{"id":26052,"date":"2025-10-15T11:36:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T09:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/?p=26052"},"modified":"2025-10-20T12:33:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T10:33:23","slug":"13th-festival-of-contemporary-art-and-intermedia-art-izis-the-end-of-the-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/13th-festival-of-contemporary-art-and-intermedia-art-izis-the-end-of-the-message\/","title":{"rendered":"13th FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND INTERMEDIA ART IZIS: END OF MESSAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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13th Festival of Contemporary and Intermedia Art IZIS: END OF MESSAGE |\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

October 17 \u2013 November 2, 2025, Gallery Lo\u017ea Koper;\u00a0
Opening: October 17, 7:00 p.m. |\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Artists: Sara Bezov\u0161ek and Dorijan \u0160i\u0161ko, Sanela Jahi\u0107, PlateauResidue + Samo Kutin and Ena Grabjan, \u0160pela Petri\u010d, Maja Smrekar |\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curator: Irena Bori\u0107.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Maja Smrekar fotografgija: navedba: SPASM by Maja Smrekar and A\/POLITICAL, 3D scan and rendering: FBFX Digital, 2024.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

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PlateauResidue + Samo Kutin in Enja Grabrijan: Anima Spirare: Eolova harfa, 2025.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

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Sanela Jahi\u0107: Ne umetni inteligenci, Da nefa\u0161isti\u010dnemu aparatu, 2023.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

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The thirteenth edition of the IZIS Festival explores <\/span>informational noise<\/b> and examines the (im)possibilities of communication in the age of <\/span>communication capitalism<\/b>. It asks what happens to a message in the mass of post-truths, misinformation, fake news, and the hyperinflation of images and content generated by machines\u2014\u201cbots\u201d or artificial intelligence. Does the message even have a recipient? How, in times of broken and meaningless circulation of information, can we address urgent questions and communicate differently?<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2025 festival program extends across several venues in Koper \u2013 Gallery Lo\u017ea, Gravisi-Buttorai Palace Gallery, Bastion Fortress, and two standalone containers. This spatially fragmented edition, running from October 17 to November 3, connects various segments of the festival program \u2013 intermedia, music, and performance \u2013 emphasizing their conceptual interconnectedness.<\/span><\/p>\n

At <\/span>Gallery Lo\u017ea<\/b>, visitors can see the festival\u2019s central exhibition, <\/span>End of Message<\/span><\/i>, featuring works by <\/span>Sara Bezov\u0161ek and Dorijan \u0160i\u0161ko, Sanela Jahi\u0107, PlateauResidue + Samo Kutin and Ena Grabjan, \u0160pela Petri\u010d, and Maja Smrekar<\/b>. The standard email abbreviation \u201cEOM\u201d (\u201cend of message\u201d), which signals that no reply is expected, here functions as a <\/span>metaphor for the broken and senseless circulation of information<\/b>. The space of dialogue becomes blurred by the ever-growing background noise of communication; the exhibition thus addresses different facets of (mis)understanding between human and more-than-human worlds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sara Bezov\u0161ek and Dorijan \u0160i\u0161ko<\/b>, in their work <\/span>Black Box<\/span><\/i>, illustrate the ideological and identity-conditioned nature of communication in the digital sphere. The video game format offers insight into a memetic landscape one can navigate only through the choice of various \u201cpills\u201d\u2014except that the choice may not entirely be one\u2019s own. The black box represents a fragment of a system where ideological and identity-based inputs determine output reactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the age of artificial intelligence, a message is no longer necessarily human, nor is a guided conversation necessarily inter-human. Yet, as <\/span>Sanela Jahi\u0107<\/b> reveals in her video work <\/span>No to Artificial Intelligence, Yes to the Anti-Fascist Apparatus<\/span><\/i>, the ways AI is used as a technological tool accelerate \u201ca shift toward authoritarianism present within the technology industry itself, in state politics and institutions, and in the rise of far-right political movements.\u201d Thus, AI is not a neutral technology\u2014it is again conditioned by ideological and identity-based power positions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maja Smrekar\u2019s<\/b> photo-performance <\/span>Spasm<\/span><\/i> depicts her body in a convulsive embrace with a machine. While we observe the sharp contrasts between skin and gleaming metal, we might not realize that we are not looking at the artist herself. Smrekar was scanned by 234 cameras to produce her hyper-detailed digital version. The work is a fragment of a video in progress that addresses themes of death and the illusion of overcoming it through technological means. Highlighting both human and technological uncertainty, the piece reveals how artificial intelligence can hallucinate us.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a touch of humor, <\/span>\u0160pela Petri\u010d<\/b> speculatively explores the possibility of conversation between plants and humans. Starting from an anthropocentric position, she interprets thousands of stomata on a ficus leaf as \u201cmouths,\u201d and their opening and closing are analyzed with the help of a lip-reading expert and artificial intelligence. The absurdity of this interpretation illustrates the limitations of human perspective for such understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

