Edita Pecotic

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Selected Works

Temporary Internet Files2 – web exhibition (2010)

Temporary (Internet) Files 2′ is a series of time-lapse videos that display seasonal transformations of a landscape. Each video lasts for 45 seconds and is made of a series of 100 still photos, collected via a temporary internet files folder, from the online accessible webcam. The videos act as a form of meditation and contemplation on time and the corresponding notion of duration, as well as being a personal diary. By using contemporary technological resources, the work also makes a reference to the perception of time in modern culture. This work is a continuation of the previous ‘Temporary (Internet) Files’ project.

Temporary (Internet) Files – video color PAL, 4:3, 192′, 2008/2009

Temporary (Internet) Files, 2008, 9 ‘ 26 ” excerpt from 192 ‘ original

Temporary (Internet) Files’ is a time-lapse video that displays seasonal transformations of a landscape. It is made of a series of still photos, collected over the course of a whole year, via a ‘temporary internet files’ folder, from the public, online accessible webcam. The video acts as a form of meditation and contemplation on time and the corresponding notion of duration, as well as being a personal diary. By using contemporary technological resources, the work also makes a reference to the perception of time in modern culture.

Edita Pecotić: Temporary (Internet) Files video color PAL, 4:3, 192′, silent, , 2007-2009‘ Temporary (Internet) Files’ is a time lapse video which displays seasonal transformations of a landscape. It is made of a series of still photos, collected over the course of a whole year, via ‘temporary internet files’ folder, from the public, online accessible webcam. The video acts as a form of meditation and contemplation on time and the corresponding notion of duration, as well as being a personal diary. By using contemporary technological resources, the work also makes a reference to the perception of time in modern culture. The whole of that time which I spent in the daily ritual of collecting, sorting and rearranging the photographic stills in a timeline, I experienced this process as a type of personal struggle against that inescapable disappearing. Surrendering to those moments where nothing happens, as the transitory is inevitable, I withdrew into a simultaneously sweet and bitter state of contemplation, filled with contented flow of time and the simultaneous interwoven sense of emptiness and helplessness of the moments which are all but gone forever. In this way I followed, from day to day, one whole small world determinedly existing on the edge of fading, which awoke in me a feeling of abandonment into that middle space of reality, imagination and doubt. While the images of the town were lost in the dusk, time, enormous and unreachable, flew from every file, from every adjusted transition. In that careful, attentive following of change and the mute following of time, never knowing if it is about beginnings or endings and in my indecisiveness between documenting reality and running away from it, I tried to make something that is not just a visible window into a piece of reality, but a re-created history which is at the same time real and imagined” (Edita Pecotić)The diary-like recording of the change between night and day, the weather motions and seasons in the everyday, gained for Edita Pecotić a base for creating a contemporary picture of a virtual reality. Using an additional reality and the compression of familiar images in a three-hour simulation of a new world, she has achieved an effectively geocentric reality where all is in continuous movement while the landscape remains still. There is a significant difference between the scenery in reality and that which the artist has created by organising gathered images into a timeline. Through selection and organisation; choosing details which she deemed significant, the artist has produced a shift from the real into the selective and subjective, thereby creating a process of shifting from the real to the unreal. Thus a familiar view becomes, in the words of Jean Baudillard, “fleeting and interesting electronic pictures elusive of reality”. The ambient simulation of the landscape, created through compressing space and time is a process by which the artist attempts to problematise the space-time relationship and the human role in that relationship” (Zorica Beus, art critic)Edita Pecotic was born in Korčula, Croatia. She graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Dubrovnik in 1983 and in 2006 she graduated with a degree in Fine Art from the London Metropolitan University. She has taken part in one solo and several group exhibitions. She is a member of Siva Zona – a space for contemporary and media art, the society of visual artists of Korčula, Croatia, the informal artist group kor::net and FemAdLib Collective – a not-for-profit group of artists in London. In her work she uses various media such a video, painting and photographs. She lives and works in Korčula and London. (Korcula, 2009)

