"WWW Packet - its content is clear and informative."

Which came first: the word or the cell phone?

Which is worse: to conquer museums or tear them down? Which is better: to "conquer" the Internet or shut it off? 

First: Works of art must establish a space for their existence. In this place and in this form - which is not something "natural" or self-evident - it is worth asking a few questions: about encountering, inverting, and breaking through; about repeating, transforming, decentralizing; and also about emptiness, the space-between, the interval. Nothing remains the same as it was, and these pages are not the kind that favor systematic organization, continuity, and mediation, and thus, do not preclude erasure, discontinuities, interventions, and disconnections.

Second: We must not think that the truth is something absolute and already present here, that it only has to be revealed. We need to think of the truth as production and process. The truth as production is, at the same time, something new, the production of something new. It involves a new view of a given object or motif. A view that tries to be simultaneously temporal and panoramic, in other words, a kind of survey. But the perspective is decentralized and I don't see myself seeing myself, and what I remember of history, even personal history, is not all that clear or vivid. Questions about origins are often forms of censorship, imagination and fantasy, myth: abridgments and simplifications or exaggeration and overstatement. But while it is far from being a "total view" (I don't have a total view or complete documentation and others have even less than I do), I do, of course, have a privileged position toward the content on these pages - their "subject."

The "subject" is something that does exist, but it is also something that exists no longer. But this is not a declaration of war on the "subject" - today we would call it drawing up accounts; it is neither a quiet gaze on the "subject", nor a judgment about it. The subject remains and exists, but we're talking about a process, time, and these pages are - as much as is possible - short, selective, and compressed information about the image and time of a certain move, in fact, movement and thought, and they are also an image of frozen work, the arrested project. It is, then, visual information, even if I don't trust reproduction, especially reproduction of gallery installations - "space-paintings." Indeed, reproduction is not possible, is defective, is merely information. The mere view (on the screen) is not enough, but rather what is important is the physical experience, body, hand, the viewer being within the picture itself… Experience always begins with the whole body, is physical, moving, and thus, kinetic.

Silence is also a mechanism of self-defense; we speak because we don't understand each other. With each project/exhibition - the image, the visual - there was also a text (a kind of author's statement, something close to a manifesto, though it was never that), not as an explanation of the exhibition/project, but as its parallel on a verbal level (among other things, there is a book of texts from '84 to '95 and of new texts, '96-'02). What is missing here, then, is music or sound, which was specially prepared for each project, as a "supplement," a kind of "occupation" of the remaining "empty" space. Also missing are smells, which were present in two or three exhibitions.

Today's predominant system erases, destroys the past, and when it creates amnesia and new newnesses, it simultaneously destroys the present, too. Thus, I see this emplacement, not as any sort of conservation effort, but rather as a modest gesture against the existing order, against the terminator, against the Master.

(2003)

THE OPEN PAGE - WWW Packet

First: I am not playing a double-sided game of victim and oppressor. The content presented here is something that, though it may be ON-LINE, is actually OFF-LINE. What is here is merely information; for something more thorough and profound, more body, more space and more time are required. Another place, another time is needed. But in my experience, there is always less and less space, as well as less and less time. And now it's no longer a question of space; it's a question of surroundings, relationships, and contexts. To be sure, here, too, on these pages, some kind of turnaround is going on, if not to say defeat.

Second: Communication should be closeness, a bridging of space, but it turns out that the closer we are, the more distant we are. We are close and we are far away. The kind of communication that is decreed, that is required of us, is transforming the world more and more, fragmenting it into pieces of information. Everything is, one way or another, mediated through some go-between, some carrier, some medium. Therefore - Caution! Achtung! Pozor! - computers are no longer what they used to be in the fifties and sixties - alien, inaccessible, cold, gigantic, cumbersome, and complicated machines, which only the most eccentric avant-gardists used for their experiments. Today computers are friendly and domesticated, personal, nicely designed, even portable, almost like a household appliance, with the important distinction that they demand total attention - they demand, that is, the total user. Thus, they are much more possessive than a vacuum cleaner.