The work <\/span>Anima Spirare<\/span><\/i>, a collaboration between <\/span>PlateauResidue, Samo Kutin, and Ena Grabjan<\/b>, addresses the human inability to grasp the message that has always been present in the environment. <\/span>Anima spirare<\/span><\/i> means \u201cto breathe out,\u201d pointing to an end that is not merely linguistic. The Aeolian harp, whose resonant board is made from a 6,500-year-old fir tree, performs the message of the wind\u2014a message that remains beyond human time and form, one we can only listen to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supported by:<\/b> PiNA, HEKA, Stran22, Municipality of Koper, Ministry of Culture, JSKD \u2013 Public Fund of the Republic of Slovenia for Cultural Activities, Coastal Galleries of Piran, Italian Community \u201cSantorio Santorio\u201d Koper, Koper Regional Museum, University of Primorska, Faculty of Education \u2013 Visual Arts and Design, KUD Format, STARTS4WATERII, and V2.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Sara Bezov\u0161ek, Dorijan \u0160i\u0161ko: \u010crna \u0161katla, 2025.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

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    \u0160pela Petri\u010d, Institut za nezaznavne jezike: branje ustnic, 2025.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

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    END OF MESSAGE<\/b><\/h3>\n

    \u201cThe most powerful media organizations of the twenty-first century will be thermal. The circulation of images, sounds, videos, and texts will depend on an extensive regime of heating and cooling. Data and networks, like the people they connect, will become increasingly fragile. If it\u2019s too hot or too cold, platforms will collapse. Digital infrastructure\u2014data centers, network hubs, and fiber-optic cables\u2014will drain the planet\u2019s energy to maintain a stable thermal environment\u2014not for people, but for information.\u201d<\/span>
    <\/span>\u2014 <\/span>Nicole Starosielski, Media Hot and Cold, 2022<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    The thirteenth edition of the IZIS Festival explores informational noise and the (im)possibilities of communication in the age of communication capitalism. It asks what happens to a message amidst post-truths, misinformation, fake news, the hyperinflation of images, and machine-generated content such as bots or artificial intelligence. How do gossip, advertisements, recommendations, viral videos, private and public footage from war zones, or disaster images affect messages circulating within the same communicative space? Perhaps it depends on whose perspective we adopt.<\/span><\/p>\n

