2018 TESLA Award winners: BridA and Marco Barotti

The 2018 TESLA Award winners are Slovenian collective BridA/Tom Kerševan, Sendi Mango, Jurij Pavlica and Italian artist Marco Barotti. Their works will be presented at this year’s Artbat Fest in Almaty from 24 August until end of September, and at Sonica festival in Ljubljana in the last week of September.

BridA: VODOSKOP

The Vodoskop installation consists of two floating modules, equipped with a wireless transmitter. The modules collect data on the speed of water and water flow, and send it to the computer, installed on the nearby bridge. Passers-by can interact with the water flow visualisation: while on the bridge, they can watch the visualisation on the floor, and interact with it by stepping in the virtual river. Vodoskop mirrors the nature and creates a multilayered image in the interspace of our perception. The AV interaction on the bridge offers a unique experience by intertwining real and virtual space. Visitors become active parts of an art project which allows them to enter multidimensionality, and offers them a new viewing angle of an ordinary natural activity. Its specific location and artistic approach reflect on the social impact of rivers and its role in our collective consciousness. Vodoskop problematises our relationship with water in natural and urban environments.

Marco Barotti: SWANS

The Swans installation consists of 8 satellite dishes, typical residues of our time that represent mass media. The swans, brought to life by sound, wind and water, peacefully float in the water, and merge with the surrounding nature. A speaker is installed on each upcycled satellite dish. Two layers of sound, a bass frequency and the sound of human breath moving through various brass instruments, animate the swans. Eight-channel sound thus moves through the swans. The installation provokes the feeling of revulsion, and that of intimate familiarity in the nature at the same time, and challenges the audience to reflect on tech waste and its impact on the environment.