The comical side is that all this sophisticated technology so often resembles alluring toys for big children, turning adults into parrots, monkeys, or asses who wonder, exult, marvel, and enthuse over its sorcery. The new technologies are extremely seductive, extremely attractive and remarkable, and are even useful; not only this, they are fast and effective, too. We so easily become dependent on them, addicted to them, that if the computers, these sophisticated machines, shut down, then the world shuts down as well, and so do we. But this technology is now among us, and it alone makes possible communication, dialogue, and contact. The technology is already here, then; it is a fact, and the world has become thoroughly technological. You may indeed be able to live without technology, but you must inevitably live alongside it.

All the same, what is most subversive today is not the use of technology - Use! Be dependent! Buy! - these are the decrees of the new technologies and capital. What is subversive is something else, something alien: for example, the arm and the hand, which have practically been shut out of the work process - at least in terms of production, which only needs fingers to press keys and direct machines and robots. Imitation, technological uniformity, sedentariness, and dependency are not problematic but desired and necessary; what is subversive is to problematize or even to ridicule technical and technological advances; what is subversive are old, classic tools and machinery, low-tech production, primitive equipment... Of course, the arm and the hand cannot pose any threat or attempt to replace digital capitalism, the dimensions of which are almost total. But there is something tragicomic about this strange state of affairs, when sophisticated computer simulations and games are producing extremely classical and traditional content and visualizations, within the framework of perspectival, geometric - essentially Renaissance - codes, with allegories, metamorphoses, and action on the level of Greek drama (doesn't it sometimes seem as if the Greeks invented everything in European civilization?). On the other hand, there are people who turn their backs on these machines and, sitting in the lotus position, just blow on their Aboriginal didjeridoos. I am not technologically primitive, and am not advocating a return to the Stone Age or the windmill; I believe the computer is a marvelous tool that has changed the world. But it is true that I am excited by other kinds of processes and procedures - including those done by hand - which seem to me to be more intricate and multilayered, and more sophisticated, than just pressing buttons on a keyboard, moving a mouse around, and gazing at a screen.

(2003)

1966 born in Ptuj, Slovenia.

Education: Academies of Fine Arts in Zagreb and Ljubljana.
Visiting artists on SFAI (San Francisco Art In statute).

1984-1995 worked under the name VSSD (which stands for: Painter, do you know your dues?). From 1996 worked independent.

A diversity of art projects and exhibitions and catalogues and prints.

Fellowship for Artists Projects and grants for artists: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Fellowship for Artists Projects, City of Ljubljana, Prešern Prize, Slovenian National Award for Art, Recognition of Significant Artistic Achievement, The University of Ljubljana, Fulbright Grant, Institute of International Education, New York, Artists Grant, SCCA – Soros Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana, Studio Program, Weimar, Arts Link, CEC International Partners, New York.

Published various ‘visual texts’, shorts essays and art theory on art, culture, music and art space.
In 1996, I compiled a book of my articles, essays and artist statements, The Word of a Painting 1984-1995 (Ljubljana: Analecta).

Lives in Ljubljana.

1986
- Veš slikar svoj dolg I/Do You Painter Know Your Dues (VSSD I), Škuc Gallery (March, April), Ljubljana, Slovenia
 
1987
- Veš slikar svoj dolg II/Do you..., Škuc Gallery (October-March), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1988
- The Fall of the Angel of Light, Škuc Gallery (October), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1989
- The Fall of the Angel of Light, Gallery 88 (May), Maribor, Slovenia
- Memorial Images of the Future, the Central Hall of the Cultural Centre Cankarjev dom (October), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Fragments - To Overlook! - Smashed, Škuc Gallery (October), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1990
- Burning Painting - Anamorphosis, the action in front of the Cultural Centre Cankarjev dom (8th February), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Križanje/Correspondence - Crossing, Bojan Gorenec and VSSD, GT Gallery (August-September), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1991
- Sand In Your Eyes, Equrna Gallery (January), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- The Painting of a Painting, The City Gallery (February), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1992
- V.S.S.D, Mala Gallery, Museum of Modern Art (March), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Image of Image, Studio ORF (April), Salzburg, Austria
- The Old for the New, Dante Gallery (July), Umag, Croatia

