Polonca Lovšin: We Eat Things to Make Soil
Polonca Lovšin’s video visualizes the transformation of ordinary human objects, houses, and cities, from which fungi create the fertile soil for a new beginning.
The video is created as part of Lovšin’s artistic research Mushrooms at the End of the World (developed in collaboration with microbiologist Primož Turnšek) and was first presented at her exhibition in Ljubljana.
Co-funded by: European Union, Municipality of Ljubljana, and Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia; supported by: Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory and KUD Obrat
Dušica Dražič: It Rains Differently – teaser 1
It Rains Differently by Dušica Dražić is a meditation on collective labour and on an imaginary that fulfils itself through the form of Forest, who is in constant creation and thus manages to endure through all changes. The film portrays the Forest as a fictional character – a transnational, political, social, and cultural collective body.
It Rains Differently is developed in collaboration with Tanja Šljivar, Mirjana Dragosavljević, Doplgenger, Hannes Boeck, Bojan Palikuća, Wim Janssen, Ivan Kaličanin, a.o.
The film is produced by Escautville, and co-produced by Out of Sight within the Forest Encounters project in partnership with Igor Zabel Association and TUGraz.
The film is co-funded by: European Union and Flemish Audio-Visual Fund; supported by: Forest Institute Belgrade, STUK, MORPHO, KAAP
IT RAINS DIFFERENTLY – Dream Sequence
The video is part of the multimedia work and artistic research project It Rains Differently, led by Dušica Dražić (BE/RS). This multifaceted project centers on a long-term reforestation site on the Pešter Plateau in Serbia, where forest was planted between 1978 and 1988. In August 2024, a collective reforestation was reenacted with the participation of volunteers and local community members, and the complete process was filmed.
IT RAINS DIFFERENTLY [2023-, film, multimedia installation]
Supported by: Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Forest Encounters — European cooperation project (2023–25) co-funded by the European Union, Institute of Forestry in Belgrade, Flanders — State of the Arts, Museum of Yugoslavia, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Platform 0090, STUK, Morpho, KAAP, Vitalia
Nayarí Castillo: The Shrine for the Goddesses of Transformation
Nayarí Castillo’s video documents the creation, production, and implementation of the public art installation titled The Shrine for the Goddesses of Transformation.
During her artistic research and collaboration with the project Simultaneous Arrivals (simularr.net), Castillo utilized the old, unused print workshop of Giselbert Hoke (1927-2015) at the Hoke Workhouse in Carinthia, Austria. She rehabilitated the space and conducted an in-depth exploration of the surrounding area, including its forests and inhabitants.
In a dilapidated treehouse, Castillo developed a site-specific intervention, transforming the structure into a resonating body that played a litany of recorded spells for transformation into magical animals native to the forest. The installation was further complemented by prints of invented goddesses of nature.
For more information on the public art pieces, click here.
Co-funded by: European Union, Austrian Science Fund (FWF) – PEEK AR 714-G
Supported by: Reagenz – Association for Artistic Experiments and the Institute for Spatial Design, Faculty of Architecture, TU Graz.
Forest Encounters Glossary — Animation
The video visualizes various letters that make up the Forest Encounters Glossary. Inspired by the glossary illustrations by Candelaria Argarate, the Daily Rhythms Collective transformed these images into captivating animated stories. The animation plays with whimsical concepts and ideas related to the forest that otherwise shape the glossary.
The Forest Encounters Glossary is a bilingual (German–English) publication based on artistic strategies that explore the forest. This publication is the result of a collaborative effort that brings together diverse voices and was coordinated and co-edited by Nayarí Castillo (TU Graz), in collaboration with co-editors Dušica Dražić and Polonca Lovšin, and with support by <rotor> Centre for Contemporary Art Centre for Contemporary Art and Reagenz—Association for Artistic Experiments.
This beautiful collective book can be viewed here.
Video animation by the Daily Rhythms Collective.
The video is co-funded by: the European Union and City of Graz (Department of Culture and Department of Women’s Affairs and Integration).
Supported by: Reagenz – Association for Artistic Experiments, Institute for Spatial Design, Faculty of Architecture, TU Graz, and Daily Rhythms Collective.
Forest Encounters Symposium
The goal of the Forest Encounters Symposium (1 December 2023, Ljubljana) was to develop a multifaceted and interdisciplinary understanding of the diverse values, meanings, challenges, and perspectives related to the forest. Bringing together the disciplines of art, forestry, and the humanities, the symposium approached the forest as a site where ecology and interconnectedness can be explored, and also as a site of diverse and often conflictual policies as well as social, cultural, and economic practices.
Watch the full video recordings of the lectures here.
The symposium was organized by the Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory in collaboration with Mateja Kurir and Polonca Lovšin, and with the support of the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC Švicarija).
Co-funded by the European Union, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, and Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia.