The Speculum Artium festival of new media culture will take place between 23 and 25 September in Trbovlje.

Trbovlje is known not only as a town with a rich mining past and a high level of technical culture but also as a place where the artistic avant-garde was born. It was pioneered with Ludvik Mrzel and Tone Seliškar, later Laibach, and more recently, Iztok Kovač with the EnKNap collective and several young new media artists. On this basis, more than ten years ago, the festival of new media culture Speculum Artium began its journey. After its first performance in 2008 in Ljubljana, the festival was relocated to Trbovlje and found its true home here. Throughout the decade of implementation, the festival has successfully presented projects created at the intersection of art, science and technology, and taken care of promoting and popularizing contemporary art in the general public. The hosting of world-renowned names in the field of culture, science and technology, such as Stelarc, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Honda Robotics, Yaskawa, Laibach, Victoria Vesna, or Patrick Tresset, established Speculum Artium as one of the most significant events in contemporary art in Slovenia and Europe. The festival pays special attention to young audiences, so it cooperates intensively with schools and faculties. Special visiting programs are prepared, including creative workshops, where young people test themselves as creators of innovative products.

This year's festival performance also opens an insight into the beginnings of new media art, with the first guest appearance of the interactive sculpture Senster in Slovenia, created by the Polish artist Edward Ihnatowicz. Senster, created in 1970, is considered to be the first interactive artwork operated by artificial intelligence. Once part of an installation in the art salon of Dutch giant Phillips, Senster is now housed and maintained by the University of Krakow, which has also made it possible for him to host the festival. It represents the object around which all other layouts will revolve. With this, the festival draws attention to the fact that new media art is not just something that happens here and now, but has its starting points, path, and objects that marked it and still serve as a starting point for younger generation artists for new projects.

Speculum Artium 2021 Program

Thursday, 23 September 2021
9 a.m.: Exhibition opens
6 p.m.: DigitalBigScreen performance: AirPlant – Razieh in Vahid (cinema hall)
8 p.m.: Exhibition closes

Friday, 24 September 2021
  9 a.m.: Exhibition opens
11 a.m.: Panel discussion: New media art education: challenges and opportunities (Kavarna DDT)
  1 p.m.: Drone workshop (full)
  3 p.m.: Panel discussion: The Vision and the Retrogarde of the Senster Cybernetic Sculpture (Theater hall DDT)
  5 p.m.: EnKnap - Odvečni (Redundant) – Washing hall of Trbovlje coal mine
  7 p.m.: Concert: Moonlight Sky
  8 p.m.: EnKnap - Odvečni (Redundant) – Washing hall of Trbovlje coal mine
  8 p.m.: Exhibition closes

Saturday, 25 September 2021
        9 a.m.: Exhibition opens
  9:30 a.m.: On spot workshop DDTLab (Foyer DDT)
     11 a.m.: Stage360 presentation (DDT kavarna)
 5:30 p.m.: Exhibition closes
       6 p.m.: Performance: COMMUNICATION ECHOLOCATION (Vašhava Trbovlje)