07 Apr 2014

Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak lead this year's Video Course at the International Summer Academy for Visual Arts in Dresden

We live in a society of the spectacle, where images get manipulated or falsified deliberately. Mass media and social networks use these techniques. During the Summer Academy Course in Dresden the Slovenian artists Oblak and Novak and the participants look behind these strategies and approaches consciously and artisanal the means of manipulation using fiction, statement or story. In the course participants work primarily with video, but also the connection with photography is possible to visually and linguistically disassemble the puzzles of our media-infiltrated presence. The video artists explain different techniques, how working with Video- or Digital SLR Cameras and using software such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects.

Nika Oblak and Primoz Novak deal in their artistic works with the society of late capitalism, consumption, the general commercialization of the media and the construction of reality. They use the typical imagery of advertising and mass culture, including film with humour and irony, to connect them with the art and to show the absurdum of both - the purposes of the art world and its marketing procedures as well as their own position and role within. Oblak and Novak work with various media, in particular with video, photography and installation, in which they often take the roles of the main actors in their works.

BIOGRAPHY
Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak have been working as an artist's cooperative since 2003. They studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Nika Oblak graduated in painting, in 2002, and received her M.F.A. in video, in 2005. Primoz Novak graduated in sculpture in 2002 and received his M.F.A. in sculpture in 2006. In 2000 and 2001 they were guest students in the class of Prof. Katharina Sieverding at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2013 'And Now for Something Completely Different 2' Art and Life Contemporary, Tokyo / JP 2011 'Absolutely Fabulous 5', MC Gallery, New York / U.S. 2009 'Absolutely Fabulous' Motorenhalle, Dresden / D 2008 'Saetchi Collection' delicatessen, Leipzig / D

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2013 'EMARE MEXICO', Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico City / MEX 2012 'EMAF', Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück / D 2010 'Japan Media Arts Festival', The National Art Center, Tokyo / JP 2009 'Sharjah Biennial 9', Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah / UAE

SCHOLARSHIPS / PRICES (selection)
2013 'GCC - Gyeonggi Creation Center Residency Studio Program', Gyeonggi Creation Center, Ansan-si / KR 2012 'CYNETART Award 2012' , Trans-Media-Akademie Hellerau, Dresden / D 2011 'OCAT - Contemporary Art Terminal', artist in residence , Shenzhen / CN 2010 'ISCP - International Studio & Curatorial Program', New York / U.S.

CONTACT
International Dresden Summer Academy of Fine Arts
Susanne Altmann artistic director
Yvonne Anders managing director
Tel.:+49 | (0)351 | 86602-11
Mail: soak@sommerakademie-dresden.de