Željko Kipke
ŽELJKO KIPKE was born in Čakovec in 1953. Graduated a painter from ALU in Zagreb (1971 - 1976). Attended the Painter’s Master Workshop in Zagreb (1976 - 1981). Took part in the Artists Space exhibition in New York 1989. Spending a part of 1991 in Marseilles, he threw an individual exhibition there. His paintings have been bought by the Peter Stuyvesant Collection in Amsterdam, FRAC collection in Tolouse (Les Abattoirs) and Museum der Moderner Kunst in Wienna. He represented Croatia at the Venetian biennial in 1993, and the Kairo biennial two years later. Writes essays and critiques on experimental film and art in dailies and periodicals, and is a fully accredited member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) since 1997. Participant in Szeemann's authorial exhibition Blood & Honey / Future's in the Balkans in Klosterneuburg (Vienna) 2003. Appointed Commissioner of the Croatian pavilion at 52nd International Art Exhibition in Venice 2007. He has published six books: Illuminators of the New Cycle, Zagreb, 1989; The Subterraneous Guide, Zagreb, 1992; Beware of Immitations, Zagreb, 1993; From Abundance to the Moon, Zagreb, 1998; Any Similarity with Real People And Events Is Iintentional, Zagreb 2004; February to February, Zagreb 2005.
FILMOGRAPHY
- SOME GIRLS (1980 – 2003)
DVD version 3’50”, colour, sound
camera: Željko Kipke
restoration and technical processing: Croatian Film Clubs' Association (film transfered from 8 mm film)
The camera features the faces of twenty-one women the author knew in the early eighties. The soundtrack – a muted murmur that can be heard in theatre halls before premieres – was added later, in 2003.
- VELIKA BIJELA SPIRALA / THE GREAT WHITE SPIRAL, 1982 – 2003
DVD version 3’39”, colour, sound
camera: Marijan Molnar
restoration and technical processing: Croatian Film Clubs' Association (film transfered from 8 mm film)
A film document about the photographing and placing of a large, white spiral in public space (Otokar Keršovani Square in Zagreb).
- DOZIVANJE KIŠE / SUMMONING THE RAIN, 1983 – 2003
DVD version 3’47”, colour, sound
camera: Željko Kipke
restoration and technical processing: Croatian Film Clubs' Association (film transfered from 8 mm film)
This film is a result of the author’s eager desire to summon the rain on a dry summer day of 1983, near the lake of Jarun in Zagreb, with the help of a S8 film camera and a painted canvas.
- TONZURA KRIŽA / THE TONSURE OF THE CROSS, 1983/84 – 2003
DVD version 3’49”, colour, sound
camera: Jasna Jurum-Kipke
restoration and technical processing: Croatian Film Clubs' Association (film transfered from 8 mm film)
A document about the tonsure of cross on the author’s head. The action was performed in the near vicinity of the Zagreb lake of Jarun. The soundtrack, Bach performed by Višnja Mažuran on cymbals, was added later, in 2003.
- CRNI ČETVEROKUT / THE BLACK SQUARE, 1984 – 2003
DVD version 3’27”, colour, sound
camera: Jasna Jurum-Kipke
restoration and technical processing: Croatian Film Clubs' Association (film transfered from 8 mm film)
Placing of a big black square in the background of another picture. The film is a short document of an action performed in the former gallery of Extended media at Starčević’s Square in Zagreb.
- CRNO CRNJE OD CRNOGA / BLACK BLACKER THAN BLACK, 1985 – 2003
DVD version 7’02”, colour, sound
camera: Boris Vidović
restoration and technical processing: Croatian Film Clubs' Association (film transfered from 8 mm film)
On Easter 1985, at Otokar Keršovani Square, the author drew a black figure on the ground consisting of two rhomboidal forms and laid in it.
The unstable film shot, originally taken in S8 format, is the result of the cameraman circling (Boris Vidović) around the centre of action. Namely, he was holding the camera with one hand, and driving the bike with the other. In 2003, when the original material was transferred to 16mm tape, the sound of mountain wind was added.
VIDEOGRAPHY
- SEI-KHAI-REICH, 2006.
- INVISIBLE SCULPTURE, 2006.
- NINER STRETCH, 2007.
- INVISIBLE GALLERIES, 2009.
- SURVEILLANCE CAMERA, 2011.