Nika Oblak & Primož Novak: And Now for Something Completely Different 19

Pozivamo Vas na otvorenje izložbe Nike Oblak i Primoža Novaka “And Now for Something Completely Different 19”, koje će se održati u četvrtak, 16. travnja u 19h u Galeriji AŽ.
Izložba je otvorena do 10. svibnja 2026.g.

Nika Oblak & Primož Novak: And Now for Something Completely Different 19

Umjetnički duo Nika Oblak i Primož Novak prvi put gostuju u zagrebačkim Atelijerima Žitnjak, a publici Galerije AŽ predstavljaju se devetnaestom iteracijom svog umjetničkog projekta „And Now for Something Completely Different“. Kao u brojnim prethodnim iteracijama, i na Žitnjaku će ovaj dugovječan umjetnički tandem – jer Oblak i Novak zajedno djeluju već više od dvadeset godina – promišljati kompleksne odnose između čovjeka i tehnologije, smještajući sva vizualna „poglavlja“ ove „potpuno drugačije“ priče, unutar sučelja i rubova ekrana, iz kojih umjetnici ne mogu pobjeći. Montipajtonovska referenca iz naziva izložbe sugerira nam kako je ovdje riječ o skečevima koji nemaju linearni slijed, već egzistiraju kao niz crtica koje perpetuiraju jednu te istu ideju ispričanu svaki put na sasvim drugačiji način. U radovima Nike Oblak i Primoža Novaka ne čita se puka kritika tehnološkog napretka i digitalnog okruženja s kojim smo se već toliko saživjeli da je ono postalo dio nas. U ovim radovima umjetnici duhovito kontempliraju o neminovnosti ispreplitanja organskog s neorganskim i pokušaju kakvog-takvog suživota stvarnog i virtualnog. Što smo više okruženi digitalnim svijetom, on sve intenzivnije počinje oblikovati našu percepciju stvarnosti i naš identitet, a taj isti identitet, pak, postaje sve nesigurniji, jer, kako vrijeme prolazi, više ni sami ne znamo što je „naše“, a što smo pokupili iz virtualnog okruženja. Autori ipak pokušavaju zadržati svojevrsnu kontrolu, za koju su svjesni da im malo pomalo izmiče, te balansirati – kako u doslovnom, fizičkom smislu, tako i u onom metaforičkom – između svih krajnosti koje nam tehnološki napredak i društvo nameću. Jer umjerenost kao da više i nije opcija. Njihovi stalni pokušaji balansiranja, ustajanja, padanja i ustrajnog kretanja ukrug govore o konstantnom bivanju na granici između kontrole i gubitka kontrole, smisla i apsurda, ljudskog i mehaničkog. U tom se smislu ravnoteža nikad uistinu i ne postiže, pa iako protagonisti djeluju kao da pokušavaju održati neku vrstu stabilnosti, ta je stabilnost kratkog vijeka. Ponavljanje radnji funkcionira kao pokušaj preuzimanja kontrole – no kako se radnja uvijek iznova ponavlja, sve više do izražaja dolazi njena inherentna apsurdnost. U radovima ovih autora ponavljanje radnji funkcionira kao ključni mehanizam kojim se razotkriva odnos između živog i mehaničkog na način na koji taj odnos promatra Henri Bergson, a taj mehanizam, u konačnici, rezultira humorom i ironijom. Naime, Bergson je smatrao kako se mi, kao ljudska bića, smijemo onim situacijama u kojima se čovjek ponaša rigidno, ponavljajući kakvu akciju ili pokret uvijek iznova, poput automata, stroja ili lutke na koncima. Život je fluidan i promjenjiv, govori Bergson u svom eseju „Smijeh“, dok je sve ono mehaničko kruto, automatsko i repetitivno. Komično nastaje upravo u trenutku kada se ta dva principa sudare – kada se ono što je živo počne ponašati kao stvar.
U radovima Oblak i Novaka taj sudar nije trenutan ili jednokratan, nego namjerno produžen i (pre)naglašen. Tijelo se ne nalazi slučajno u mehaničkom obrascu, poput Bergsonova primjera o komici koja proizlazi kad se čovjek posklizne na koru od banane, a njegovo tijelo, izbačeno iz ravnoteže u trenutku pada počinje nalikovati tijelu kakve mehaničke lutke. Oblak i Novak u tom “sudaranju” namjerno ustraju – pokreti se ponavljaju, geste se automatiziraju, a ponašanje postaje predvidivo gotovo do razine potpune depersonalizacije. Poput Sizifa, koji je, razljutivši bogove, kažnjen vječitim guranjem kamene gromade uzbrdo, a koja pri samom vrhu brda ponovo pada u njegovo podnožje, radnja u radovima naših umjetnika nema neko razrješenje ili napredak, te nam se čini da umjetnici dobrovoljno pristaju na kaznu, kad su se već pristali “uvući” u diskurs o tehnološkom napretku. I dok, s jedne strane, njihove radove možemo promatrati kao komično preuveličavanje koje, kao takvo, dovodi do apsurda, ono svakako postaje i odraz određenog egzistencijalnog stanja, pri čemu vječito ponavljanje istog ukazuje na temeljnu apsurdnost ljudskog postojanja na koju se valja priviknuti. Jer, s obzirom na činjenicu da izlazak iz obrasca naši umjetnici, uz sav trud, nisu uspjeli naći, ništa osim balansiranja ili prilagodbe situaciji im i ne preostaje.

