Alkatraz Gallery at Open day event at Lx Factory

11 November 2011 Cordially invited to the Open day event at Lx Factory at Rua Rodrigues Faria, nº 103 in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday, 11th November. Alkatraz Gallery will present videos by artists: Meta Kastelic, Tomaž Furlan, Neven Korda, Damijan Kracina and Tomaž Tomažin.

The works presented at the Open day 07 event held at LX Factory, Rua Rodrigues Faria, nº 103, Lisbon, represent the Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova City. Almost all of the artists, with the exception of Tomaz Tomazin have their studios there. Tomaz Tomažin as well as Damijan Kracina are the artists that Alkatraz Gallery supports and presents at international art fairs.

What the concept of this presentation of video works has in common is that all of the artists establish a distance, and manifest it through a humorous and critical approach to their lives and their roles in the society. We might say that some of them consider life a game, which does not necessarily mean that they do not take life seriously.

Alkatraz Gallery is presenting video works of the following artists:

Damijan Kracina

His artistic world focuses on the research of the biodiversity of life. All the life on earth is a part of one great, interdependent system. It depends and interacts with the non-living components of the planet: the atmosphere, oceans, freshwaters, rocks, and soil. Humanity is an integral part of this community of life and it depends on it entirely. Biological diversity is a variety of the world's organisms, their genetic diversity and assemblages they form. Constructing his own biosphere of real ecosystems intertwined with imaginary worlds - the artist offers an insight to different possible futures of the evolution of life. The newly formed inter-relations of genes, species, and ecosystems unveil in materialisation of his artistic concept.

www.kracina.com

Tomaž Furlan

Tomaž Furlan is known for his versatile approach towards art creation. In his project called Wear, he connects sculptures with video. It is a kind of analytical reflection of a simple use of interactive pieces. The pieces, or sculptures, were made to become extended functions of the body in a somewhat forced process. In the Wear Project videos are used as scene props in the form of clothes for the simple function of doing something. The title Wear is derived from it and suggests that these pieces are actually clothes. But they are also functional objects made for a certain production or ritual action. The intention 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 also absolutely necessary in order to remain as human as possible.

http://www.e-arhiv.org/diva/index.php?opt=work&id=619

http://www.zavod-parasite.si/eng/tomaz-furlan

Neven Korda

Neven Korda is an artist acting in the field of performative and projected arts. He researches, practices and records pure art. His video practice is therefore the research of video and not genres or topics the video conveys. His visualist is Barbat Kanak. Korda creates artificial situations requiring interaction of the body, voice, sound, and video live, as well as computer intervention. He is a director and author of theatrical pieces, authorial films, documentaries and video clips, while he simultaneously acts as a mentor and performer at workshops of applicable video. He is active in the field of archiving and preservation of video recordings. In the 80s he was engaged in the Ljubljana alternative scene as a co-founder and head of the theatre group FV 112/15, also a co-founder of alternative video production FV Video as well as a member of the group Borghesia, in charge of the visual part. In the 90s he worked as a video editor, author of TV images, a director and executor of projects and television programmes.

www.korda-art.si

Tomaž Tomažin

Tomaž Tomažin's work encompasses video and photographic works in which he attempts to locate the relationship of the self to the society. As his starting point he takes the films that seem to him to present contemporary society. He then re-imagines the existing dialogue as if taking place between him and the characters in the acted films, documentaries, or videos. He then “re-enacts” all the selected roles in front of a blue screen and, using a computer, inserts his own head, to replace the original characters. Tomaz Tomazin is interested in the separation of the subject and object, and of the head and the body. As for the viewers, even as they view the video work, they find themselves in the body of the actor. These defects, in fact, expose it clearly for what it is, namely, manipulation. The point of this visual manipulation, its main idea, is to create a reflection. Like the artist, so are the viewers, compelled again and again to ask themselves questions about their own identity.

www.tomazin.org

Meta Kastelic

In her work she expresses feelings, thoughts and events experienced in her everyday life. Captured moments of life rendered in her artworks are clearly marked by the fact that she is a sculptor. They carry a precise aesthetic note to them, but with a careful and detailed observation and inspection unveilthedeeper meaning hidden inside. The hidden symbols provide the spectator with an insight. The artist's installations aspire to communicate with the viewer, inviting and luring him/her to participate and interact. Through this action the artwork revives and assists in the building of new interpretations, experiences and understanding of the viewer with all its information and imagery. Video and performance are almost a regular feature of her installations.

The project was produced by

KUD Mreza/Alkatraz Gallery

in cooperation with

Zavod za kulturo Delavski dom Trbovlje
Trg svobode 11A, 1420 Trbovlje, Slovenia
and

LX Factory

Rua Rodrigues Faria, nº 103, Lisbon, Portugal

curators: Ana Grobler and Jadranka Plut

assistant: Sebastian Krawczyk

special thanks to: Filipa Baptista, Špela Pavli and Zoran Poznič

Sebastian Krawczyk is a volunteer at the European Voluntary Service project. The execution of this project is cofinanced by the European Commission. The content of the project is at sole liability of the author and by no means it represents the stands of the European Commision.

Foto: Damijan Kracina, Tomaž Furlan, Sebastian Krawczyk, Jadranka Plut