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Edita Pecotić: Temporary (Internet) Files
Gradski muzej Korčula 01. 07. – 31. 08.2009.
Tijekom srpnja i kolovoza, svake srijede, na zidovima staroga grada Korčule prikazivat će se najnovije djelo umjetnice Edite Pecotić – ‘Temporary (Internet) Files’. Projekt je nastao u suradnji s Gradskim muzejom Korčula, koji time nastavlja niz svojih ovogodišnjih programa.Po svemu izdvojen video projekt ‘Temporary (Internet) Files’ je time lapse video koji prikazuje odmak vremena u panoramskom krajoliku, napravljen od serije fotografija koje je umjetnica prikupljala tijekom jedne godine putem interneta s javno dostupne web kamere. Video, koji djeluje kao forma meditacije i kontemplacije na temu vremena i trajanja, ima i obilježja dnevnika, budući da se radi o rekonstrukciji vremena u okviru osobnih izbora. Upotrebom suvremene tehnologije, rad se također referira na percepciju vremena u suvremenoj kulturi. Naslov videa, preuzet od naziva direktorija, odnosi na riječ ‘temporary’ odnosno ‘privremeno’ koja ima konotacije sveopće prolaznosti i nepostojanosti te promjene kao jedine konstante, što je ujedno i osnovna tema ovog umjetničkog rada. Video će se prikazivati svake srijede u večernjim satima na otvorenim prostorima staroga grada Korčule od 01.07. do 31. 8. 2009.«Cijelo to vrijeme koje sam provela u dnevnom ritualu sakupljanja, razvrstavanja i preslagivanja fotografija u timeline, prihvaćala sam kao neku vrstu osobne borbe protiv neizbježnog nestanka. Prepuštajući se tom toku, onim momentima u kojima se ništa ne događa, a prolaznost je neumoljiva, povlačila sam se u nekakvo istovremeno slatko i gorko stanje kontemplacije, ispunjeno zadovoljnim strujanjem vremena i isprepleteno gorkim osjećajem praznine i nemoći trenutaka koji samo što nisu otišli zauvijek. Prateći tako iz dana u dan taj jedan cijeli mali svijet uporno postojan na rubu isčeznuća, budio se u meni osjećaj napuštenosti u tom međuprostoru stvarnosti, mašte i sumnje. Dok bi se slika Grada gubila u sutonima, vrijeme mi je, u svojoj golemost i enormnosti, nedostižno i neuhvatljivo, izmicalo iz svake fajle, iz svake naštimane tranzicije. Hvatala sam ga i ljepila po timelineu, otkidala mu i odbacivala komadiće, da bi ih onda fabricirala i dodavala u slijedećem frejmu ili slijedećoj sekundi. Svjetlo, sjene, oblaci, barke i brodovi, redali su se tako kao nedovršene priče koje se pojave pa isčeznu, za sobom ne ostavljajući nikakvog traga osim onog u sjećanju, da bi se ponovno pojavljivale prepričane u nekoj drugoj varijanti, na nekom drugom mjestu, gdje se ponovno pretapaju zauvijek u novu priču novog vremena… U tom pomnom praćenju promjene i nijemom uhođenju vremena, ne znajući nikad radi li se o počecima ili završecima, te u mojoj neodlučnosti između dokumentiranja stvarnosti i istovremenog bježanja od nje, pokušala sam napraviti nešto što nije samo prividan prozor u komadić realnosti, nego ponovno kreirana povijest koja je istovremeno i realna i izmišljena.» , zapisuje o svom radu umjetnica Edita Pecotić.«Ideja o novim medijima kao produžetku ljudskog nervnog sustava i uopće ljudskih čula, koju je šezdesetih godina dvadesetog stoljeća proklamirao M. McLuhan, ubrzo se obistinila u tehnološkoj simbiozi hardvera i softvera. Institucija interneta uspjela je u totalnom povezivanju svijeta. Mogućnost sažimanja prostora i vremena (kompresija) u sustavu interneta otvorila je i ogromne mogućnosti za nastanak virtualne realnosti novoga tipa. Odabrani pojedinac može lako stvarati novi svijet za svoje korisnike.
