Žarko started working on this series in 2013 after moving to Vienna. Using the video diary method of Lithuanian-American artist Jonas Mekas, Žarko records short sequences, lasting up to 30 seconds, and introduces the technique of stream of consciousness and epiphany that is often seen in the literature of James Joyce.
According to Joyce, the epiphany is a sudden revelation in which any subject of everyday life, a person or an episode reveals the true meaning of life to those who perceive their symbolic values. It is a special moment, in which a character suddenly experiences a spiritual awakening, during which negligible details, thoughts, gestures, objects, feelings emerge and come together to lead to new inner awareness.
Žarko Aleksić was born in Knjaževac on All Souls’ Day in 1985. He studied philosophy at the University of Belgrade and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (under Martin Guttmann), where he worked as a student assistant. During the 2018/19 winter semester, he started, edited and lectured the Art and Cognitive Science (Theoretical Workshop B2) course. Currently he works in the Department of Artistic Research at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.
His multidisciplinary artistic practice is based on the examination of consciousness, mental processing and AI in relation to the socio-political issues of cognitive capitalism. Taking into account neurobiological endeavours within cognitive neurosciences, his practice addresses personalized phenomenology through examining his own states of mind. The problems of the mind/brain and its processes, structure and characteristics are elaborated in the methodical appropriation of knowledge produced within the field of philosophy and cognitive neuroscience, tackling perception, imagination, language, memory, attention, reasoning and emotion within the nervous system.
The relation between the approaches is reflected in the interconnectedness between psychological and economic states, with synapses as the main currency.
Žarko Aleksić has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Austria and abroad. He lives and works in Vienna and Belgrade.
www.zarkoaleksic.com
Kurator: Dušan Savić
Free entry.
Organisation: Kino Šiška
