Group exhibition, 2023
Vadim Fishkin The Miha Artnak name: Danilo Milovanović Stephan Doepner & Aphra Tesla
The exhibition intertwines two directions of artistic activity, namely the humorous play with technology, which in a way becomes an end in itself, and humorous, performative interventions as an expressive means of responding to current, mainly socio-political realities.
Featuring works by Vadim Fishkin, name:, Danilo Milovanović, Stephan Doepner & Aphra Tesla, The Miha Artnak
ARTISTS
Vadim Fishkin
Vadim Fishkin works in an unique post-conceptual tradition, which is intimately linked to technology and current scientific developments. However, any interest in technology and science is less a direct result of an engagement in these domains themselves than a by-product of what they can tell us about ourselves and such perennial issues as the search for faith and meaning, and the sense of futility known to reward such human enterprises. Indeed, in Fishkin’s practice, technology is granted a compact narrative and allegorical power, not to mention an absurd and poignant poetry. And although Fishkin embraces the futility of technology, foregrounding the fatuity of the human desires and ambitions that animate it, he does it with a sharp and theatrical humor, ultimately imbuing it with a redemptive lightness.." — Chris Sharp
Miss Christmas
Projection, bucket, 2012
Courtesy: Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin Production: Association DUM / Ljubljana
Moving Stars
Bulbs, hair driers, 2006
Courtesy: Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin Production: Association DUM / Ljubljana
About the work
The motif of the star, like the theme of outer space in general, has appeared in Vadim Fishkin’s work from the very beginning. His interest in the philosophical school of the so called “Russian cosmism” and the legacy of Chizhevsky and Tsiolkovsky is something he shares with the founding fathers of the Russian avant-garde, with Khlebnikov and Tatlin. Fishkin can be considered an heir to this tradition, to its utopian pathos, its faith in the omnipotence of technology and its aspiration to global totality. Yet in Fishkin’s execution, the avant-garde utopia seems touched by gentle irony. In his work, Kant’s “starry sky above” appears as an ordinary light bulb hanging on a wire, while technological optimism is represented by the “scientific discovery” that a bulb attached to a working hairdryer will start to revolve in a circle. But Tatlin’s work was no less absurd. At the dawn of the airplane age he strove to fly to the depths of cosmos on a pair of plywood wings. But those who have created an avant-garde utopia while maintaining their “sanity” turned it into design; that is to say, they took utopia out of art and out of the avant-garde. Opposition to pragmatism and a lack of clear meanings or goals are what make art art. They constitute a higher goal and meaning, and Fishkin is inclined to treat that without any irony, like matters of principle importance. And the less principles have to do with common sense, the more inclined Fishkin is to take them seriously. The bulb humming and skipping beneath the ceiling does not only bring us closer to the poetic infinity of the cosmos above us, it also serves as a reminder of the “moral law within us”. — Viktor Misiano
The Miha Artnak
The Mihα Artnαk is a Ljubljana-based artist, activist, and entrepreneur, active since the 2000s. His satirical paintings, environmental installations, and subversive performances make him one of the most talked-about artists of the last decade.
Golobica in mir • Dove&Peace 鸽子与和平 • حمامة وسلام
poop art, 2017
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Dokaz o uničenju • Proof of burn 破坏证明 • إثبات التدمير
Numismatic collection, 2022
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Polutizem • Pollutism 污染性-论 • التلوث
found trash, 2020—
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name:
Slovenian artist »name:« is known for their actions and interventions into public space, such as SOS SMS, during which smoke signals emitted from the chimney of Ljubljana’s Old Power Plant were used to transmit the messages texted by passers-by; NANOgrafiti, 200 microns of the smallest graffiti in the world installed at some of the most important tourist sites of European capitals; the PING PONG intervention on the Slovenian-Croatian border fence; the NEW WORLD ORDER mural, created during the first wave of the pandemic in collaboration with Brad Downey on the Piran Punta; and TIME WILL TELL, the world’s first underwater graffiti in Izola. All these artworks are a testament to »name:«’s manifold creative approaches.