Andrej Beštak & Anja Leko
area: Intermedia Art
Key Facts
nationality
Croatiaarea
Intermedia Artresidence
Zagrebrecommending institution
tranzit.org / ERSTE Stiftungtime period
May 2024 - June 2024Andrej Beštak and Anja Leko are an artist duo from Croatia, working together since 2020 in the field of experimental visual art practices, combining installations, performances, CGI, and video works. They consider themselves storytellers in space using visual language and sounds rather than words to create an emotional dialog between artwork and the audience. Finding inspiration from their private lives or random information theory stumble upon, Andrej and Anja create stories that delve into instinctual, intuitive, and spiritual dimensions.
During their residency at the MQ, Andrej Beštak and Anja Leko will examine the historical context and impact of the rave phenomenon. They will pay particular attention to the transformative elements of dance in large groups, the impact of the specific subculture on contemporary body awareness and the body in relation to the community.
The aim of the residency at the MQ is to create a digital personality, an avatar-like entity that serves as a mediator for visitors to explore and experience trance-like sensations in a controlled space combining sound, video performance and VR experiences created with the programmes "Blender" and "Unity".
The artist duo make a connection between rave culture and shamanic rituals and show how rhythm, light and community can create an environment that is characteristic of spiritual experiences. Their research will focus on identifying and isolating sensations within the rave experience that parallel spiritual outcomes, such as the feeling of euphoria, time distortion or the feeling of unity, all of which lead to altered states of consciousness.
The artists are interested in finding a way or creating a space that serves as an alternative to dysfunctional religious institutions and purely hedonistic club culture. Free from any ideology or cultural influence, focussing on physical experience.
Some examples of creating such an experience are movement meditation in traditional Chinese medicine such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Liu Zi Jue, Marina Abramovic's work ''Freeing the Body'' (1976) or the Japanese dance of darkness (Butoh).