1993
- Red Sea (Red Planet), Equrna Gallery (March), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Kreuzpunkt. Korrespondenz II., (together with Bojan Gorenec) Kunsthalle Exnergasse, WUK, (June, July), Wien, Austria

1994
- (About) The Soul (94-84), (2 space-paintings), Equrna Gallery, (May), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- (Thou, Thine) Thee. White-eye., (space painting), Loža Gallery (November), Koper, Slovenia
- V.S.S.D., (with five space paintings), Chapter Gallery (26.11.-22.1.95), Cardiff, Great Britain

1995
- XLVI Venice Biennial, Slovene Pavilion; The Painting of a Painting II, space painting (June-August), Venice, Italy
- Transformation of the Painting (of the Painting II.), Equrna Gallery (September), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- The Sand Drawings. (The Drawings in Sand, the Drawings out of Sand,...) 1988-94; guest installation, Gallery Central (12.12.95/15.1.96), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- VSSD, The Radenska Gallery (22.12.95/3.2.96), Radenci, Slovenia

1996
- Sleep-walker. The Third Person. (soft emplacement), 27.3.-26.4., Information Centre, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Sleep-walker. The Third Person. II. (soft emplacement) II, 16.5.-30.5., Grohar Gallery, Kranj, Slovenia

1997
- VSSD in Words (black and white set up), 6.2.-26.2., Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Mapping (recumbent set up), 8.6.-21.6., SC Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
- In-visible (To See or Not To See), (space installation-sand drawing) and Measure and Nonsense (Blue Inside), (bathroom installation), Nov.- April 1998, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY
 
1998
- Before and After (liquid paintings/breathing emplacement), 14.4.-8.5., Equrna Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1999
- Avant et Apres (tableaux fluides/dessins oniriques)/Before and After (liquid paintings/breathing emplacement), Galerie Le Lys (17.6.- 17.7.), Paris
- Aerobium (breathing and air studies), Mala galerija, Museum of Modern Art (2.9.-10.10.), Ljubljana
- Introspective, The Gallery of Contemporary Art (16.9.-30.10.), Celje

2000
- Sleep Walker (To See or Not to See), extended, Walter&McBean Galleries (13.7.-19.8), San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco
- Edge, 9.-24.11., Gallery Miroslav Kraljevič, Zagreb

2001
- The Sower / 1.000.000., Galerija Kapelica (13.9.-25.10.), Ljubljana

2002
- Edge, Crying Game, Double, Encore, Museum of Modern Art (6.9.-26.9.), Ljubljana

2003
- (By)Night, Galerija Kolizej (20.3.-20.4.) and Hotel Lev (20.3.-28.3.), Ljubljana
- Open and Closed (9.5.-6.6), Gallery Miklova hiša, Ribnica
- Letters (28.5.-13.8.), Bežigrajska Gallery, Ljubljana

2004
- Art Via Mail (19.3.-9.4.), MMC Kibla, Maribor
- From Up Close, From Far Away (1.6.-26.6.), Equrna Gallery , Ljubljana

2005
- Love is a Battlefield (together with Žiga Kariž), (6.9.-7.10.), Škuc Gallery (transfer to Celje, Nova Gorica), Ljubljana

2006
- Love is a Battlefield (together with Žiga Kariž), (2.11.-22.12.), Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas, ZDA

2007
- V.S.S.D. – 20 Years Before, (13.9.-28.9.), Galerija Škuc, Ljubljana

2008
- »Ensembles« - Three-Dimensional Rebuses / A Stone in the Sky, art in public space (3.6.-3.11.), Grubar's Outdor Gallery, Ljubljana

1986
- The 2nd Biennial of the Young Artists of the Mediterranean Countries, (November), Solun, Greece

1988
- The 4th Biennial of the Young Artists of the Mediterranean Countries, (December), Bologna, Italy

1989
- The 15th YU Biennial of the Young Artists 1989, (June-August), Rijeka, Croatia
- The Yu Documenta, The Olympic Centre of Skenderija (July, August), Sarajevo, Bosnia&Herzegovina

1990
- Fra-Yu-Kult. The Fraction of the Yu Culture. The Collection of the Franciscan Monastery (July), Lištice, Croatia (transferred to Edinburgh, The 369 Gallery (August))
- The Moscow Portraits, The Museum of Contemporary Arts (November), Zagreb, Croatia

