Device_art at Eastern Bloc

From May 12 to June 1, the 5th edition of the international triennial Device_art was presented, an initiative of the Croatian organization KONTEJNER, bureau of contemporary art practices, in

collaboration with Eastern Bloc. Device_art:

visual and digital art. Machines, robotic devices, gadgets and innovative artistic concepts were at the heart of this exhibition, featuring several Croatian artists, a handful of Slovenians and even a few Japanese artists. With Device_art, visitors can explore the relationship between art, technology and usefulness. In many of the eleven works on view, there is a [et du] clear effort to produce playful

technological devices, the result

of creative trends found at the intersections of art, design, gadgetry and hacking. A few favourites. Ø by Davor Sanvincenti from Croatia. Passing by what looks like a circular waffle iron, the visitor is struck by an ultra-high and especially piercing frequency. This ultrasonic speaker reflects a signal toward a giant parabola made from the trunk of an ancient olive tree. Visitors can have an individualized listening experience by touching the object, triggering different sounds. The stronger or

faster the contact, the louder and

denser the sounds, turning this interactive work into a kind of musical instrument. Under the Hammer by Margareta Lekić from Croatia. Some may recognize an image that has circulated widely on social networks. A simple motor-and-articulated-arm system raises a hammer and relentlessly brings it down onto an egg. The image evokes one reality of life, symbolized by the egg: life is constantly endangered. In chemistry and physics, the law of conservation of mass states that energy is neither lost nor created, only transformed. It is therefore indestructible; if life is tied to energy, life should

and the egg should

be unbreakable. Urania by Martina Mezak from Croatia may be the most playful work in the exhibition. Described as a cloud-making machine, Urania invites visitors to lie on large brown leather cushions, bring a long blue tube to their mouth and blow toward a blue screen, as if vaping into the sky. White lines appear, chalk-like and cottony, with density varying according to the force of the breath. This interactive imagery allows each visitor to fill a virtual sky in a personal

way. Time Displacement / Chemobrionic Garden by Robertina Sebjanic, Ida Hirsenfelder

and Ales Hieng-Zergon from Slovenia may leave contemporary-art newcomers sceptical because of its unusual aesthetic, yet it is one of the exhibition’s most elegant highlights. Between a chemistry lab and an aquatic garden, the installation brings together small glass aquariums in which plants evolve under cameras that detect changes in colour and form. Combined with speakers that broadcast sounds mapped to those changes, the work glows gently in the dark while life in the chemical gardens evolves peacefully and microscopically. Web page for the Device_art exhibition at Eastern Bloc. For full details, consult the related page, event page, exhibition

page and partner links provided here.