We Are Here To Stay

Mi Ne Gremo Nikamor / we are here to stay

The romanticization of “good old times” is ritualized by people in the same way as the idealization of “bright future”. Nostalgia and utopia collide in the chaos of the present moment in which we live, where the dispersion of innumerable perspectives, truths and identities reveals itself in a lack of trust in the common and public. How do we then think or even live the utopian moment in the present and the future? Traces and evidence of life are discarded at the dump of some dystopian re-use centre. While individuals look for the worlds through which we give meaning to our existence in particular ways. The exhibition deploys an archive of personal objects from everyday life and creates intimate environments of personal monuments, which reflect the broader social context. The dialogue between the private and the public has shrunk to the bureaucratic apparatus, which is able to think only itself. It really is complex. We really want to do the “right thing”. We really do not want to “screw things up”. It’s really complicated.

Creative team: Nika Bezeljak, Miha Blažič – N’toko, Andrej Firm, Barbara Kukovec, Petra Veber

Photography: Andrej Firm

Production: Moment 

Location: Intimate Stage GT22 (Premiere, 11.5.2019 – Festival Crossings)

Update:  Maribor Is The Future PODCAST – Mi ne gremo nikamor/We Are Here To Stay

 

Living Walls 2.1

In cooperation with the Slovenian Society of Art Critics and curator Meta Kordiš we (Photonic Wall /  Katja Goljat & Andrej Firm) continued our work with liquid emulsion. The exhibited photographs show a series of repetitive motifs on various materials: wood, plasterboard, stone, porcelain and glass. We are exploring the range of material experimentation and photographic-lab process. The formal visual appearance of the selected motif thus itself is deformed by the reaction of the emulsion on the material and texture of the material. Although the motif of the tandem in this series is of secondary importance, because it wants the viewers to concentrate on the shape, texture and effect of the photographic process rather than content, it is nevertheless chosen deliberately. Therefore, the motif is a little puzzling, nostalgic and mysterious, which attracts the viewers attention.

Exhibition place : Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana

Selection: Meta Kordiš

Authors: Photonic Wall ( Katja Goljat & Andrej Firm)

Acknowledgments: Ivana Petan, Matjaž Rušt

Photo: Matjaž Rušt

Living Walls 2.0

We (Photonic Wall /  Katja Goljat & Andrej Firm) continue to research the power of liquid emulsion and it’s relation when applied to different physical media. For this exhibition the collection consists of works in a black and white analog technique on drywalls, especially designed for CVU Batana’s gallery space in Rovinj, Croatia. It was also a special moment for us as we uncovered our new Photonic Wall logo and held a cyanotype workshop for the residents of the city Rovinj, Croatia.

Opening / Workshop

 Photo: Matjaž Rušt, Andrej Firm

 

#1MBzin – Mišnica GT22

Our photographic platform Mišnica GT22 just released their first zine. The official release was part of this years Festival of Photography Maribor (Festival Fotografije Maribor 2017).

Grab them while their hot, at Glavni Trg 22, Maribor – GT22.

Contributors:

Anja Seničar
Miha Sagadin
Miha Horvat
Matej Sajko Modrinjak
Marko Golnar
Gregor Salobir
Andrej Firm

 

 

Group exhibition of the Slovenian Stage Photography 1991-2016 in Celje

The Group exhibition of the Slovenian Stage Photography 1991-2016 (Pregled slovenske odrske fotografije 1991-2016) is an attempt to combine all the best photographers who in the last quater of a century documented Slovenian moments of institutional and non-institutional performing arts. It is an on going exhibition; in the making. The list of authors, sites, locations, countries is expanding as the exhibition moves on.

Currently paticipating:

Nada Žgank, Sunčan Stone, Peter Uhan, Žiga Koritnik, Urška Boljkovac, Boštjan Lah, Miha Sagadin, Jaka Babnik, Miha Fras, Matej Modrinjak, Damjan Švarc, Toni Soprano, Sandra Požun, Stanislav Zebec, Jaka Varmuž, Saša Huzjak.

