nika Autor
2010
Duration: 00:09:00
The film pair Report on the state of the asylum policy in the Republic of Slovenia from January 2008 to August 2009 and Postcards by Nika Autor critically deconstructs the dominant discourse of the asylum and migration policy, lucidly pointing to the principles of exclusion behind it. The films are a reflection upon discourses that legitimise the modus of the disciplining practices which regulate the social situation of asylum seekers, constructing their subjectivity and identities. Further, they point to marginalization and discrimination. From a completely different perspective, Nika Autor legitimises exactly what the dominant regime of representation has hidden and supplanted, revealing that what has been concealed from us is the practice of segregation. Her breaking down of how the social hegemony is inscribed into the regime of representation allows her to crucially transform the existing discourse of the asylum policy. This of course meaning that what is taken apart is the stereotypical representation since a stereotype is regarded as a crucial point of legitimating subjection and preclusion. And this is where the point of resistance comes into play, pointing to mechanisms of power and control and unveiling the ruptures in the dominant construction of reality. By unearthing the hegemonic paradigm, Nika Author seeks to show what failed to be represented and what remained unseen and omitted. Representation therefore is not a politically neutral event, for it legitimises distinctively its object of vision, functioning simultaneously as a social practice the narrative of which is clearly connected to the territory of power, interests and politics.
(Text by Sergej Kapus)
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Nika Autor is working in the field of contemporary art. The focus of her work is the relation of the artist to his everyday environment. She is exploring the ability to articulate resistance within the practice of contemporary art. At the moment she is PhD participant at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
http://autor.si