Vanja Smiljanić

Victoria

Lukas Marxt

Vanja Smiljanić

The hypnotic wasteland of Southern California is infused with the free-spirited nature of Easy Rider, the alienation and uprootedness of Michelangelo Antonioni, and the deep transcendence of Werner Herzog. It speaks to us through fragments of dialogues from iconic films, and yet it remains elusive and dissolves into abstract shapes, rhythms, and compositions. The landscape as a captivating and intangible, all-encompassing and insubstantial yet full emptiness becomes the means for the transgressive experience of two temporalities – the “real” time of people and the time of natural processes. “How much further do we have to go? I don't know. Not much further. That's what you said this morning. I sometimes say it all day. Really? You say it all day? We don't have much longer. We'll be there soon.” (L. Marxt)

Shadowland

Vanja Smiljanić, Lukas Marxt

Around the solar eclipse of March 20, 2015, Marxt and Smiljanic arrange their own turned and extraneous material into a small catalog of cosmic visions: Eclipse hunters put themselves and their vision devices in position; A space-weather fairy analyzes the recent solar storms; A radar early warning station also waits for signals from above, while the thick fog blocks the view forward.