The melancholy of data
2022
triptych (TV screen and two paintings in acrylic technique on canvas), 110 × 75 cm
The multimedia triptych The melancholy of data touches on the theme of anxiety of modern man, which the artist considers to be the true human condition, the result of constantly deciding on the performance of identity. The audience becomes part of the circulation of data, using the method of cybernetic existentialism, which implies a constant interweaving of the culture of the algorithm with the anxiety of modern people. The author’s video, which is surrounded by side-mounted images, contains a series of information about the author. The data alternate quickly and are continuously lined up in the form of manipulated objects of the body, face, speech, and other elements of the performance of the human personality, creating the impression of a personalized social network for the audience and reminding them, according to the author, of stories, internet search results, deep fake photos, artificially constituted personal memories or materialization of rumors and prejudices. The side images represent time by emphasizing the fluidity of the data displayed on the central video, and with their technique they confirm the fixity of time, creating a nostalgic atmosphere of the human search for an ideal reality.
Tia Pošta
Leo Katunarić Kadele
Leo Katunarić Kadele is a visual artist and author. Educated as a theater director (Academy of Dramatic Art, Zagreb). He is the author of numerous contemporary art projects in Japan, China, India, Colombia, the United States, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Syria, and Croatia. He is the creator of multidisciplinary theater projects and the author of several published professional texts on theatrology and contemporary art in the digital age. He has participated and exhibited at professional conferences in Israel, China, Serbia, Austria, and Croatia. He is socially active as the founder and leader of festivals, institutions and platforms for the development of contemporary art (KantunArt, MaxArtFest, ZKM Zagreb). He collaborates as a curator, selector and artist with numerous international institutions (Iberoamericano Festival, TOKAS, National Museum Beijing, Oldenburg University). In 2022, he published the book Introduction to the Dramaturgy of Digital Art Performance.