Mirna Rul

Nika Oblak i Primož Novak djeluju kao umjetnički kolektiv od 2003. godine. U svojoj umjetničkoj praksi istražuju suvremene medije i društvo vođeno kapitalom, analizirajući njegovu vizualnu i jezičnu strukturu.
Izlagali su diljem svijeta, na manifestacijama i u institucijama poput Sharjah Bijenala (UAE), Japan Media Arts Festivala u Tokiju (JP), Istanbulskog bijenala (TR), Transmediale u Berlinu (DE), FILE festivala u São Paulu (BR)…
Oblak i Novak dobitnici su brojnih nagrada i potpora, uključujući CYNETART nagradu (DE), posebno priznanje na Bijenalu WRO (PL), nagradu White Aphroid koju dodjeljuje MMC KIBLA (SI) te počasno priznanje nagrade Rihard Jakopič, najvišeg nacionalnog priznanja za vizualnu umjetnost u Sloveniji.

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Nika Oblak & Primož Novak: And Now for Something Completely Different 19

The artistic duo Nika Oblak and Primož Novak are appearing for the first time at Zagreb’s Atelijeri Žitnjak, where they present to the audience of Gallery AŽ the nineteenth iteration of their artistic project “And Now for Something Completely Different.” As in many of its previous iterations, this long-standing artistic tandem—Oblak and Novak have been working together for more than twenty years—will here reflect on the complex relationships between humans and technology, situating all the visual “chapters” of this “completely different” story within the interfaces and edges of screens from which the artists cannot escape.
The Monty Python reference in the exhibition title suggests a series of sketches without a linear sequence, existing instead as a chain of fragments that perpetuate the same idea over and over again, each time told in a completely different way. The works of Nika Oblak and Primož Novak are not merely a critique of technological progress and the digital environment, with which we have become so deeply intertwined that it has effectively become part of us. Rather, the artists humorously contemplate the inevitability of the intertwining of the organic and the inorganic, and the attempt at some form of coexistence between the real and the virtual.
The more we are surrounded by the digital world, the more intensely it begins to shape our perception of reality and our identity. That same identity, in turn, becomes increasingly uncertain, because as time passes, we no longer know what is truly “ours” and what we have absorbed from the virtual environment. The authors nevertheless attempt to maintain a certain degree of control—aware that it is gradually slipping away—while balancing, both in a literal, physical sense and in a metaphorical one, between the extremes imposed by technological progress and society. Moderation, it seems, is no longer an option.
Their continual attempts at balancing, rising, falling, and persistently moving in circles speak of a constant state of being on the threshold between control and loss of control, meaning and absurdity, the human and the mechanical. In this sense, balance is never truly achieved; although the protagonists appear to strive for a form of stability, it is always short-lived. The repetition of actions functions as an attempt to regain control—but as the action is endlessly repeated, its inherent absurdity becomes ever more pronounced.
In the works of these artists, repetition serves as a key mechanism through which the relationship between the living and the mechanical is revealed, in a way that echoes Henri Bergson’s interpretation. Ultimately, this mechanism results in humor and irony. Bergson argued that we, as human beings, laugh at situations in which a person behaves rigidly, repeating an action or movement over and over again, like an automaton, a machine, or a puppet on strings. Life, he writes in his essay “Laughter,” is fluid and ever-changing, whereas everything mechanical is rigid, automatic, and repetitive. The comic arises precisely at the moment when these two principles collide—when what is alive begins to behave like a thing.
In the works of Oblak and Novak, this collision is not momentary or singular, but deliberately prolonged and exaggerated. The body does not accidentally fall into a mechanical pattern, as in Bergson’s example of comedy arising when a person slips on a banana peel and, thrown off balance, begins to resemble a mechanical puppet. Oblak and Novak persist in this “collision” intentionally—movements are repeated, gestures become automated, and behavior becomes predictable almost to the point of complete depersonalization.
Like Sisyphus, who, having angered the gods, was condemned to eternally push a boulder uphill only for it to roll back down just before reaching the top, the actions in the artists’ works offer no resolution or progress. It seems as though the artists willingly accept this punishment, having already entered the discourse on technological progress. While their works can, on one hand, be viewed as a comically exaggerated path leading into absurdity, they also reflect a particular existential condition in which the endless repetition of the same points to the fundamental absurdity of human existence—an absurdity one must learn to live with.
Given that, despite all efforts, the artists have found no way out of the pattern, nothing remains but balancing or adapting to the situation.

Mirna Rul

Nika Oblak & Primož Novak have been working as a collective since 2003. In their artistic practice they examine contemporary media and capital driven society as they dissect its
visual and linguistic structure. They have exhibited worldwide, in venues like the Sharjah Biennial (UAE), Japan Media Arts
Festival, Tokyo (JP), Istanbul Biennial (TR), Transmediale Berlin (DE), FILE Sao Paulo (BR)… Oblak & Novak received numerous grants and awards, including the CYNETART Award (DE),
an honorary mention at Biennale WRO (PL), White Aphroid Award by MMC KIBLA (SI) and Rihard Jakopič honorable mention, highest national award for visual arts (SI).