Silent Scream/SEFO 2021 Triennial
Olomouc Museum of Art – gap space
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 – DECEMBER 12, 2021
In a spontaneously changing society, technology and new media surround us every day at almost every step. It is therefore obvious that they fascinate many people and lead to an exploration of the boundaries and possibilities of these media in co-creating the known world. According to Dan Gregor, one of our most prominent visual artists, technology is never just an attraction. Technology does not replace man – it always mediates a dialogue and fosters interaction. Without a living person, technology is simply dead.
Dan Gregor works under the pseudonym INITI. He previously collaborated with the Macula artist group on video mapping projects. His work with musicians is distinctive. Together with Floex, he created the interactive Archifon project for the Corpus Christi Chapel in Olomouc, which he further developed in Brussels, Linz and Glasgow. Today you can see his work in the form of a 360° projection at the Prague Planetarium – a project with with Norwegian musician Biosphere. You can also find his work in various gallery spaces in the form of the interactive installation Digital Playground. His notable realisations include an interactive stage adaptation of the theatrical productions Anticodes at the National Theatre and Guide at the Ponec Theatre with choreographer Věra Ondrašíková. Interactive means that human action is connected to media action, which is controlled by Gregor live. Guide in particular represents the technological cutting edge of intermedial work on Czech stages.
Based on this work, we addressed Dan Gregor for Silent Scream. This is his new interactive installation created specifically for the Museum’s “gap” space, where it will also run regularly during the Triennial. As the public is aware, this is the future site for the new Central European Forum (SEFO) building. The installation itself is based on software that transforms the human voice (in Czech and English) into written text, which was developed by Dan Gregor together with the programmer Václav Opekar. Silent Scream is mainly about that which each of us sometimes has in our head and maybe just inwardly whispers to ourselves. Often you may not even want anyone to hear it. But what if your words “materialised” and you could look at them from a distance? In this way, you can fill in the space of the “gap” with your own meaning! SEFO hasn’t been built, but it’s already here! Placing the installation in this space also creates the possibility of a purely visual and more intimate form of vox populi. Under the supervision of Nicol Galeová, students from the Brno University of Technology will take part in the architectural design of the entrance to the gap for Silent Scream and its setting.
Curator: Petr Dvořák
