Conceptual passages - Srečo Dragan’s new media art projects

The paper introduces several explorations in new media art by Slovene artist Sreco Dragan. The main aspects of his work are the institutions of techno-modified gaze and techno-performance. He explored the institution of techno-modified gaze in the 1990s, when several modes of mixed reality were tested by means of invented conceptual platforms for entering virtual reality and connecting it back to the movement in the gallery space. Internet was used as a new bearer of the tele-present places and of computer-generated reconstructions of architectural spaces. Techno-modified gaze is reflected in the techno-image, in its ldquoconceptual plan of enteringrdquo. The second institution, techno-performance, operating by means of computer vision involves the user at the point of his/her enunciation or display of a determining personal characteristic. It refers to the early happenings, e.g. group communication in a ldquoclosed-circuitrdquo video installation. It addresses the user as a task for rearranging his/her mental archive in relation to the physical experiences and cultural background.