Here is a map of locations where you can find parts of video installation (Sub)conscious on international festival Pixxelpoint (from 2nd till 9th of December 2016) with poetry texts included in the videos.
Video & poetry: Valerie Wolf Gang
Technical collaborator: Urša Bonelli Potokar
Laser cutting: V3D 3D-printing service
Co-producer: KIBLA
Thanks: Jaša Bukovec, Mestna Galerija Nova Gorica, Nina Jeza, Simon Sedmak
More information about Pixxelpoint festival: http://www.pixxelpoint.org/
More information about project (Sub)conscious: http://portfolio-valeriewolfgang.com/Sub-conscious
Relax
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: City Gallery Nova Gorica, Trg Edvarda Kardelja 5, Nova Gorica, Slovenia (Opening hours 9am to 7pm).
RELAX Cutting cutting Planting grapevines In the shining light We lose our souls Digital boxes Full of mail Announcing grace, A better life And a better tomorrow Everything hides behind good deals Cutting cutting Have a cut yourself Everything's going to be fine There's no hurry Optimization Mechanization No worries C'mon, take it, quickly Why don't you buy two of those We're all going to profit from this You have nothing to worry about Eat, eat, and don't think Relax and enjoy Don't be late for work Eight to four Overtime Responsibility Organization Agenda Scenario Clear ending Tick tock
Make your dreams happen
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: Gallery TIR Mostovna, Nova Gorica, Slovenia (Opening hours Thursday 17-19, Friday 19-23, Saturday 19-23)
Come on over, there is a sale today A sale of human life Make your dreams happen Buy Special offer Cheap You want it We know Come on over, there is a sale today A sale of emotions and suffering Make your dreams happen Buy Special offer Cheap You want it We know Come on over, there is a sale today A sale of human kindness and soul Make your dreams happen Buy Special offer Cheap You want it We know
Worry less live more
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: Cultural Center Nova Gorica, Bevkov trg 4, Nova Gorica, Slovenia (Opening hours
The morning sun fights its way Through the heavy curtains A beautiful morning The smell of Turkish coffee And foamed milk There’s plenty of time for A refreshing shower before work And fried eggs with asparagus Mmmm, life is good Worry less, live more There’s a holiday at work Free day and a raise Vacation calls Vacation in some sunny place Where it’s warm and beautiful First a picnic on the terrace Zucchini for the vegetarians And cold beer for thirsty guests Everyone’s welcome Everyone, but only the chosen ones Distinguished people only White skin and a fat wallet Ordinary married people People with no tattoos or Extraordinary hair cuts More men than women Real men Vegetarians Better stay at home The meat’s grilling already Welcome everyone to Europe Everyone’s wanted at the picnic Our picnic celebrating the good life Worry less, live more Enjoy life Dear guest, abide by my rules Take off your shoes And plant the hedge Do not vote on election day Buy everything on sales And listen to the news The television will let you know the truth Dear guest, you have stayed here Long enough Now leave and close The door See you next year
Do more of what makes you happy
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: City Library Nova Gorica, Trg Edvarda Kardelja 4, Nova Gorica, Slovenia (Opening hours Monday-Friday 7am-7pm, Saturday 8am-1pm)
I’m enjoying life It’s a good life When I’m hungry I go to the fridge And eat When I feel like going on vacation I just take off When I feel like buying new things I go to the bank And get the money I have money Lots of money Lots of money for pretty things Lots of money to do what I want Lots of money that feeds me Lots of money that frees me I’m paying a monthly income for freedom In a golden bathroom With a golden toilet And a bed made of money A bed full of freedom and pure thoughts I have money Lots of money I do what I want I buy myself happiness And enjoy the freedom I take my Ferrari out to buy milk The butler cleans my shoes in the morning And serves caviar It’s good to be alive It’s good to have lots of money And enjoy the fruits of the monthly income I have money Lots of money I buy love for dinner A little passion for lunch A juicy kiss and a warm hug for breakfast Wonderful is the freedom And the room full of money The garage full of Ferraris And a weekend in the Caribbean An income that never dries out And people who love me I have money Lots of money
Dream imagine believe
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: Akademija Umetnosti Univerza v Novi Gorici, Via Armando Diaz 5, Gorizia, Italy (Opening Hours Monday-Friday 9am-17pm)
Foggy morning Drawing back the curtains The morning light interrupts my dreams The sun trying to shine through the fog It's not happening Just a second, let me get out of bed The cold concrete erasing the footsteps behind me Faces passing me by Gloomy looks and worries Dreaming, imagining, believing I'm still asleep Headache And heartache No exit And no ideas A single moment and the world changes From the warm bed to the cold concrete, Drinking my soul Lost in the rhythm of the traffic lights And alarm clocks, which always cause a minor Cardiac arrest Waiting for free time And an emergency exit Up to the moment, when thr dementia starts And we forget everything we ever knew About dreaming Hoping And believing in a better tomorrow.
Life is good
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: Akademija Umetnosti Univerza v Novi Gorici, Via Armando Diaz 5, Gorizia, Italy (Opening Hours Monday-Friday 9am-17pm)
One day we start crying And our life begins We are born into this world With tears in our eyes And fire in our hearts We are alive. Some day we start walking Through this world of hope And various destinies Discovering places And learning All we want is to live And be alive We want to love And to be loved Someday our young hearts grow up And the magic is gone And we must swim Swim through life's deepest secrets To find the truth, Stay safe, And survive Life is good. Life is good. Life is good.
Enjoy the little things
Where you can find the installation on Pixxelpoint festival: Secret location!
Plastic card on plastic devices Divides the value of our work 100€ here, 100€ there How much are we worth? How much is our work worth? The numbers melt away faster than we do The bigger the number, the greater the sacrifice There’s no time There’s no will There’s no more energy Everything has been taken New paycheck for new vacation I need a break and a time out that doesn’t end Plastic balls on plastic trees And colorful lights that shine at night Enjoy the little things Have a piece of bread That’s enough Work non-stop You don’t need a huge paycheck Enjoy the little things Tomorrow’s a holiday Buy the presents Next weekend we are doing overtime We have to work The paycheck’s coming soon Snow in the summer Something’s not right Polluted air and thick fog Don’t think, turn the chimney on fire Drive to the city Spray the fruit Caterpillars are dying
Exhibition text by curator Nina Jeza for Gallery KIBLA:
Life is good, especially when we realize how precious it is precisely because it is transient. This is the fundamental message behind the work of artist Valerie Wolf Gang, who is presented to us in this exhibition with a video installation titled (Sub)Conscious. The spatial installation comprises seven documentary video clips, which demonstrate the visual facet of our inhumaneness towards the world in which we live, and in which we entirely neglect the very same values that are supposed to be essential to our own existence. The conditionality of this statement reflects the artist’s questioning about whether such a thing, i.e. a positive shift in the awareness of humanistic values, is even possible anymore.
The artist invites us into her original creative sphere by means of cut-out visual messages that cover the screen where she plays her installation video. In this way we are forced to see the recordings only “through the prism of” her own positive attitude; in a meta-static way, she thus attempts to imprint messages that are more than “just” words, into the subconscious part of our brain. Valerie Wolf Gang artfully guides us through her intimate view of the world, which is affirmative, and positive; the videos are accompanied by original poetry through which she reveals certain facts that are crucial for all who exist: to be born and to live, to learn and thereby unfold the essence of life.
It was thus that the cut-out slogans were created: Life is good, through which we observe natural disaster videos, floods and fires, all of which are an everyday part of our lives; Enjoy the little things, and behind it a video on poverty and precarious work, i.e. work carried out in impossible conditions. Dream imagine believe is a visualization testifying to the violence that goes on in the streets, to the burglaries, fights, and protests pointing to global violence. The theme behind Make your dreams happen is Black Friday, when huge masses of people raid shopping malls for special price offers and discounts, it is concerned with consumerist hysteria in general. Relax is about industrial food production and factory farming, where animals are being massively raised and then slaughtered one after the other – to become food for all of us. Do more of what makes you happy is a documentary on human trafficking and illegal prostitution, while Worry less live more tells the story of our “hospitality” towards immigrants, which is only temporary or seeming, or is not there at all, pointing to our total lack of compassion and understanding of what “being different” stands for.
