Vitar Drinković / Feedback 1.2
Solo exhibition
The exhibition "Feedback 1.2" is a continuation of the author's long-term research of communication and perception through the fusion of art, science and technology. It consists of three interactive works that serve as tools for exploring the visitor's relationship with themselves and their environment. The first work is triggered by the breathing and sweating of the user and shows the influence of the environment on our biological processes. The second serves as a communication interface between man and plant. The third is placed in the gallery window and establishes a discourse with the street through artificial intelligence and facial recognition systems.
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition Feedback 1.2 is a natural sequence of artistic exploration of communication and perception by the artist Vitar Drinković, who performs his work at the intersection of science and art, but also a direct continuation of the exhibition Feedback held in Split and Jelsa in 2018. Version 1.2 is the culmination of the author's preoccupation with ways and forms of communication, but also with the creation of circumstances and prerequisites that redefine it. Drinković's research does not begin in 2018, but in his student days when he first takes on the role of an initiator by setting conditions that cause a certain reaction: in his work Conditions, Circumstances, Drinković, with the aim of moving away from his previous medium (sculpture) and finding new ways of perceiving and dealing with the topic, enables the appearance of mold on, among other things, tomato concentrate and packaged wet bread. This experiment leads him to rethink his own "packaging" and turn to the initiator and activator of the conditions in his life. Over the years, he has led his experiments to complex technological solutions that he puts in front of the observer in the form of installations: Plant Blindness, Conductivity of Perception and Emoji Scanner.
The designation 1.2 in the name necessarily indicates only one of the stations, i.e. one form of prototype within the research process that the author considers to be currently complete. Drinković's experimental process begins with the discovery of simple stethoscope DIY aesthetics, and ends with software programming of a device for issuing direct feedback that has an emotional and stimulating effect on the observer, initiating thoughts in a person about invisible biological events, primarily in our body, and then the communication we have with everything around us on a daily basis.
Upon entering the gallery, the visitor enters the artist's temporary laboratory, filled with his communication inventions, which, each in their own way, create their own feedback. Each installation consists of a separate set of conditions that the author puts us in front of. One of the conditions is the presence of a human being, whose reaction becomes an inherent part of the work. As a starting method in discovering bodily processes, the artist uses a simple polygraph that expresses data on bodily changes in colors. Such an installation is the Conductivity of Perception, which reminds us of our own existence: the device works in accordance with the breathing of its non-verbal interlocutor. In this way, we become absolutely aware of every inhalation and exhalation that creates a whole spectrum of colors in front of our eyes, and thus the physical presence of the chest, lungs, heart and every organ that enables our existence here and now. In a similar way, Plant Blindness makes us aware of who we share the environment with. Thinking about the sensitivity of plants to stimuli, the artist decides to examine it with a polygraph following the methods of the CIA interrogation specialist from the 1960s, Cleve Backster. By depicting these changes by alternating the colored light on the spotlights that surround the ficus elastica, he tries to abolish the so-called "plant blindness" in the observer (Wandersee, Schussler) and point out the environment and all its elements as active, not passive and decorative. Everything that takes place in the exhibition space is vigilantly observed by the sensory eye of the Emoji scanner, in which the continuation of the research can be seen. He collects statistical data that can be manipulated by the will of the visitor, which may make them phallic, and perhaps perfect for continuing the author's questioning of the environment, conditions, communication and, ultimately, the creation of dialogue.
All his devices within the installations create by-products from which communication between people in space occurs first. They help us to awaken awareness of biological reactions in general – from facial expressions, through breathing, to biological reactions that are not ours but take place around us. By transforming invisible processes into powerful visual impulses, they tear us out of the automatism of everyday life and confront us with a transient reality.
Klara Petrović
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Vitar Drinković was born in 1983 in Zagreb, where he graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb in 2008, and from the Department of Animated Film and New Media in 2014. He has participated in student exchanges and residencies in the United States, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and France. He works at the intersection of technology, science and art. In the past few years, he has been exploring ways to create conditions for changing the perception of everyday reality. Using various interactive sculptures, devices, inventions and installations as mediators in communication, he creates a new context for sensory and mental cognition of everyday life. He has exhibited solo (18) and group exhibitions (48) in Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Austria, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, the United States, Canada and France. He has won several awards, recognitions and scholarships.
The exhibition is financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.
The exhibition can be viewed during the Gallery's working hours (Mon-Fri; 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.; 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturdays 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) until February 18, 2019, and during the Museum Night on February 1, 2019 from 6 p.m. to midnight.
LECTURE ON BIOFEEDBACK AND NEUROFEEDBACK TREATMENTS
Šira Gallery, Monday, February 18, 2019 at 6 p.m.
As a side event of Vitar Drinković's solo exhibition "Feedback 1.2" at the Šira Gallery, we had the honor to host Prof. Tomislav Pučić, clinical psychologist at the University Hospital Center Osijek, who held a lecture on the topic "The use of feedback in the treatment of cognitive disorders and somatic disorders".
Bio and Neurofeedback treatments represent a non-pharmacological approach in the treatment of various neurological, psychiatric and developmental problems. The procedure is based on the direct presentation of physiological signals (heart rate, muscle tension, blood flow velocity, etc.) with the aim that people better learn to master their own functioning. Treatments are most often used in cognitive rehabilitation (attention, concentration and short-term memory exercises) but also in the treatment of psychosomatics (headaches, dizziness, etc.). Treatments are not a substitute for classic pharmacological treatment, but are a complement to standard treatment.
Tomislav Pučić, prof. – clinical psychologist, TA – therapist
He has been working for the last 8 years at the Clinic of Neurology of the University Hospital Center Osijek. In addition to the standard part of his job as a psychologist, he leads individual and group psychotherapy. Since 2013, he has been the head of the clinic for neurofeedback therapy.
