2019
HD video with sound 5’
Staying in a depopulated part of Croatia, Kuberton, within the assembly of unidentifiable bugs, sounds, and other traces of life, brought the artist to an ambiguous and unconfident state. Representation of nature as beautiful, friendly, and beloved, raised by children’s books, cartoons, toys, clothes, and accessories, was put into question. All of those social inputs showed up as malfunctioned and distancing from gaining direct experience from the physical environment.
It’s so calm, no one around is a semi-fictional video diary that shows a moment of immediate physical exploration of nature by a person who grew up in a city. The video consists of photographs and moving images. Photographs show an archive of representations of nature, plants, and animals from different imaginaries of western society, such as children’s books, toys, souvenirs, science experiments, food production, etc. Photos are overlapping, interrupting, and overtaking the moving image that shows the artist’s attempts to walk alone in the forest of Kuberton, where human presence is extremely rare. Subtitles show her thoughts while walking, and the photographs allude to former mediated encounters with nature that interweave and direct this new experience.
Through subtracting color information from the visuals, and displaying the work on a desktop screen, the video doesn’t attempt to give a new picture of nature, but to challenge existing ones. Also, it questions the limitations of acquiring knowledge through representative media that leave out immediate physical involvement.
Made as a part of AiR Kuberton, with the support of the City of Rijeka- Department of Culture, Krinzinger Projekte, Muzej-Museo Lapidarium, Gallery Flora and Gallery Spot.