The artist uses these positive signs to call attention to the mundaneness that we come across every day in mass media – on television, in the newspapers, on the radio and the internet. She unveils how the media blows thing out of proportion, which is an obvious consequence of capitalism and the information era; warns about the media war, which we have witnessed only a short time ago during the Balkan maelstrom. Inevitably, of course, she touches upon the subject of the present-day migrant explosion, which is causing fear and alarm among people, most of whom have never seen a single migrant person in their life, except on television, yet somehow they believe these people are malicious…
The overload of negative information on social networks, the hostile hate speech inciting hatred, dissolving humanism and manipulating human emotions, therefore causes a negative propaganda, or, paraphrasing the words of the upcoming American presidential candidate: “Some bad PR going on here.” This propaganda creates a negative and unrealistic image in our subconscious. And the subconscious (or, in Freud’s terms, the unconscious) is a mental activity that strongly, if not crucially, affects a person’s behavior, whereby the trauma finally comes full circle.
This time Valerie Wolf Gang, thank God, reverses the picture.
Artist statement about the work:
“As an artist working, apart from my own art projects, in television production, I am very much aware of the power of manipulation possessed by the television medium. I know that television reality is a different kind of reality than what imagine, and at the same time it exploits people’s misery to increase the ratings and produce sensational headlines, which bring profit. One of my observations regarding both the industry and the users is that people react less and less to all kinds of tragic news, precisely because they perceive the world shown on television screens as another kind of reality. News about hungry or thirsty people does not even move people anymore, they prefer to stay safely in their comfortable armchairs, and open a bar of chocolate, or change the station and find something more entertaining and cheerful to watch. The work (Sub)Conscious is a recent production, dedicated to all those who have lost their lives over the past few months due to one of the many unfortunate events we have seen in the media – all in the hope of focusing our attention to the present reality, where, with the help of past experiences, we can take better steps that will ultimately help to create a different kind of future. Life (can be) good.” (Valerie Wolf Gang)
Pixxelpoint Festival Program
Friday, 2. december
17.30: Pre-opening
University of Nova Gorica School of Arts
18.30: Pre-opening
Trgovski dom Gallery
19.30: Pre-opening
Carinarnica
20.00: opening of the exhibition We and official opening ceremony of Pixxelpoint 2016
Nova Gorica City Gallery
21.00–22.00: Denis Mavrič, Energy Interactions: interactive installation with the author present
Rotunda of SNG Nova Gorica
Saturday, 3. december
Shirt exchange as part of the shirting… project, which will continue throughout the festival. The point of exchange is the Nova Gorica City Gallery.
Registrations: mestnagalerija@kulturnidom-ng.si.
11.00–13.00: Petra Varl, Cutouts: photographic excursion with the artist and her portable metal drawings Walk from the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts, past the tunnel, Carinarnica and the Nova Gorica Train Station to the Nova Gorica City Gallery
12.00–15.00: Helene Thuemmel, Digital stones or Where is Tito: individual discussions about hillside writings
Carinarnica
13.00–14.00: Ruobing Wang, Eat Me
The Singapore-based artist arranges compositions using green books at the Nova Gorica City Gallery and the France Bevk Library. You are invited to bring your used books with green or greenish backs, which the artist will use in her composition and where she will converse with you.
Nova Gorica City Gallery
16.00–18.00: Paul Bush, While Darwin Sleeps (5’) and Babeldom (85’), films
After the projection, Igor Prassel will moderate a discussion with the author.
Pixxelpoint Festival in collaboration with the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts and the Animateka Festival.
Kinemax, Gorizia
19.00–21.00: Denis Mavrič, Energy Interactions: interactive installation with the author present
Rotunda of SNG Nova Gorica
Sunday, 4. december
9.00–16.00: We Excursion – Spaces of Art and Culture
We will be visiting the Topolo Station in Cividale del Friuli and the SMO Landscape and Narrative Museum, in Udine, Italy.
