The Shape of Relations displays three installations by Tadej Droljc, situated across three spaces at Kino Šiška – the Katedrala Hall, Komuna Hall, and Kamera Gallery – exploring the intersection of humanity, technology, space, and time through generative audiovisual systems.
Light, sound, movement, algorithms, and computational processes are not merely means of expression here, but active agents in the continuous emergence of events and meanings. The works form dynamic fields of relations in which the boundaries between the physical and the virtual, the human and the non-human, and the material and the immaterial, are constantly established, dissolved, and reconfigured.
In Dinner with a Hyperobject, laser beams, mirrors, and computer-controlled mechanisms create an ever-changing choreography of light that raises questions about non-human intelligence and creativity. Osmotic explores intermateriality through the intersection of sound, light, and virtual space, where hybrid forms emerge and memory itself appears as a process of continuous transformation. In Self-Portrait, a generative audiovisual image is created in real time guided by algorithms, treating time as an accumulation in memory.
Together, the works form a reflection on relations as a fundamental form of the contemporary world. Intelligence, materiality, memory, and perception are not presented as separate categories, but as processes that arise through the interaction between bodies, technologies, algorithms, and space. The Shape of Relations thus does not showcase stable objects, but rather the conditions of their emergence – a network of dynamic connections in which humanity, machine, and environment are always already intertwined.
Dinner with a Hyperobject in the Katedrala Hall and Osmotic in the Komuna Hall will be on view on 3 and 4 September between noon and 6 PM, while Self-Portrait in the Kamera Gallery will run until 9 October.
3. and 4. 9., 12.00–18.00 / Katedrala Hall
Tadej Droljc: Dinner with a Hyperobject
AV installation
The work Dinner with a Hyperobject places the visitor within a spatial and sensory experience where light, movement, sound, and computational processes intertwine. The audiovisual installation is designed as a large-scale, complex kinetic laser-light and mirror system controlled by computers, microcontrollers, and motor mechanisms. In doing so, it materialises the idea that language, thought, and creativity are not necessarily exclusively human traits, but can also emerge within technological systems and processes.
Through the coordinated operation of lasers, mirrors, moving mechanisms, and computing devices, the work translates conceptual reflections on non-human intelligence into a dynamic spatial experience. Laser beams bounce off reflective surfaces, refracting and intertwining in space, constantly creating new configurations of light. The movement of the mirrors and mechanisms, controlled by algorithms, continuously alters the trajectory of the light beams to form complex visual structures.
The end result is an immersive choreography of light, reflection, and movement that fills the space with ever-changing light patterns. Laser beams circulate through a mirror ring, refract on reflective surfaces, and respond to computer-controlled processes. The system thus functions as a material metaphor for technological language and cognition – technology is presented not merely as a tool, but as an active participant in the process of generating meaning.
By establishing interaction between machines, algorithms, and physical space, the installation raises questions about the boundaries of human and non-human thought. It acts as a kind of “philosophical laboratory” in which light, movement, and computer processing collectively explore the shifting relationship between humanity, nature, and technology, inviting the viewer to reflect on how technology reshapes our understanding of intelligence, language, and creativity.
“The concept of humanity is inherently linked to the concepts of nature and technology. Across different timelines, these are constantly deterritorialised, fusing into new constellations and taking the lead. In the beginning, nature defined humanity (and technology), whereas in modernity, humanity detached from nature and created its own history. But today, the situation is different. The world has become a philosophical laboratory [1], as technology – rather than humanity or nature – has come to the fore for the first time. Technology first subsumed nature, and then turned its attention to humanity. It called out humanity’s attitude and biases, and above all, the unexplained assumption that certain things were not meant for it: why, for instance, did humanity think technology had no place in language, even though it is capable of communicating; why should it not understand meaning, despite language being a (logico-formal) system first and a means of communication only second. Much like in aerodynamic theory, where an aeroplane and a bird are two hardware implementations of the same theory, we are presented with an artistic object that points out that creativity, thought, language, and/or intelligence are not categories exclusively within humanity’s domain. The hyperobject is part of a new generality that the restricted field of humanity has yet to fully enter.”
Maks Valenčič
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[1]Rees, T. (2022). Non-Human Words: On GPT-3 as a Philosophical Laboratory. Dædalus.
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Art director, audiovisual composition & intermedia programming (music, lasers, motors): Tadej Droljc
Technical design of construction: David Mulalić
Technical design of mechatronic components: Igor Vuk
Programming: Luka Frelih, Ljudmila Association
Text: Maks Valenčič
Woodwork: Janez Robavs
CNC programming: Gregor Stupica
Machine learning assistance: Flucoma / University of Huddersfield
Installation audio mastering: Gregor Zemljič
Production: LokalPatriot Institute | konS ≡ Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art
Support: Barutana Kamnik Creative Quarter, Public Institute for Culture Kamnik, Priden Možic Cultural Association, Projekt Atol Institute, Ljudmila Association
Co-funding: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, European Union – European Regional Development Fund
Photos: Katja Goljat, Ajda Schmidt
3. and 4. 9., 12.00–18.00 / Komuna Hall
Tadej Droljc: Osmotic
AV installation
Osmotic is an installation version of the performance Osmotic Bodies, exploring intermateriality through sound, visuals, lasers, and light. In the encounter of these systems, their boundaries begin to dissolve: virtual and physical space permeate one another, interfering and generating hybrid forms through their collisions. The resulting bodies oscillate between fragility and tectonic mass, sustained by currents of energy and dancing on the threshold of stability.
The work unfolds as an osmotic field of tension – a continuous process of becoming, shaped by visceral forces intertwined with a technologically mediated reality. By weaving together old and new ideas, as well as resampling and recontextualising fragments of earlier works, Osmotic Bodies also approaches memory as an osmotic field – something that is constantly eroding, reshaping, and reassembling.
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Music, visuals, laser programming, lights, programming, concept: Tadej Droljc
Co-funding: European Union through DIGITAL on STAGE
Support: Kibla
Tadej Droljc is a Slovenian artist and creative coder who works at the intersection of sound, image and light. His work received the Lumen Prize Student Award and the Dennis Smalley Scholarship in Electroacoustic Music, and he received the Most Promising Video Artist award at Madatac. His practice-based doctoral research received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Thesis at the Centre for Research in New Music. He has performed and exhibited at festivals such as Mutek, Sonar, Ars Electronica, Mutek, Paris Biennale NEMO, L.E.V., Brighton Digital Festival, Semibreve, Sonica Glasgow, Lunchmeat, Node etc. As part of his collaboration with Ars Electronica’s Future Lab on the project Immersify, his work is included in the permanent exhibition at Ars Electronica’s Deep Space 8K and has been featured at events like Inter BEE Tokyo, IBC Amsterdam and Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes.
Free admission.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
