Marko Kovačič

In the video works of Ema Kugler, mythology is inscribed in the rituals of everyday life, this time it is the theme of Hydra with many faces. It is illustrated by individual scenes with actors in leather costumes (the author's creations), which restrict their movement and thus already emphasize the separation of man from nature. The last trace of connection - the ritual relationship between man and bull, which is again based on human cruelty to animals - ends with blood, which on a symbolic level also pervades the whole image.

The video starts as a criminal story of one man chasing another, whereby the emphasis is not laid on the final outcome, but on colour surfaces that sneak into the black and white world of industrial plant. Then the colour instantly covers the entire video surface, a naked man's body appears and the camera starts revealing its details. The end of the video presents seemingly frozen bodies that, within the medium of motion pictures, endeavor once again to find the illusion of stillness offered by fine art.

More than 30 years have passed since the establishment of the famous Ana Monro Theater group. During their existence, GAM members significantly influenced the development of modern theater in Slovenia – in addition to street theater, they also introduced theater improvisation to our space.

The game of chess as a symbolic and performative practice forms the core of this video, which is essentially determined by staged scenes, reworked mechanical figurines and the performance of the main protagonists. It differs both from the high-tech video spot and fast editing.

The video deals with our understanding of the distant future, presented through a concrete example of the 23rd-century archaeology. A narration of a professor archaeologist leads us through the story as he guides his student through one of the main archaeological sites in the City of Catastropolis, where so-called Plastoses, who (will) survived the atomic catastrophe in 2223 live. These half-organic half-mechanical creatures form a comprehensive civilisation of Plastos, which is the author's subject in a series of his installations, performances and videos. The main expressive means of the video is chroma key with well-crafted imaginary backgrounds, designed to the minutest detail in author's studio. The author combines artistically imagined scenography with performance elements and completes it with digital animation. (Source: DIVA)