Lighting Guerrilla: Disturbances

Disturbances can be described as deviations from the usual course of things, an anomaly in a familiar and predictable pattern. Disturbances are the central thematic framework of the 19th International Lighting Guerrilla Festival. This year, it brings together a number of explorations of the phenomenon of disturbance in the context of contemporary visual and new media art, with an emphasis on works by local and international artists who use the medium of light as their primary means of expression.

In addition to the numerous festival venues in the wider city centre, from Špica in Prule via the Archaeological Park Emona (MGML) at Mirje to the Autonomous Cultural Zone Metelkova, the gravitational centre of the festival is once again the Match Gallery and its surroundings, which undergoes a unique light transformation at night. The expressiveness of the works presented at the festival deals with various physical or spatial, social as well as purely psychological aspects of various disturbances. Artists often draw on the impact of technology on our everyday lives, exploring and interpreting the many phenomena of our contemporary world by playing with the viewer’s perception. Disturbance as an effect on the predictability of the world and of life is not always negative; interruptions of the familiar can also provide us with new insights into the world or with feelings that we might never have experienced without them.

The Match Gallery in the meantime showcases a diverse range of artists until the end of August. Finnish artist Antti Kulmala’s minimalist installation, which is also shown outdoors during the festival, is inspired by the randomness and unpredictability of people’s everyday movements in the city. Nika Erjavec’s new work continues to explore various visual noises and peculiar disturbances, while also exploring the diversity and resilience of various ecosystems that evolve in the absence of humans. The Russian artist, known under the pseudonym ::vtol::, presents a kinetic sound-light installation that uses the reflectivity of moving mirrors to address the question of overcoming interruptions formalised as communication breaks. Slovenian sound artist Ida Hiršenfelder’s interactive project uses cosmic sounds to create a soundscape in the gallery space together with visitors. With an interactive projection in the gallery front window*, Polish artist Laura Adel leads us into an immersive world of organic abstraction; her work, which during the festival is also accompanied every Wednesday at dusk by a performance by the Ljubljana Dance Theatre and dancer Alja Lacković, is based on the visualisation of the viewer’s movement, while the artist simultaneously tests its influence on the viewer’s subsequent movement.

Matjaž Brulc

* Laura Adel's interactive installation in the gallery window is still on view in the evening; from 9.30 to 11.30 p.m.