An interview w/ Matej Andraž Vogrinčič

Part ONE

Last year, I blogged about a cool multimedia/theatrical piece at the Aurillac International Street Theatre Festival called Run For Love.

Not sure if you noticed in the comments section, but Matej Andraž Vogrinčič found my blog through that post. He's the visual artist who was responsible for the set design of Run For Love... including 7,000 Slinkys walking down a two-storey plynth.
("Slinkys?" you say... Check out this video.) And, he offered advice, inspiration and answers for anyone who might have questions about the project.

Gawd, I love the webbernet.

See, Matej Andraž Vogrinčič is an internationally renowned artist who specializes in the creation and design of site specific work for public spaces. His notoriety began in the early nineties when he "dressed" an entire house in his hometown (Ljubljana, Slovenia) with used and donated clothing. He was invited to do a similar project for the Venice Biennale in 1999: Casa Vestita. After that, his career skyrocketed and he has been invited to produce new work around in the world. Places like:
New Haven, Connecticut (US);
Liverpool, England;
Melbourne, Australia;
Christchurch, New Zealand;
And, of course, Aurillac, France.

Check out his bio over at the website for the SCCA - Ljubljana Center for Contemporary Arts. Scroll down for photos and links.

Naturally, I had a few questions for this very cool artist. Check it out...

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Aaron ~ Thanks for finding me Matej! I've written about your past work above, but is there anything new that you're working on that'd you'd like to share?

MAV ~ Right now I am still working on Slinkys. I took like a million photos so now I have to choose the right ones to make a small series.

At the same time I am also working on a video. Short, not longer than couple of minutes, about Slinkys going down and what is happening to them while they're marching down the slope. It reflects life in a way.

Aaron ~ How do you mean?

MAV ~ Some Slinkys look like they are in love, walking down very close together. and then somebody - a third Slinky - comes and destroys this harmony of two. Some of them look like they are completely drunk. Some are going down on their own way...

And I also want to make a smaller kind of perpetual mobile slope, escalator and ramp for Slinkys so I would be able to put it in a gallery like an installation art piece. which it was anyway, from the start. Or it can also work on a street, but as a street art piece in its own right.

Aaron ~ How about new art projects beyond the wild world of Slinkys?

MAV ~ I am working on dealing with the ski jump. I think we should use it for something else than just for ski jumpers. So I want to do a project using a ski jump. Hey. maybe I should do it in Canada.

Aaron ~ We have a brilliant contemporary art festival in Toronto called Nuit Blanche. Would you ever be interested in participating in something like that?

MAV ~ I would love to come to Canada. Just invite me and I will be on the first plane! I already am interested in participating in something like that! Lectures, exhibitions, contemporary art festivals...I would be very happy to come and participate.

Aaron ~ Wicked. Mind you, I don't think we have any ski jumps here in the T-dot. You'd probably have to come up with something different. Do you have any ideas for an art piece that would work for Bay Street?

MAV ~ I'm also working on how to use a catapult for art purposes.

Aaron ~ Oh yeah, that would work! But, I've read that you do a lot of research about a space ­- the history and the sociology of a site - for inspiration when you're creating a new work.

MAV ~ Well, it is really very different with every project. But normally, if possible, I want to see the space first. That would mean walking around the city or the area and trying to find some space that I like. something that grabs my attention. In most cases I come up with a concept in couple of days.

Aaron ~ That's pretty quick. How does it come to you?

MAV ~ The idea is developed according to the site. Like in Adelaide, I saw "Small Car Members Only" written on a wall. So I just read it literally and put 15,000 toy cars on the wall...

MAV ~ In the desert, I was dealing with the light and the fact of lacking water.

Aaron ~ And so you covered an area the size of a football field with watering cans.



MAV~ Yes. And in Ljubljana and Venice, I was working on old abandoned houses. which brought me to the idea of dressing them.

Aaron ~ So then, what's your dream project? Imagine you have unlimited funds and unlimited time. What would you do?

MAV ~ Well, I do not know. Never thought of it that way. Most of the time I work with almost no budget or very little...

Aaron ~ Tell me about it brother.

MAV ~ ...so everything I have goes to the material costs anyway. But at the moment, I guess it would be connected with ski jumps. Something kinetic. with objects in the air, using everything from artificial wind to helium to lots of beautiful lights to create some kind of visual experience we would never forget.

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Stay tuned to Tracking Righteousness to catch Part 2 of this interview, where me and Matej chat about Run For Love, digital media, and staying connected to home.