TAKEOVER #5
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This week, we open TAKEOVER #5: Hours Slip Away: An Ambiguous Dance by Irena Kukrić, a performance installation featuring non-human actors, a core element of her practice and research. We warmly welcome you to the vernissage on Thursday, 10 October, and the exhibition will be open from 11 October through 21 October.
Irena Kukrić’s performances focus on the balance between the digital and mechanical dimensions of her installations and the poetics of human experience through non-human actors. This new work, one of a series of rehearsals, further explores the relationship between humans and technology and the emotions that emerge from it through automated movements.
As Kukrić explains, ‘The rapid advancement of digital technologies opens up new perspectives but also leaves humans struggling to keep up, as we often interact with people who are not physically present and with media controlled by code. We move from one link to another as hours slip away. Therefore automation is used as a main performative element to describe the digital experience of humans searching for a connection.’
In Hours Slip Away: An Ambiguous Dance, automated movements play a central role. In this nuanced interplay between automated precision and the inherent human desire for connection, Kukrić presents us with a composite body—an ambiguous other that lies somewhere between humans and technology. The installation invites us to reflect on our relationship with automation and our desire for connection.
Irena further explains, ‘Automated movement, with its repetitive nature, once imbued with meaning, can resemble algorithmic logic as well as ritualistic practices, where repetition often helps humans search for meaning. To repeat is to move, to recognise, to resist. The physical movement within an apparatus serves as both a metaphor and a method for reflecting on humans navigating the apparatus of digital signals. In a gallery setting, these movements offer moments of reflection, decentering human agency and exploring the implications of this shift in a post-human perspective.’
The installation features a series of automated movements presented as different case studies involving composites of metal constructions with materials, such as latex, attached and moved. Accompanied by a recorded voice, screen, and lights, a performative scene develops where interpretation unfolds together with the visitors.
Irena studied scenography at the Faculty of Applied Arts at the University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, and Digital Media at the University of Arts in Bremen, Germany. She is currently a PhD candidate at the PhDArts Leiden in collaboration with the University of the Arts Bremen; this work is part of this practice-based research.
She worked as a theatre stage designer and production designer in film. She created various installation performances for galleries, digital media festivals, and theater festivals, such as OUTNOW!, Galerie Herold, Städtische Galerie, Schwankhalle, and Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst in Bremen, NAXOS studios in Frankfurt, Resonate Festival in Belgrade, and gallery C28 in Hanover.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
TAKEOVER #6
On the 24th of October, we will present ONE, our 6th TAKEOVER, by Miragenesi. Miragenesi is an artist who uses blockchain as a medium. He will present two existing on-chain dynamic NFT works that respond to the price of different cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, he will release a new work representing unity and the philosophical journey's final stage.
TAKEOUT
With a heavy heart, we have to announce that on October 30th, we will hold our final TAKEOVER event at the Bright Moments Gallery on Auguststrasse 86. We promise a night full of generative art and good vibes!
Despite the Bright Moments space no longer being available, we would love to continue the TAKEOVERs in new places. If you know a good spot, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.