1991
- The Moscow Portraits, The City Gallery (January, February), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- The Slovene Athens. Moving Across the Field of Slovenian Art Like a Sower, Museum of Modern Art (October, November), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1992
- Look into the Chaos, Škuc Gallery (February), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Good News, Gallery Cardi, (May, June) Milan, Italy
- Commercial Painting, the presentation of the "endless" painting at the Ars-Antique-Flora fair (May), Ljubljana, Slovenia

1993
- Aperto, Venice Biennial; Pogled v oči/space-painting Look into the Eyes (July, August), Venice, Italy
- Europeans, Staerishe Herbst; Velika črna (Notranji prostor)/ space-painting Big Black (Inner space), (October), Graz, Austria

1994
- U3, 1st Triennial of Contemporary Slovene Art, Pogled v oči II./ space-painting Look into the Eyes II., Museum of Modern Art (June, August), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Laboratorium 94; space-painting (About) The Soul (94-84) II. and Sand in your Eyes II., (August), Poprad, Slovakia
- Europa '94, Junge europaische Kunst in München, Kunststlerwerkstatt; space painting Sand in Your Eyes, III. (September), München, Germany

1995
- Transalpine, Gallery Maerz; space painting Library.(Reading room), (February), Linz, Austria
- 6.Trienale der Klein Plastic, (13th October), Stuttgart, Germany
- P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Collection, (October, November), Museum Mucharnoc, Budapest , Hungary
- Das Urwortmuseum, ACC-Gallery (28.10/10.12.), Weimar, Germany

1996
- P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Collection, (February), Museum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- Krieg, 2.space installation Mapping (Cutting Image) and Map-reading room, (with artists text Mapping in the catalogue), Kartner Landesgalerie (21.3.-5.5.), Klagenfurt, Austria
- The Sense of Order, space installation Bellevue and ground installation Measure and sense, Museum of Modern Art (9.5.-23.6.), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- For the Museum of Contemporary Art Sarajevo 2000, VSSD - Library (Reading room), Museum of Modern Art (24.9.-1.12.), Ljubljana, Slovenia
- 5th International Triennial The Ecology and The Art, space installation Outflow (of the World), (with text EGOlogy in the catalogue), Art Gallery (8.11.-31.12.), Maribor, Slovenia

1997
- Cartographers, Art Pavilion (8.6.-27.7.), Zagreb (transfer to Warsaw, Budapest and Maribor), Croatia
- U3, 2nd Triennale of Contemporary Slovene Art, Moderna galerija (15.11.-18.1.), Ljubljana

1998
- Manieristic Visions: Slovenia and the Future of Art, Galerija Equrna (28.8.-28.9.), Ljubljana

1999
- Ars Aevi - Musem of Contemporary Art, Centar Skenderija (25.6.-7.9.), Sarajevo
- Aspekte/Positionen. 50 Jahre Kunst aus Mitteleuropa 1949-1999, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (18.12.-27.2.), Wien

2000
- 1 : 1, Refusalon (3.8.-27.8.), San Francisco

2001
- Factor Bank Collection, 6.3.-8.4., Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana
- Revision. Painting 70 + 90, 6.3.-26.4., Galerija P74, Ljubljana
- The Eye and Its Truth, 26.4.-27.5., Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana

2004
- Art 85/95, Museum of Modern Art (16.6.-22.9.), Ljubljana
- 7.Sins, Museum of Modern Art (20.12.-28.2.), Ljubljana
- »Figurae cameris«, Photon Gallery (22.12.-18.1.), Ptuj

2005
- Photo-Graf, Galerija Photon (28.1.-28.2.), Ljubljana
- Kollektive Kreativitat, Kunsthalle Fridericianum (1.5.-17.7.), Kassel
- 26th Graphic Biennale Ljubljana, selection First Line, MGLC, (23.6.-2.10.), Ljubljana

2007
- Thread, Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts (18.5.-7.10.), Slovenj Gradec
- Paperwork, The City Museum of Ljubljana, Galerija Vžigalica (15.12.-15.1.), Ljubljana