[spectre] grey) (area: interventions in public space . Korcula

[darko fritz]

grey) (area
space of contemporary and media art . Korcula . Croatia

presents series of temporarily interventions in public spaces of Korcula

Goran Trbuljak: OLD IS NICE
Eastern facade of Korcula City Museum . Trg Sv. Marka

anonymous (BTF): Miso 2.0 (working title)
01 . 06 - 20 . 09 . 2008
entrance doors of the grey) (area gallery . Put sv. Nikole 7

KONTEJNER | bureau of contemporary art praxis (Zagreb) presents: Saso  
Sedlacek (Ljubljana): Beggar 2.0 - a robot for the materially deprived
14. - 16 . 08.

Drazen Vitolovic (Sovinjak / Rijeka): Satelite
16 . 08 - 20 . 09
Northern facade of Korcula City Museum . Trg Sv. Marka


Last years' (2007) exhibition summer season ended with then anonymous  
action in the pubic space of printed communication of city of  
Korcula. For this event a poster of Goran Trbuljak was displayed   
that reads: ‘Old and depressive anonymous is looking for a permanent  
display place in some nice new art museum space’. Cutting off words  
from the text an additional series of seven posters are made that  
reads: 'OLD IS NICE', 'DEPRESSIVE MUSEUM', 'ANONYMOUS PERMANENT', AND  
FOR A', 'LOOKING IN ART', 'DISPLAY SOME' and 'PLACE NEW SPACE'. All  
eight posters were displayed around the city of Korcula, at both at  
the legal public billboards and illegal advertising places where  
different kind of posters are usually shown in the public spaces  
(because of lack of advertising spaces in Korcula). End of the action  
is when posters will be covered with new ones, and today only one  
reminds: 'OLD IS NICE' at the facade of Korcula City Museum.  
Documentation of entire action is available at http://darkofritz.net/ 
korcula/Old_and_depressive.pdf

In between exhibition summer seasons 2006 and 2007 anonymous graffiti  
was made at the entrance doors of the grey) (area gallery, showing  
the portrait of the popular singer form Croatia Miso Kovac, and lyric  
form his song. The doors were repainted in silver as the graffiti  
colors of the side doors were too dominant and disturbing the view to  
the gallery, often views from the outside. Year after, In between  
exhibition summer seasons 2007 and 2008 a new graffiti with the same  
subject appeared, but this time not disturbing the gallery view form  
outside, when gallery doors are opened. The decision is made to keep  
the graffiti because of its interesting graphic qualities and  
consistence in the treatment of the subject and location, and even to  
include it to this year's program of public installations. At local  
radio the call for the contact of the author was broadcasted, but  
nobody reacted.

As part of its programmig sceheme the grey) (area inviting guest  
curators. In previous programs  Stefan Rusu (Moldavia) presented   
video art from Central Asija, Ana Peraica (Split) presented work of  
Alban Muja (Pristina) and Dunja Blazevic video production of the  
PRO.BA (Sarajevo).

This year as curators the KONTEJNER | bureau of contemporary art  
praxis presenting Beggar 2.0 - a robot for the materially deprived by  
Slovene artist Saso Sedlacek. The Beggar robot is above all the  
messenger of the news that too much of the world is getting poorer  
not richer and that's unfortunately bad news for us all. Beggar 2.0  
is a robot for the materially deprived which is made of old  
electronics and computer spare parts. The original 1.0 was tested in  
Slovenian shopping malls where it is forbidden to beg, but no such  
rule was made for robots. The experiment showed that richer part of  
society shows more sympathy towards the marginalized groups if they  
communicate from a safe distance and via technological interface. The  
new upgrade version of Beggar robot made at IAMAS institute in Japan  
was tested in the beginning of July on Tokyo streets where begging  
isn't really a frequent phenomena and where interface communication  
is ubiquitous. The new version runs on Linux (written by Yu Fukui)  
and will be soon available on this web site for anyone to download  
the program and copy the robot. BAGGAR 2.0 version was made at IAMAS  
( Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Science)
More info:
BAGGAR 2.0 . http://www.sasosedlacek.com/anglesko/projects_beggar.htm
KONTEJNER  | bureau of contemporary art praxis . http:// 
www.kontejner.org

Drazen Vitolovic's work entitled Satellite consists of the the ready- 
made satellite dish of 95 cm diameter, which concave side is entirely  
covered with small hand-made terracotta balls in its natural reddish  
color. Satellite dish is not in its technical function, i.e. it is  
not connected to further hardware. As such the communication is  
propelled toward the visual and absurd and poetic-imaginative  
sphere.  The installation is setup at the facade of the historic  
building in the old town of Korcula, over the eye-level, almost  
unnoticeable to the passers-by.

grey) (area will continue the gallery program from 7th September 2008.