Deadline: 30 July 2012 (postmarked).

In just eight years the international Short Video Biennial -5 Minutes in Ljubljana has become an important testing ground for local and international artists. For this fourth edition, German art historian and curator Silke Opitz has proposed the theme “Into the Real World” along with the parallel solo exhibition of Finnish- born artist Pilvi Takala.

Performance has been a very important element in contemporary art started by the older, established generation, including many artists from former Yugoslavia. Their performances and the accompanying (documentational) videos and films have become important chapters in recent art history.

Lately it seems that this kind of “body work” has more or less finished or at least found another focus. Today’s artists experiment with the performative in their work and perform more as characters, figures, players or even actors. Sometimes they appear as “living sculptures” with certain features exposed, though mostly clothed, and in a different way these anonymous but contemporary bodies perform in public space, among society, going out into the real world.

Pilvi Takala’s elaborately “post-produced” videos (and installations) are good examples of this artistic practice. She is known for her narrative forms set in specific social contexts which are usually an odd combination of “real” and “unreal” elements. This blurring of the line between fact and fiction, reality and non-reality leads us to question our own reality all the more. While her artworks reflect on the audience and its expectations they are also very much about the piece of art itself, the “body of art”. Says Takala of her work’s ability to make the fictional seem real and the real seem fictional: “This aspect is quite central to my work, as most of my interventions are pieces of fiction happening in ‘real life’. Also the fiction in my work is often so real-like, that making a distinction between real and fiction becomes unimportant.” Silke Opitz will curate a separate exhibition of some of Takala’s intriguing works which will take place during the Short Video Biennial.

It has often been said that our real lives are reflected in films and video, but how much are the fictional lives in films and videos reflected in our real lives? Do we live a movie? Are we to fill and fit an image? To what extent do we perform every day? Do we exist in or behind our roles? What about the rules and the grey zone in-between to determine our communities, our life? Is our life an artwork? How many of these artworks do we miss out on each day, because we don’t care to watch or are not aware? Does art really affect or influence our life? All these questions and issues could be interesting points to be reflected by a short video (less than 5 minutes) which is not meant to be real life. In terms of a possible video/film this would mean experimenting with (recognisable) narratives, certain structures, and ways of editing and post-producing the video, etc.

Silke Opitz will also be part of the three-member jury that will select the works for the 4th Short Video Biennial. Videos of the selected artists will be shown in October 2012 at the exhibition in P74 Center and Gallery in Ljubljana.

Conditions for application:

• video works must be shorter than 5 minutes
• submitted in DVD (PAL) format or an electronic video file (avi, mpeg or Quicktime formats)
• works must have been completed in 2010, 2011 and 2012
• each author may submit one work only
• works should be accompanied by a description of the submitted work, a short bio, and contact information.

Deadline: 30 July 2012 (postmarked).

All authors will be informed by e-mail about the selection by the end of September 2012.
Please note: All works will be stored in our archive and will not be returned.

Please send your submission to the following address:
Zavod P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E.
P74 Center and Gallery
Trg prekomorskih brigad 1
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia