ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE KING, exhibition (2020) at the Museum of Međimurje in Čakovec, Croatia
The exhibition is part of the artistic doctorate at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. The theoretical component of the doctoral dissertation focuses on “Real and Symbolic in Poetics of Multiplied Screens and Images.”
The aim (purpose) of this theoretical research is to deepen the understanding of the phenomena and concepts mentioned in the title in relation to the relevant artistic discourses and works and, in turn, in relation to the author’s own artistic work. The theoretical part comprises twenty chapters, divided into seven thematic units: “Image, screen and frame”, “Video media, installation art and spectator”, “Realistic and symbolic in artwork”, “Repeating and multiplying images, screens and actions”. “Time and space in video / film and video installations”, “View” and “Own artistic practice”. After establishing a theoretical framework in which key concepts and phenomena are defined, there is an attempt of recognizing these concepts and phenomena as materialized in examples of works of art.
Artworks:
1. No Reason to Panic, 2015, ambient video installation with sound
(video, 2 audio speakers, projector)
Video duration: 2:40 min; video image dimensions (variable): 300 x 55 cm, W : H = 1 : 5.51; video cameraman: Milivoj Kuhar – Mimi; image and sound editing: Kristina Horvat Blažinović; composer and arrangement, according to the author’s concept: Tomislav Cvrtila; performers in the video: “Josip Vrhovski” choir from Nedelišće; conductor: Branimir Magdalenić.
2. Entertainment for the King, 2018, video installation with sound
(video, carpet, 2 audio speakers, projector)
Video duration: 7:51 minutes; video image dimensions: 280 x 157.5 cm; carpet size: 160 x 235 cm; performance in the video: Kristina Horvat Blažinović; camera, image and sound editing: Kristina Horvat Blažinović; music: Antun Toni Blažinović.
3. En ten tini, 2018, 2020, video with sound
(video, projector, 2 audio speakers)
Video duration: 1.30 min; video image dimensions: 300 x 169 mm; camera: Milivoj Kuhar – Mimi; image and sound editing: Kristina Horvat Blažinović; composition arrangement: Branimir Magdalenić; performers: members of the “Josip Vrhovski” choir from Nedelišće: Ivan Čordašev, Ivan Lesjak, Jurica Srbiš, Marinko Šego and Zlatko Gorski; conductor: Branimir Magdalenić.
4. Laughing, 2016, 2018, video with sound
(video, projector, 2 audio speakers)
Video duration: 0:55 min; video image dimensions: 200 x 196 cm; image and sound editing: Kristina Horvat Blažinović; voice in the video: Gabrijel Hlebec; photo in video: Ein Hund macht Kunststücke, author unknown, taken from Taschen wall calendar “Berlin”, 2012.
5. Teaching young girls, 2018, 2020, video with sound
(video, projector, 2 audio speakers)
Video duration: 8:26 minutes; video image dimensions: 260 x 146 cm; camera, image and sound editing: Kristina Horvat Blažinović; video performance: Ida Blažinović and Korana Močnik; narration: a text-to-speech application.
The videos and installations mentioned above belong to the same thematic section, titled “Entertainment for the King.” They are intended as standalone works but, connected by a common idea, also function as parts of a single exhibition. In the video installation Entertainment for the King (2018), one action is repeated many times – one continuous time in the past where similar, “almost the same” actions (like repeating the difference) are repeated. In the context of Bergson’s theory, it is the quality of quantity, the “qualitative impression produced by the whole series” – each new stimulus, i.e. repetitive action, adds to the previous (stimuli), whereby the whole acts on us to produce the effect of a musical phrase, which is constantly at the end point. By adding new notes (repetitive actions), the whole is constantly changing in its totality.