Nika Oblak & Primož Novak / Absolutely Fabulous 3

26 November 2009 > 06 December 2009 Production: KUD Mreža / Galerija Alkatraz

The exhibition entitled Absolutely Fabulous 3, of the Nika Oblak & Primož Novak tandem, presents a new production of a series of videos, visually re-constructed trailers as well as a series of photographs and visually re-constructed posters of cult films.

The trailers are a visual frame-to-frame re-constructions of original excerpts of the future cinema programme. The artists have re-constructed the trailers in their completeness, in a studio, by the chroma key technique and simple requisites like toys e.g. toy-cars, toy pistols, cardboard, paper…Nika Oblak & Primož Novak play all the roles; Nika acts out all the female and Primož all the male characters, constructing the scene backgrounds from the photo-collages of their own photos as well as the photos found on the internet.

The series of visually re-constructed film trailers is conceptually complemented with a series of photographs and light objects - light boxes – visually re-constructed original posters of cult films (photographs, varied dimensions, 2008-2009). Like in the former series of visually re-constructed trailers Nika Oblak & Primož Novak appear in the roles of all the characters present on the visually re-constructed posters of cult films - Nika in all the female, and Primož in all male roles respectively.

Thus the authors expose themselves to the impact of mass media and materialize the general public fascination with celebrities. As the actors of all the main roles in these fictive trailers of inexistent films and the role-bearers of all the main characters on the visually re-constructed film posters Nika Oblak & Primož Novak evolve into fictive superstars. Visually re-constructed trailers and film posters become de-ja-vus of originals, reflecting the global pop culture while exploring the status of an individual as a passive consumer of monopolised, unilaterally conveyed media contents.

Photo: Jasmina Klančar