Gotovo dnevnički bilježeći smjene dana i noći, vremenskih prilika kao i godišnjih doba iz korčulanske svakodnevnice, umjetnica je dobila bazu za kreiranje suvremene slike virtualne realnosti. Postigla ju je uz pomoć aditivne (lat. Additivus) realnosti, kompresijom poznatih sličica u trosatnu simulaciju novoga svijeta, gotovo geocentrične realnosti gdje se sve se kreće dok korčulanski poluotočić miruje. Znatna je razlika između slike toga prizora u živo i onoga što je autorica dobila organiziranjem sakupljenih fotografija u timelineu. Selekcijom i organizacijom proizvodi pomijeranje realnog u selektivno i subjektivno, biranjem samo njoj važnih detalja. I to je bitna odlika video umjetnosti, taj proces pomjeranja od realnog, preko indikativnog do irealnog. Jedan poznati prizor koga često susrećemo na turističkim promidžbenim plakatima, umjetnica je prevela u letimične i zanimljive elektronske slike koje izmiču stvarnosti, rekao bi Jean Baudrillard. Ambijentalna simulacija Korčule, stvorena kompresijom slika (sažimanjem prostora i vremena) djelo je pomoću kojeg Edita Pecotić pokušava problematizirati odnos prostor – vrijeme i naravno, čovjekovu ulogu u tome odnosu», naglašava likovna kritičarka Zorica Beus.Činjenje vremena vidljivim: Vrijeme, kao jedna od elementarnih kategorija čovjekova postojanja izazovnija je od ostalih uslijed nemogućnosti njegova kontroliranja te vladanja njime. Sve teče. Phanta rei. Video rad Temporary (Internet) Files otvara pred našim očima vidljivost tu- bitka, te nas neposredno uvodi u put otkrivanja temeljne strukture postojanja, uz uvjet da smo mu se spremni prepustiti svim čulima; unatoč činjenici da sam rad podražava isključivo vizualnu percepciju. Upravo konstitutivni element ovog umjetničkog djela jest vrijeme i njegovo nedjeljivo svojstvo – protjecanje. Površnom promatraču lako se može omaći osjećaj ne – događanja, no spoznaja o temeljnom ustrojstvu bitka u vremenosti, izrečena umjetničkim jezikom, mogla bi mu pri tom ostati skrivena. Virtualno je sažimanje realnog vremena omogućeno suvremenom tehnologijom; pa bez obzira na kom se djeliću zemaljske kugle autorica nalazila, tehnološki dohvatljiva identična statična prostorna slika Korčule, koju permanentno mijenja protežnost vremena, stvara poseban efekt, budući da se dvojstvo vrijeme – prostor otkriva u svojoj opreci od uobičajenog ljudskog iskustva opažaja. Prostor savršeno miruje, a vrijeme ubrzano teče…(kustosica izložbe Sani Sardelić)Edita Pecotić rođena je 1960. u Korčuli. Diplomirala je 1983. godine na Ekonomskom fakultetu u Dubrovniku, a 2006. završila Fine Art Degree na London Metropolitan University. Članica je Sive zone – prostora suvremene i medijske umjetnosti, Udruge likovnih umjetnika Korčule, neformalne umjetničke grupe kor::net te FemAdLib Kolektiva – neprofitne grupe umjetnika u Londonu. U svom radu koristi različite medije poput videa, slikarstva i fotografije. Ovo je njena druga samostalna izlozba. Živi i radi u Korčuli i Londonu. (Korcula, 2009)

