Along the Sparkling Paths of Coal

Black gold, which has brought so much to the Zasava Valley, is shown in the work as the driving force of life and art. The dim light of the ‘ziherca’, which accompanied the miners on their daily hard work, illuminates the glistening coal and shows us the paths of the difficult past, the changing present and the bright future. Through a digital video installation, the ‘ziherca’ light takes us on a walk through the cultural heritage of Zasavje, Zasavje life and art, and shows us the paths and stories that characterized this place. The light of the sparkler thus reflects off the surface of the coal, no longer dusty, but glittering - set like a jewel, and illuminates its historic significance for the area.

2023

The Flickering Paths of Coal, digital 3D render

The project under the working title Artistic Digitization connects intermediate artistic practices, digitization, and (intangible) cultural heritage. The goal is to preserve cultural, especially intangible, heritage with the help of already existing (or new) museum digital archives, and to present it in a new way and with the help of new technologies. The Artistic Digitization project deals with the issue of the very preservation of Slovenian cultural heritage in the age of digital media and offers the digitization of (intangible) cultural heritage as a solution.

This iteration of the project, The Flickering Paths of Coal, is dedicated to the tradition of Trbovlje’s mining culture. Miners, mining culture, and everything it brought to the citizens of Trbovlje and the inhabitants of the Zasava region will shine in a new light in the project.

The Flickering Paths of Coal, digital 3D render video

This project has been presented at:

The project has been helmed by curator Bogdan Šteh, under the tutelage of the Institute for Culture Delavski dom Trbovlje, and presented at the group exhibition Speculum Artium Festival in Trbovlje, Slovenia (2023). The second iteration will be presented at this year's Speculum Artium Festival in Trbovlje, Slovenia (2024).

The Flickering Paths of Coal - left (2023), digital 3D render

The Flickering Paths of Coal - right (2023), digital 3D render

Press:

You can find the project description both in English and Slovene through the Speculum Artium website. Additionally, you can read articles about the festival on RTV SLO, STA, Delo and Facebook.

Gallery View

The Flickering Paths of Coal at Speculum Artium (2023), Photo: Saša Nemec

Thank you:

Speculum Artium - Festival of New Media Art, Delavski dom Trbovlje and Bogdan Šteh (DDT), Jožefa Kukovič (Trbovlje Tourist Association), Jože Potokar (independent artist), Jernej Čuček Gerbec, Bojan Nemec, ArtOK fine art printing - Palmanova.