WORKSTEXTSCVCONTACT

ACTIVISTS, mobile robots, variable dimensions, 2011 Activists is an installation composed of mobile robots with protest signs. The robots move freely in the exhibition space, they respond to visitors and other displayed works. Each time they appear in public, they occupy the space and make a different action, fighting for a better society. Software by Jianjun Wang. photos / video SISYPHUS ACTIONS, pneumatic video installation, 67 x 58 x 162 cm (each unit), 2011 In Sisyphus Actions Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak repeat monotonous, seemingly purposeless actions over and over. A surreal, absurd situation reflects contemporary global way of life, where people are trapped by daily routines and artificially produced consumerist needs. Software synchronizes custom designed pneumatic system with a particular video, thus transferring 2D video image into 3D actual space. Software by Rado Miklavcic. photo / video RED CARPET, site specific installation, 5000 x 300 x 95 cm, 2011 Red Carpet is an installation based on the increasing divisions present in contemporary society. A 50 meters long red carpet is placed on the beach, leading from the strolling path across the sand into the sea. It is enclosed with velvet rope and brass poles, typical of contemporary media events, where the so called very important persons are separated from the ordinary crowd. photos LOOKING FOR A GALLERIST, series of 20 photographs, 35.7 x 25.7 cm, 2010 Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak posted flyers with a sentence 'Looking for a Gallerist' and their phone number, which one could tear off, all around Chelsea in New York City. The minimal intervention is a reference to numerous artists from all over the world, who come to New York to try their luck. photos FOUNTAIN, AFTER DUCHAMP, NAUMAN, SIGNER AND MANY OTHERS, photograph, 160 x 104 cm, 2010 The photograph shows Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak fully dressed standing under a shower in a private bathroom, as a reference to fountains that have always been the subject of visual art, either as decoration in historical terms, or as conceptual art since the beginning of the 20th century. Oblak and Novak's fountain is just another contribution to the latter. photo BOXES, series of pneumatic video installations, variable dimensions, 2005 - 2010 Boxes is a series of different pneumatic video installations, which show Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak trapped, either trying to escape to the outside or repeating automated, machine like, endless movements. Installations confront 'reality' with the media image of reality as an ironic reference to the omnipresent media world that we can hardly evade today. Software synchronizes custom designed pneumatic system with a particular video, thus transferring 2D video image into 3D actual space. Software by Rado Miklavcic. photos / video THIS IS A PERFORMANCE, performance (Holbaeck, Denmark), 2010 This is a Performance is a performance where 100 T-shirts with a statement 'This is a performance' are given out to visitors at exhibition opening. As a consequence whenever and wherever people wear these T-shirts, new performances will occur. With this T-shirt anybody can make a performance any place, any time. photos RECOMMENDED BY CURATORS WORLDWIDE, installation, 8 min 26 sec (video) and 75 x 125 cm (photograph), 2009 A 3 by 5 meters advertising billboard promoting Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak is placed deep in the woods in north Wales. The billboard is placed in a spot where it can hardly be seen, like a tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it fall. Placed in a surrounding where it is likely not to be seen by anyone evokes questions to its purpose. photos GOING SOUTH, video installation, 31 min 15 sec, 2009 Going South is a documentary about how Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak achieve a Guinness World Record by pushing wheelbarrows from Ljubljana, Slovenia, to Sharjah in the U.A.E., for 14.500 km in 3 years and 12 days. photos / video SHUND, video, 2 min 23 sec, 2008 Shund is a frame by frame visually reconstructed original trailer of the movie Pulp Fiction. Entire trailer is made in the studio, using green screen and simple props, like toy cars and guns, cardboard, paper… Backgrounds of scenes are constructed photo collages. Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak act all parts. As actors in a trailer of fictive, nonexistent film, Oblak and Novak become fictional superstars. photos / video CAB DRIVER, video, 2 min 59 sec, 2008 Cab Driver is a frame by frame visually reconstructed original trailer of the movie Taxi Driver. Entire trailer is made in the studio, using green screen and simple props, like toy cars and guns, cardboard, paper… Backgrounds of scenes are constructed photo collages. Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak act all parts. As actors in a trailer of fictive, nonexistent film, Oblak and Novak become fictional superstars. photos COMING SOON, series of posters and light boxes, variable dimensions, 2008 - 2009 Coming Soon is a series of visually reconstructed original movie posters of cult movies, in which Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak appear as actors of all parts. Series of posters and light boxes becomes like a de-ja-vu of originals, presenting Oblak and Novak as fictional superstars. photos WE DID THIS AND THAT, series of 43 photographs and 13 videos, 75 x 100 cm (photographs), 2005 - 2007 We Did This and That shows Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak by achieving Guinness World Records. These are absurd records based on uncommon ideas, where Oblak and Novak use a strategy of gaining attention with spectacular and entertaining stunts, as a reference to obsession with success and fame in contemporary society. photos / video SMARTIST, mobile robot, 90 x 90 x 44 cm, 2006 (in collaboration with Stefan Doepner) Smartist is an independent mobile robot that replaces a person - more precisely, an artist - and performs this person's tasks. It lives in the exhibition area, where it moves freely and responds to visitors and other displayed works. Occasionally it writes Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak's signatures on the floor of the gallery, turning it into Smartist's signature. Software by f18 institute. photos SAETCHI COLLECTION, installation, variable dimensions, 2007 - work in progress Saetchi Collection is a collection of replicas of artworks by commercially successful contemporary artists, which is dealing with the relation between global economy and marketing of contemporary art. Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak slightly changed the names of the represented artists and thus used a strategy common in copying fashion or technical trademarks, where the original name is changed, but still recognizable. Thus like the famous sports company Adidas becomes Amidas, Saetchi Collection presents for example Jeffry Kunst, Trace Amine, Damon Horst... Replicas of artworks are being produced by craftsmen in countries, which offer cheaper work force. photos THE CORNER, THE SINK, THE BUSHES, site specific video installations, variable dimensions, 2005 The Corner, The Sink and The Bushes are site-specific video installations, which can function in the corner of a gallery, in its kitchen or somewhere else. On the screen there is a video loop of the recorded space, which is occupied by the TV set and thus the machine functions as if it was see through or as an endless reality show of the site. photos PERPETUM MOBILE, video installation, 99 TV sets, 2005 In the video installation Perpetum Mobile 99 TV sets are placed on the floor forming a circle. The videos show Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak circling endlessly on children's bicycles from one TV screen to the other. photos CECI N'EST PAS UNE FONTAINE, photograph, 68 x 46.5 cm, 2004 Ceci n'est pas une Fontaine combines two ideas; Duchamp's readymade Fountain and Magritte's painting Ceci n'est pas une Pipe. By stating 'this is not a fountain', Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak in fact say, 'this is not a work of art', which is true for the object in the photograph, a functional urinal in a public toilet. However, its concept makes even Ceci n'est pas une Fontaine an artwork after all. photo ARTWORK BASED ON ART SINCE 1940, photograph, 68 x 46.5 cm, 2004 Artwork Based on Art Since 1940 is a complex work based on an extensive period in 20th-century art. photo MONTY PYTHON, video installation, variable dimensions, 2004 In the video installation Monty Python, a TV set and a VCR are removed from their plastic casing, though they are still functioning. The viewer is able to hear the sound of the popular TV comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, which is being played from the video tape in the VCR. But the TV screen cannot be seen because it is turned toward the floor. photo EXPLOSION, video, 16 sec, 2003 The video shows Primoz being blown up. It plays with idea that artists have to exert a tremendous amount of effort in order to be successful, and at the same time, it mocks the strategy of shocking the audience as a formula for quick success. photos BABY, video, 4 min 13 sec, 2003 The video Baby shows a sexy blonde in a cheesy environment overflown by colorful balloons. She is posing in front of the camera and telling jokes about stupid policemen, which rather evoke jokes about stupid blondes. photo LAUGHING, interactive video installation, 2 min 1 sec, 2003 On the wall of the exhibition space there is the projection of a video still, a frozen image of Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak sitting on a sofa. When the viewer approaches the projection, he or she triggers a motion sensor that causes the video to start playing. In the video Oblak and Novak are sitting on a sofa and looking out at the viewer. They gradually start laughing, obviously amused by what they see. photos LE DEJEUNER SUR L'HERBE, video, 19 min 22 sec, 2003 The video shows Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak having picnic in a snowy landscape next to a highway. The postcard-like landscape is beautiful to look at, but it also isolates us from the rest of the world. photo