Temporary (Internet) Files Exhibition Korcula 2009

Exhibition + here

Video Instalacija: Temporary Internet Files“Temporary Internet Files” je video rad koja prikazuje odmak vremena u gradu Korculi u trajanju od jedne kalendarske godine. Ovo je u principu jedna duga video fotografija u kojoj su dani odjeljenji tranzicijama, dok su mjeseci odvojeni tekstom sa nazivima pojedinog mjeseca.Zimski mjeseci su dramaticni u smislu izmjene svjetla i sjena, dok su ljetni mjeseci vise obiljezeni promjenama koje su ljudi – stanovnici grada sami inicirali: kretanje baraka i brodova, paljenje i gasenje svjetala, te su ti mali i veci pomaci ujedno i dokaz zivosti grada.Svaki kalendarski mjesec je zastupljen sa 12-15 minuta te stoga video traje 3 sata i predvidjen je za linearno prikazivanje na platnu, zidu ili fasadi.Video je napravljen tokom 2007 i 2008 godine na nacin da sam u ciklusu od godine dana, putem direktorija “temporary internet files” sa svog racunala, svakodnevno strpljivo sakupljala fotografije sa web servera korcula.net/cam_mpolo.htm gdje se live-slika panorame Korcule mijenja svakih 60 sekundi, omogucavajuci putem interneta distribuciju imagea sirom svijeta .
Direktorij ‘Temporary internet Files’ je odredio koje ce fotografije memorizirati a koje odbaciti, zavisno o mojim drugim aktivnostima na racunalu pojedinog dana, buduci da taj direktorij ima ogranicenu memoriju, te automatski brise fajle koje su zastarjele, kako bi stvorio prostor za nove. Na ovaj nacin video je dobio i obiljezje dnevnika buduci da se radi o rekonstrukciji vremena u okviru mojih osobnih specifikacija.Nakon godine dana sakupljanja, kolekciju od desetak tisuca fotografija sam selektirala na bazi vremenskog pomaka od 10-tak minuta, te dosla do odabranih 60 do 90 fotografija po danu (zavisno do duzine pojedinog dana te mojih drugih aktivnosti) koje sam potom poredala u time-line na nacin da dan traje od 30 do 45 sekundi. Tako sam dobila video rad u kojem niti jedna fotografija nije ista iako se oko kamere nije pomicalo osim sto bi ponekad bilo zamagljeno zbog kapljica kise, rose ili leda.Ovaj umjetnicki rad sam napravila u mediju videa kako bi iskoristila pokretnu sliku kao obiljezje ‘promjene’ odnosno ‘vremena’.Naslov videa, preuzet od naziva direktorija, odgovara radu buduci da se odnosi na rijec ‘temporary’ odnosno ‘privremeno’ koja ima konotacije sveopce prolaznosti i nepostojanosti te promjene kao jedine konstante, sto je ujedno i osnovna tema ovog umjetnickog rada.Pomocu tudjeg oka kamere, postavljenog tako da promatracu otkriva sliku grada Korcule, simbola osobnog i kolektvnog identiteta, te putem internestskih fajli, bavila sam se vremenskim razlikama i intervalima, zaustavljenim momentima, te osobnim i kolektivnim sjecanjem odnosno memorijom.
Video Instalacija “Temporary Internet Files” je predvidjena da se postavi tako da se video rad projicira u “loop-u” na odgovarajucim javnim lokacijama (npr: zidine i/ili fasade starog grada Korcule) i to u ljetnim, vecernjim satima, omogucavjuci setacima/ prolaznicima/ namjernicima da (za)stanu i provedu malo vremena gledajuci projekciju. Neki ce od gledaoca pogledati veci dio videa, dok ce drugi ubrzo otici jer nece imati strpljenja pratiti tok vremena. Buduci da je instalacija bez zvuka, prikladna je za postavu na lokacijama gdje dodatno zagadjenje zvukom nije dobrodoslo.Postava video instalacije u javnom prostoru grada Korcule ima namjeru povezati umjetnost sadasnjosti i arhitekturu proslosti. Na taj bi nacin umjetnicki rad svojim postojanjem van okvira galerije te svojim djelovanjem u javnom prostoru dobio drugaciju publiku i funkciju.Edita Pecotic, Listopad 2008

