Zuzana Sabová and Gabriela Zigová (SL)
Performance in the tower at Hamsunsentert, Thursday August 6th
I HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE:
Curated text by Miroslava Urbanová
The project of the two artists is not only a fusion of their creativity, but also a composition of their artistic identities into variable and fluid sizes that thematize new interfaces for our existence in digital worlds. In the multimedia installation we can observe how the boundaries of individual identity are erased, or how new memories are generated through artificial intelligence tools using raw data from existing family albums. The human being appears here as a data source, information that can not only be exploited by marketing tools for targeted advertising, but also by oneself in the work of developing alternative scenarios of existence.
Zuzana Sabová (b. 1987) is a Slovak visual artist. Sabová’s practice moves seamlessly between drawing, graphics, sculpture and animation, exploring the intersections between traditional media and a contemporary visual language. This interdisciplinary approach has been developed through long-term collaborations with Boris Vitázek, with projects screened at international festivals such as White Night (Biela noc), BLIK BLIK (Plzeň), Signal Festival (Prague), Intervals Festival (Nizjnij Novgorod) and Prisma Festival (Aveiro).
Since 2020, she has lived and worked in Moravany nad Váhom, where the surrounding landscape has become an important source of inspiration for her site-specific installations and spatial interventions. She is currently the main organizer of the contemporary art project ARTROOMS MORAVANY, an initiative that seeks to promote dialogue between contemporary art, place and local community.
Gabriela Zigová (b. 1989) is a Slovak visual artist who works across photography, performance and installation. Zigová's practice spans photography, performance and installation. Drawing on personal experiences and documentary approaches, she explores how social, cultural and political realities shape individual and collective identities. She works with photography both as a document and as a starting point, often allowing the images to develop into performative and spatial forms. Through the use of the body, found materials and site-responsive intervention, she reflects on themes such as memory, transformation, presence and absence, as well as the traces left by people and places.
Much of her work explores communities, subcultures, and temporary spaces of belonging, looking at how relationships, rituals, and shared experiences can create alternative forms of care, resilience, and resistance. Her long-standing engagement with these themes has recently culminated in the photobook “Dancing Through the Debris,” which explores collective experiences and the transformative power of the contemporary cultural underground.
The artists are part of an exchange project in collaboration with Culture SiTY, Trencin, Slovakia. Trencin is the European Capital of Culture in 2026.