18. 6. 2022 The Witch Twins / guided tour

The Witch Twins / guided tour
UGM Studio, Trg Leona Štuklja 2
Saturday, 18 June 2022, 19:00

led by: Jure Kirbiš, curator

You are invited to a guided tour of The Witch Twins exhibition by Alena and Robi Predanič, which will take place on the 20th Summer Museum Night.

The Predanič twins prop up a mirror to the world. It is not a kind of mirror that reflects the world in all its cruelty and rawness as if under a fluorescent light, but a looking glass like one through which Alice walked in the story and discovered a wonderland populated with archetypal characters – our world, upside down.

“Our performance is deliberately amplified – theatrical, at once dramatic and comedic. The movements are sudden, unexpected and thus can often seem startling and bizarre.” Their characters are based on druids and magi, sorcerers and witches, divine beings, aliens, cyborgs, toys. Bodies are often distorted; proportions are exaggerated and silhouettes are unmistakably theirs. The characters are androgynous, asexual. “Skirts or trousers, either will do,” says Alen. “Our personalities on steroids,” adds Robi. The sets, props and costumes are all crafted by hand of papier-mâché, fabric and other materials. The figures are placed in all sorts of scenery, transplanted using collage onto colourful and textured backdrops. They can be placed in front of buildings that reveal the ravages of time (decrepit factories, old villas). Other times the characters are shot in situ in nature or on set. All the elements of their creation together make up total images, to which a grainy feel of analogue photography, old VHS tape distortion effect and a saturated colour palette of orange hues and jewel tones is added in digital postproduction.

Alen and Robi Predanič (b. 1994 in Brežice, Slovenia) have been making music videos for musicians from around the globe. Their video for the singles Show Me Your Hand and C'mon by American artist Greg Hatem was screened at the FSF | Festival of Slovenian Film (Portorož, Slovenia), the Ljubljana Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and the Tresk Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia). At Tresk, it was among the nominees for the best Slovenian video of the year. The video for the single Mushroom Kingdom by the Australian band Sunfruits was aired on the legendary Australian music television programme Rage. The exhibition at UGM Studio is the Predanič brothers’ first presentation in a gallery context.