Moreska – video color PAL, 4:3, mini DV , 20 ’ , 2008

Moreska is a medieval drama and sword dance that is still performed in Croatia’s town of Korcula. The story follows the conflict between the Red King and the Black King and their soldiers, as the Red King’s fiancée is captured by the Black army. This romantic and ritualized sword battle is performed in seven circles representing seven different dances with swords. Finally, the Black King is conquered and his fiancée happily returns to the arms of her beloved Red King.
As opposed to the original dance/drama, in the video ‘Moreska’ by Edita Pecotic, the artist has given the fiancée the main role, offering the audience the opportunity to concentrate solely on the portrait of the woman. The video depicts her 20-minute-long struggle between engagement and boredom with her role ranging from engaged to passive, from dynamic to bored.
This work is made in an attempt to explore general (universal) gender issues – the role of women throughout history as well as in the contemporary world, determined by continuous conflicts globally as much as within the domestic environment.

Moreska Exhibition in Korcula

Time to Go Home (Final Hour) – video color PAL, 4:3, mini DV, 1’, 2006

video kolor PAL, 4:3, mini DV , 1 ’ 2006

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This one-minute video shows a journey by an empty bus along the route of deserted bus stops. As the doors open at regular intervals, the sight of another bus stop is revealed, offering the viewer a glance at a changed scene. By the symbolic use of bus stops as waiting for places and metaphors of points of arrival and departure, this video deals with the notion of blurred boundaries between beginnings and endings.

Long Road Wrapped in the Pocket for Future Reference – acrylic on canvas, 2005

Beauty Contest, 1’3O”, stop frame animation, 2004

Maps – acrylic on canvas, 2003-2004

Fishbone (in the Throat)

Fishbone (in the Throat) is a painting that represents the map of Korčula’s Old Town, where its cobbled streets are structured in the shape of a fish skeleton, a technique of town planning that was applied to trap the sea breeze for the purposes of natural air-conditioning in medieval towns.

By reshuffling and muddling up the streets on a town plan, this work refers to the suffocating (choking) experience of a closed community existence.

Untitled (Travel Guide)

Untitled (Travel Guide) depicts a map of Korcula’s Old Town in which rows of medieval terraced houses are replaced by text taken from advertisements of the local tourism trade.

This painting refers to the phenomenon of “Disneylandization” of the urban environment and addresses the issue of the influence of the tourism industry on a close-knit urban community.

This work put emphasis on the legacy of modern tourism and the seemingly inevitable new reality it brings to local societies by displacing the native population from its traditional dwellings, making room for yet another hotel or holiday apartment.

Sedmi Kolap

Sedmi Kolap is another painting of the Korcula Old Town map, with jumbled up streets that resemble a routed and vanquished army, with medieval defense towers being replaced by Coca-cola bottle tops.

The title of this painting is taken from the title of the seventh and final figure of Moreska and refers to the enemy’s ultimate defeat.

The painting offers several possible interpretations; both ‘surrender’ and ‘defeat’ or, equally, ‘victory’, suggesting a sense of stalemate in the final outcome.

Referring to the ambivalent nature of the notion of progress, this work brings to light the possible Pyrrhic elements of victory and its devastating cost to the victor.

The Frightened Stations Gathered Together for Mutual Support – acrylic on canvas, 2002

The Frightened Stations Gathered Together for Mutual Support – acrylic on canvas (2002)‘A complex kind of joy’

It is perhaps not surprising that artists who have been through something of the grimness of the asylum experience for themselves may feel that humour offers one way out of an inherently dehumanising situation. Edita Pecotic, an artist from Croatia now living in London, demonstrated a light touch in Frightened Stations Gathered Together for Mutual Support, a work reflecting the changing social nature of the urban railway stations where immigrants now arrive in western cities.

