Artist Wolf Gang offers alternative to reality shows
Ljubljana, 12 March - Young video artist and director Valerie Wolf Gang has come up with an alternative to the "commercial, simplistic, demeaning and unintelligent" TV shows. As part of a project dubbed Reality Show: Project Vivarium, she is offering a "calm, entertaining and relaxing" experience at the Kino Šiška urban culture centre.
Ljubljana
Kino Šiška, Ljubljana's centre of urban culture.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
The invitation to the exhibition opening tonight is beckoning visitors in front of a television, where instead of "shameless advertising" and "reality show stars" they can admire the life of plants that form a miniature landscape in real time.
The experience is relaxing and creates a direct connection with nature. The artist has approached a group of living organisms as if it were a video, paying attention to composition, colours, texture and subsequently sensations they evoke, the organisers say.
The very slow developments within the TV frame are accompanied by a sound track telling a humorous, relaxing yet socially critical story in the artist's unique way.
The artist's installations are humorous at first glance and "complemented with an explicit and sharp social criticism of our time", according to the organisers.
"The multi-layered intermedia language which the artist has developed through the years serves not only as a reminder to the every-day critical thinking but is transforming a place of 'high art' into a dystopic environment, which comes closer to the modern society or drifts away from it through individual's experience."
The exhibition will be admission free and two of the installations will be put on sale when the exhibition closes, with the funds going for charity.
Born in 1990, Wolf Gang has a Master's degree in film and contemporary art forms from the Art Academy in her home town of Nova Gorica. During her studies, she underwent training in the Czech Republic and in Portugal.
She has participated in artist-in-residence programmes in the US, Singapore, Austria, Serbia, the Netherlands, China and elsewhere.
Her work has been presented at several major group and individual exhibitions at home and abroad.
She is currently based in Ljubljana and lectures at the University of Nova Gorica. She cooperates with various independent Slovenian and foreign organisations in organising artistic workshops.