SPECULUM ARTIUM
17. 9. 2025 - 20. 9. 2025
Location: Delavski dom Trbovlje
The Speculum Artium 2025 New Media Culture Festival opened its doors on September 17. We hosted more than 30 projects, 15 workshops, lectures, and discussions, as well as 35 artists and creators from Slovenia and abroad. We walked through a minefield, exchanged emotions with flowers, and observed the ripples of sound emitted by lamps. We chased soap bubbles blown by a robot and, using VR goggles and a wooden frame, experienced a free fall from the Trbovlje chimney.
Festival side events:
September 17 at 10:00 AM: Guided tour of the festival
September 17 at 5:00 PM: Lecture by Dr. Dan Podjed: The Challenges of Disconnecting in an Age of Constant Connectivity
September 18 at 10:15 AM and 11:20 AM: Performance by Humanodoro: To scroll or not to scroll, that is the question!
September 18 at 3:30 PM: Conference Opportunities at the Crossroads: Between a Just Transition and the New European Bauhaus, the Case of Tourism
September 18 at 4:00 PM: Lecture and workshop Bibliotherapy in Theory and Practice
September 18 at 4:00 PM: Workshop “The Trbovlje Chimney: New Visions” (led by The Collective Foundation)
September 18 at 6:00 PM: Multimedia discussion: UFO Art Night (in English)
September 19 at 4:00 PM: Lecture by Dr. Octavian Mihai Machidon (FRI): Generative AI and Human Creativity (in English)
September 19 at 5:00 PM: Lecture by Dr. Predrag Terzić (Faculty of Media and Communications, Belgrade) and Ivan Šuković: Synthetic Vision: Creating with Machines, Perceiving through Code (in English)
September 19 at 6:00 PM: Lecture by Fabricio Lamoncha, MA (University of Art and Design Linz): Laboratory Spaces in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Environments (in English)
September 19 at 7:00 PM: Piano concert Rhythms Without Bytes
September 20 at 10:00 AM: Workshop Movement in Theater (workshop led by Ena Kurtalić)
The works presented by the artists:
- TIAGO MARTINS (PT), LAURENT MIGNONNEAU (FR), CHRISTA SOMMERER (AT): AR[T]CHIVE: AUGMENTED REALITY ARCHIVE OF SOMMERER & MIGNONNEAU´S ARTWORKS
- SIMÃO COSTA (PT): BEAT WITHOUT BYTE
- MARTA CERQUEIRA (PT), SIMÃO COSTA (PT), TIAGO CERQUEIRA (PT): #6PROPAGACAO
- MARC VILLANOVA (ES): LIMEN
- STELLA IVŠEK (SI), ČRT TRKMAN (SI) - BEAM TEAM: CONTINUUM 1.0
- NINA KOŽELJ (SI): POLJE VELIKE SREČE
- SANJA ŠIKOPARIJA (RS): FRAME OF MIND – FRAME OF REFERENCE
- XIN WEN (US), JJ AGCAOILI (PH): PERSONHOOD
- ANĐELIJA STANČULOVIĆ (RS): HIPEROAZA: HYPEROASIS: MUTED ECHO
- IVAN IOVINE (IT): NETNATURE
- THE COLLECTIVE FOUNDATION (BG): RIVERS OF PEOPLE: REIMAGINING THE URBAN SHORELINE
- SIMON OKROGAR (SI): GHOSTPRINT
- KD PRIDEN MOŽIC IN ZAVOD ZA KULTURO KAMNIK (SI): KDO SE JE USTRAŠIL?
- CRAFTS OF UNSEEN COLLECTIVE (SI): CRAFTS OF UNSEEN
- PATRICK ORTIZ (AT): IN BETWEEN US
- CAROLINA SOFIA BISCHOF (AT): WATCH ME SUFFER
- KATAPULT ROBOTIKA(SI): KREATIVNA IN DIY ROBOTIKA
- SELENA KUČEVIĆ (RS): MEMORY UPDATED
- ANA EVTIĆ (RS): GOVORICA STAKLA
- JASNA HRIBERNIK (SI): BLOODRUNNER
- OCTAVIAN MIHAI MACHIDON (RO): DUCKIEBOTS
- VESNA POZNIČ (SI), ŽIGA PAVLOVIČ (SI): EMOTICORE
Featured events:
"Rhythms Without Bytes" Concert
Spanish music created using piano keys and magnets attached to the strings.
At the concert, pianist and composer Simão Costa presented works from his album »Beat without Byte«, in which he explores cycles, beats, and repetitions. The first part of the concert featured a battle of frequencies of nearly equal duration, while the second part unfolded into echoes of dance music, the result of the composer’s collaboration with various choreographers.
The concert opens up a space for observing the piano, from which the musician elicits sounds in old and new ways: both by striking the keys and without touching them, using electromagnets. With a deep knowledge of and respect for the instrument, the musician seeks new expressive possibilities and explores the relationship between human, instrument, and machine.
Dr. Dan Podjed: The Challenges of Disconnecting in an Age of Constant Connectivity
Anthropologist Dr. Dan Podjed is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology at ZRC SAZU, an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana, and a subject matter expert at the Innovation and Development Institute of the University of Ljubljana. His primary areas of research interest include isolation, crises, the relationship between people and technology, sustainable lifestyles, and the study of everyday life.
Dr. Podjed spoke about one of the most pressing issues of our time: the impact of smartphones and social media on communities. He focused on how modern technologies shape our relationships, affect mental health, and transform the way we live and communicate. He highlighted the paradox of today’s digital age: although we have more ways to connect than ever before, we are becoming increasingly alienated. He concluded by presenting four steps to successfully disconnect.
Bibliotherapy in Theory and Practice
— co-organized with the Tone Seliškar Library in Trbovlje
A lecture and workshop on the use of literature as a supportive tool for mental health and personal growth.
The lecture and workshop were led by Manca Marinčič, who holds a master’s degree in comparative literature and is a student in the interdisciplinary doctoral program in Humanities and Social Sciences in the field of literary studies at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana.
The lecture was intended for anyone interested in how reading affects us, as well as how, through reading and discussing the texts we’ve read, we can come to understand ourselves, our emotions and behaviors, and the world around us.
In the literary bibliotherapy workshop, participants read a selected short story and viewed the world and life through the eyes of literary characters. Through reading and discussion, they explored how literature, through literary characters and their stories, helps us understand ourselves.
Trbovlje Chimney: New Visions
As part of the D. Dance Alliance project, co-funded by the European Union (Creative Europe program), a workshop was held in collaboration with The Collective Foundation and the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) on the topic of Europe’s tallest chimney, the chimney of the Trbovlje Thermal Power Plant. During the workshop, participants explored the history of the chimney and discovered possibilities for its future revitalization. The ideas gathered will be used in the creation of a dance performance to be staged in the chimney in 2026.
As part of the D. Dance Alliance project, workshops with Nik Rajšek, Mojca Majcen, and Ena Kurtalić were also held on the stage of the Trbovlje Workers’ Hall and at the Trbovlje Music School.