The station was once the iconic symbol of modernity but Pecotic subverts its meaning from an expression of confidence and faith in a rational, cosmopolitan and fast-moving modern world, by introducing fear into the picture. Described as the nineteenth century’s “true cathedrals” and established by artists such as Monet and Caillebotte as emblematic of the progress brought on by manufacturing and the growth of metropolitan life, stations no longer represent such unproblematic and optimistic attitudes. For many people, they now symbolise uncertain arrivals and departures; they are places to be fearful and tentative, sites of anxiety and apprehension where a welcome may be far from forthcoming. No wonder they have become ‘frightened’ and need to ‘huddle together for mutual support.’ Nonetheless, there is something playful about the work which brings to mind the comment made by Breda Beban, artist and curator from the former Yugoslavia of the Imaginary Balkans exhibition. “Most of the work in the exhibition is about tracking down a sense of joy,” she reflected, but this is the kind of joy informed by sadness, a complex kind of joy.” (Alex Rotas, 2003)

Edita Pecotic has always been interested in the political issues of otherness, both while living in Croatia and here in the UK. The experiences of alienation and insecurity are conveyed in her work mainly by addressing the urban environment, both its beauty and banality. The landscapes she depicts represent atmospheres of desertion and implicate feelings of fear and loneliness. However, in her work, she also tries to move away from a feeling of entrapment by appreciating and expressing the distinctiveness and beauty of these settings, as part of negotiating a new feeling of belonging. She emphasizes the sense of the ‘bright side’ by aspiring to introduce humor to her work.

CV Edita Pecotic

Exhibitions and participation:

ongoing: “Moreska” has been shown in various group exhibitions..
2012-2013 – @ Trans Adriatic: Alviani artspace, Pescara, Italy
2011 – @ HICA exhibition: Concretely Immaterial, Scotland, UK
2011 – July & August – Temporary Internet Files (2) site-specific video installation /screening @ Korcula Town Museum
2011 – Time to Go Home (Final Hour) – screening @ CologneOFF 2011 – video art in a global context, Tampere, Finland (26 – 28 May 2011)
2011 – Time to Go Home (Final Hour) – screening @ CologneOFF 2011 – video art in a global context, Arad, Arad Art Museum, Romania (31 March – 2 April 2011) – click to download the exhibition catalog
2010 – Web Exhibition – Temporary Internet Files2 – ongoing
2009 – Moreska @ RECONSTRUCTIONS: private = public = private = public =
A selection of Croatian contemporary art @ Rex Cultural Centre, Belgrade, Serbia
2009 – Moreska – screening at Feminae Extravaganza in Split, Croatia
2009 – Temporary (Internet) Files – screening at Tabor Film Festival
2009 – Temporary (Internet) Files – solo exhibition/screening at Korcula Museum
2009 – BEAUTY CONTEST, 1’3O”, stop frame animation (2004) and MOREŠKA, 20’, video (2008) – screened at FemAdLib @ RampART, Whitechapel, London E1
2008 – MOREŠKA, 20’, video (2008) – screened at Voxfeminae, Zagreb and Girl Power Fest, Koprivnica, Croatia
2008 – MOREŠKA, 20’, video (2008) – solo exhibition, at gray) ( area | space of contemporary and media art / Prostor Suvremene i Medijske umjetnosti Siva) (Zona, Korčula 2008
2006 – SEDMI KOLAP, acrylic on canvas (2006) – group show by Udruga Likovnih umjetnika Korčula – Korčula 2006
2006 – TIME TO GO HOME (FINAL HOUR), 1’3O”, video, group show at Summer Show, Unit 6, London 2006
2004 – UNTITLED (Travel Guide), (2004), acrylic on canvas, group exhibition by Udruga likovnih umjetnika Korčula – Korčula 2004
2004 – BEAUTY CONTEST, 1’3O”, stop frame animation , group exhibition Beauty Queens: Smiles, Swimsuits and Sabotage, at Women’s Library Whitechapel , London 2004
2003 – FISHBONE (IN THE THROAT) / Riblja Kost (u grlu), acrylic on canvas, group exhibition by Udruga Likovnih umjetnika Korčula – Korčula 2003
2003 – THE FRIGHTENED STATIONS GATHERED TOGETHER FOR MUTUAL SUPPORT (2003) group exhibition, Leave to Remain, Central Space, London and BBC London – Marylebone High Street – London 2003
2002 – BEAR IN MIND(2002), installation, group exhibition, Unit 6, London 2002