Curators:  Andrej Firm & sonda3

The project is supported by: Authors, Design Studio Maribor, Municipality of Maribor, GT22, Ustanova Fundacija Sonda, Slovenian Theaters

Exhibition Opening: GT22, 24.06.2016 – Festival Lent 2016

I. Guest appearance: Gallery Simulaker, 22.07.2016, Novo Mesto
II. Guest appearance: Kreativni atelje Manje Vadla, 1.06.2017 – 27.6.2017, Celje

Na Luno z Zvitorepcem, Trdonjo in Lakotnikom

Another theater performance that was entirely made in the new non-institutional theater Intimni Oder GT22Na Luno z Zvitorepcem, Trdonjo in Lakotnikom is a group project which we developed in the last 6 months. It covers one of the stories from the famous Slovenian comic book artist Miki Muster.

Premiere: 21.4.2017, Intimni Oder, GT22, Maribor

Actor: Miha Bezeljak
Director & Dramaturge: Nika Bezeljak
Scenography & Light Design: Andrej Firm
Sound Design: Dino Čurić


Photo: Andrej Firm

Via Matti / Ulica Norcev

The third theater performance that was entirely made in the new non-institutional theater Intimni Oder GT22. Via Matti / Ulica Norcev is a group project and part of a 2 year theater project Unplugged/Izštekani, managed by the organization MOMENT.

Premiere: 31.3.2017, Intimni Oder, GT22, Maribor

Actor: Tilen Kožamelj
Director: Zoran Petrovič
Dramaturge: Marek Turošik
Scenography & Light Design: David Orešič

MFRU Festival Maribor 2016

Trust.1 as the 22nd edition of the International Computer Arts Festival, or MFRU for short, re-examines and analyzes the understanding of the level of confidence and the ways local, Maribor intermedia platform on one side, and Trust,1 deconstructs and contemplates the what, where and why of computer art today and the how, the when and the workings of a computer as it creates on the other side.

More info about the Festival: http://mfru.org/mfru-2016/

Here is a small collage of everyday happenings between the festival I’ve made (One still per day on Instagram).

Full size on Instagram

B U M !

The first theater performance that was entirely made in the new non-institutional theater Intimni Oder GT22. B U M ! is a group project and part of a 2 year theater project Unplugged/Izštekani, managed by the organization MOMENT. The project is a mixture of drama, performance, puppet & object theater, science and art, evolving around J.R. Oppenheimer the father of the Atomic Bomb.

Premiere: 9.9.2016, Intimni Oder, GT22, Maribor

Actor: Rok Kravanja
Director: Zoran Petrovič
Dramaturge: Marek Turošik
Scenographer, Costume designer, Visual Author and Photographer: Andrej Firm

Overview of the Slovenian Stage Photography 1991-2016

The Group exhibition of the Slovenian Stage Photography 1991-2016 (Pregled slovenske odrske fotografije 1991-2016) is an attempt to combine all the best photographers who in the last quater of a century documented Slovenian moments of institutional and non-institutional performing arts. It is an on going exhibition; in the making. The list of authors, sites, locations, countries is expadning as the exhibition moves on.

Currently paticipating:

Nada Žgank, Sunčan Stone, Peter Uhan, Žiga Koritnik, Urška Boljkovac, Boštjan Lah, Miha Sagadin, Jaka Babnik, Miha Fras, Matej Modrinjak, Damjan Švarc, Toni Soprano, Sandra Požun, Stanislav Zebec, Jaka Varmuž, Saša Huzjak.

Curators:  Andrej Firm & sonda3

The project is supported by: Authors, Design Studio Maribor, Municipality of Maribor, GT22, Ustanova Fundacija Sonda, Slovenian Theaters

Exhibition Opening: GT22, 24.06.2016 – Festival Lent 2016

I. Guest appearance: Gallery Simulaker, 22.07.2016, Novo Mesto

Future exhibitions 2016/2017: Celje, Ljubljana, etc.

Photo: Marko Golnar, Gregor Salobir, Andrej Firm