INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL BREAK 2.2

The Break 2.2 Festival (previously called Break 21 Festival) is an international art festival focused on urban, technologically supported artistic practices that can be considered part of the current avant-garde. The festival (now in its seventh year) has, in a relatively short time established itself as one of the most important festivals in Slovenia and gained worldwide recognition. Break 2.2 will take place from 17. 6. till 28. 6. at different venues in Ljubljana (Kapelica Gallery, Kiberpipa, Club K4, Slovenian Cinematheque, Ljubljana Castle ...)

The selected theme for the Break 2.2 Festival is "Invisible Threat." By presenting a number of art projects and lectures at the symposium, each one treating different aspects of this theme, we want to make it possible for festival audiences to experience a reality in which dangers have been kept hidden. The goal of the Break 2.2 Festival is to inspire the artistic and theoretical presentation of seismographic threat-spotting and to stimulate the viewer's awareness of the surrounding world.
Key words connected with the selected theme include pollution, poison, viruses, genetics, bionics, radiation, medication side-effects, nanotechnology, surveillance, manipulation, cyber violence/crime, hacking/cracking, infra/ultra sound, infra/ultra light, ideology, mass media, corporations ...

From 1997 to 2000, the festival was produced by the Student Organization of the University of Ljubljana and had the primary function of presenting young emerging artists. Since 2001, the festival has been the project of Zavod K6/4, a nonprofit institution operating in the area of contemporary art and culture. With the new management, the basic contents of the festival expanded. Conceptual changes introduced in 2002 festival (the theme of which was "Dead or Alive"; www.break21.org) included a focus on technologically more demanding contemporary art practices; the articulation of a specific theme which, although significant, was not receiving adequate discussion in society; a symposium on the festival theme featuring lectures by invited artists and scholars from various fields; the removal of any specific age limit for participating artists; and collaboration with invited guests (including world-acclaimed artists and theoreticians) as a way of facilitating the transfer of knowledge and creating innovative dialogue with young artists.

Because of the great success of the 2002 festival, we decided to keep the same basic structure when planning this year's festival. We also decided to indicate the festival's conceptual transformation (compared to pre-2002 festivals) by making a small alteration in the name, which will change slightly each year: Break 2.2, Break 2.3, Break 2.4, etc. In this way, we want to underscore the fact that each year's festival will be unique. Each new festival will deal with a different theme and so provide an appropriate response to the changing social realities and new trends in contemporary art and culture.