Register for free transportation: mestnagalerija@kulturnidom-ng.si
Monday, 5. december
11.00–13.00: We – Memory for the Future – Monument, discussion
The discussion with various authors (Gal Kirn, Niloufar Tajeri, Tanja Lažetić, Nemanja Ćađo, Helene Thuemmel) will be moderated by Miha Colner.
Trgovski dom Gallery
14.00–16.00: Helene Thuemmel, Digital stones or Where is Tito: individual discussions about hillside writings
Carinarnica
18.00–19.15: Nika Autor, In the Land of Bears (Slovenia, 2012, 72’), film
19.15–20.30: We – Memory for the Future – Role of the Artist, discussion
The discussion with various authors (Nika Autor, Vesna Bukovec, Widad Tamimi, Rawan Hourani, Sabina Đogić) will be moderated by Miha Colner.
Kulturni dom Nova Gorica
If you are in Ljubljana, you can catch the show Where Was I at 20.00 in the Ljubljana Dance Theater. Book your ticket at: 041 581 319
PTL, Prijateljeva 2a, Ljubljana
Tuesday, 6. december
14.00–16.00: Helene Thuemmel, Digital stones or Where is Tito: individual discussions about hillside writings
Carinarnica
18.00–21.00: Denis Mavrič, Energy Interactions: interactive installation with the author present
Rotunda of SNG Nova Gorica
Wednesday, 7. december
14.00–16.00: Helene Thuemmel, Digital stones or Where is Tito: individual discussions about hillside writings
Carinarnica
18.00–19.00: Jasna Hribernik, Vitanje in Space – Sunita (Slovenia, 2015, 52’), film
19.00 – 20.00: We – In Space, discussion
After the film projection, Ervin Hladnik Milharčič will moderate the discussion with the author of the film, astrophysicsists from the University of Nova Gorica, Prof. Dr. Samo Stanič and Doc. Dr. Sergei Vorobiov and the director of the Slovenian Scientific Foundation Dr. Edvard Kobal.
Kulturni dom Nova Gorica
Thursday, 8. december
10.00–15.00: We Excursion – Spaces of Science, Spaces of Art
We will be visiting the laboratories and research centers of the University of Nova Gorica located in Rožna Dolina, Ajdovščina and Vipava, then return to the Nova Gorica City Gallery, where we will view the result of the artistic collaboration between two artists (Robertina Šebjanič, Tea Hvala) and a scientist (Andreea Oarga-Mulec, UNG)
Register for free transportation: mestnagalerija@kulturnidom-ng.si
16.30–17.30: Rawan Hourani, Dreamcatcher postcards, kids’ workshop with the Nova Gorica City Gallery Art Course Nova Gorica City Gallery
17.30–22.00: Pixxelpoint meets PAIC (Participatory Art for Invisible Communities) in the town of Osek pri Šempasu – with a presentation of workshops and a public round-table discussion. The event will be followed by a luncheon with a selection of local culinary delights and fine wines.
Co-organized by the University of Nova Gorica, School of Arts and KTD Osek.
Register for free transportation: mestnagalerija@kulturnidom-ng.si
Friday, 9. december
15.00–16.30: Rawan Hourani, Dreamcatcher postcards, a workshop with teenage migrants and locals
Carinarnica
16.00: Rene Rusjan, guided tour of the exhibition in the Nova Gorica City Gallery
“The link between art, learning and everyday life” in collaboration with the Nova Gorica City Gallery Art Course (Julij Borštnik, Anja Kranjc, Katja Oblak)
Nova Gorica City Gallery
10.00–18.00:Sabina Đogić, 14 songs – A Prayer for Lost Songs
Film author set up a song collection point. She invites you to come sing your song from memory and contribute to this growing collection of songs.
Kostanjevica Franciscan Monastery above Nova Gorica
17.00: Festival closing ceremony
Kostanjevica Franciscan Monastery chapel courtyard above Nova Gorica
Valerie Wolf Gang 