    From a human viewpoint, the content of a message is shaped by cultural, linguistic, and other factors; for machines, it is purely a matter of calculation. In the <\/span>Shannon\u2013Weaver communication model<\/b>, background noise contextualizes information, and information requires noise for successful transmission\u2014in other words, <\/span>without noise, there is no information.<\/span><\/i> Yet, receiving information is not the same as understanding the external world. As artist and writer <\/span>Trevor Paglen<\/b> notes, \u201cthe gap between what we sense and what we perceive can be filled with all kinds of direct injections and contradictory hallucinations. Reality thus becomes a complex entanglement of the material, the imaginary, the perceptible, and the imperceptible\u2014all of which can be manipulated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    So what happens to meaning when messages circulate in an environment where, as Paglen writes, \u201cnew forms of media produce and persuade, modulate and manipulate, shape worldviews and actions, to make us believe what they want us to believe, and to extract value and influence from us\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cEnd of message\u201d (EOM) is a standard marker used in email correspondence to indicate that no reply is expected. Within this year\u2019s IZIS, it becomes a <\/span>metaphor for broken, meaningless, and interrupted communication<\/b>, which neither sustains dialogue nor requires a recipient for its existence. The endless proliferation of content that may never reach its recipient illustrates the subordination of communication to economic logic: <\/span>quantity overwhelms quality.<\/span><\/i> In this mechanical theater, everyone participates\u2014from humans to bots and generative AI\u2014each mimicking the other without knowing who is speaking to whom.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In this <\/span>hyper-profitable environment<\/b>, one can sense the rot of the internet\u2019s corpse adapting to the priorities of individual platforms that, in turn, shape digital subjectivity. Thus, even though we are acutely aware of the images and reports of genocide in Palestine, political action to prevent it remains paralyzed\u2014the information simply <\/span>is<\/span><\/i>. It expects no response. As <\/span>James Bridle<\/b> writes in <\/span>New Dark Age<\/span><\/i>: \u201cInformation and violence are entirely and inextricably linked; the technologies designed to control the world accelerate the use of information as a weapon. Although the consequences are visible everywhere, we continue to overvalue information, locking ourselves into recurring cycles of violence, destruction, and death.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ironically, because the sphere of data and information operates within the abstract time and space of capital, the <\/span>material consequences<\/b> of communication infrastructures threaten the very conditions of life. Access to cheap energy not only presupposes human conflict but also results in a massive carbon footprint, pollution, electronic waste, and raw material extraction. Thus, the \u201cend of message\u201d that the festival addresses also encompasses the material layer that makes the message possible\u2014not the material conditions of producing information, but the diverse human and more-than-human perspectives that unfold different facets of (mis)understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Irena Bori\u0107, Curator of IZIS<\/b><\/p>\n

    References:<\/b><\/p>\n

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    • James Bridle, <\/span>New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future<\/span><\/i> (Verso, 2018)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Rosa Menkman, <\/span>The Glitch Moment(um)<\/span><\/i> (Institute of Network Cultures, 2011)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Trevor Paglen, \u201cSociety of the Psyop, Part 2: AI, Mind Control, and Magic,\u201d <\/span>e-flux Journal<\/span><\/i>, no. 148, Oct. 2024<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Trevor Paglen, \u201cSociety of the Psyop, Part 3: Cognition and Chaos,\u201d <\/span>e-flux Journal<\/span><\/i>, no. 149, Nov. 2024<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Hito Steyerl, <\/span>Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat<\/span><\/i> (Verso Books, 2025)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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      NEW SCHEDULE DURING THE EXHIBITION:<\/h4>\n
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      • Monday\u2013Friday: 16.00\u201320.00<\/li>\n
      • Saturday and Sunday: 10.00\u201313.00, 17.00\u201320.00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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        GUIDED TOURS:<\/h4>\n
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        • 18.10., 11.00<\/strong>, Lo\u017ea Gallery<\/li>\n
        • 24.10., 17.00<\/strong>, Lo\u017ea Gallery<\/li>\n
        • 31.10., 17.00<\/strong>, Lo\u017ea Gallery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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          13th Festival of Contemporary and Intermedia Art IZIS: END OF MESSAGE |\u00a0 October 17 \u2013 November 2, 2025, Gallery Lo\u017ea Koper;\u00a0Opening: October 17, 7:00 p.m. |\u00a0 Artists: Sara Bezov\u0161ek and Dorijan \u0160i\u0161ko, Sanela Jahi\u0107, PlateauResidue + Samo Kutin and Ena Grabjan, \u0160pela Petri\u010d, Maja Smrekar |\u00a0 Curator: Irena Bori\u0107.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,79,41,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-exhibitions","category-loza-gallery","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26052"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26142,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26052\/revisions\/26142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obalne-galerije.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}