Few music and art collectives are as extensively documented on film as the Slovenian group Laibach, the associated movement Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) and artist collective IRWIN. And the well seemingly never runs dry.

We are excited to present three recent films by Slovenian filmmaker Igor Zupe which explore the history, methodology and cultural impact of NSK, IRWIN and Laibach.

Presented by Lichtblick Kino and Soundwatch Music Festival. With kind support of the Slovenian Cultural Center Berlin – SKICA Berlin

Guest: Igor Zupe

Film program

4:33 Laibach Remake (no dialogue)

SI 2019, music video, 7 min, director: Igor Zupe

The short film 4:33 Laibach Remake is a tribute to the groundbreaking composition by John Cage which redefined conceptions of music, silence and noise. The track and film (as official music clip) were commissioned as part of Mute Records’ STUMM433 project featuring 58 remakes by artists such as Depeche Mode, New Order, Michael Gira, Wire, Einstürzende Neubauten, Nitzer Ebb and others. The proceeds were donated to the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter charities.

International Premiere

From Kapital to Capital (OmeU)

SI 2017, documentary, 52 min, director: Igor Zupe

Chronicle of an infamous artistic intervention by the NSK graphic design department Novi Kolektivizm: in 1987, the group submitted a poster for the state Yugoslavian competition for national holiday Youth Day. Their entry won – and ignited a controversial debate regarding similarities between fascist and socialist realist aesthetics when the submission’s template, a painting by a Nazi-supported artist, was revealed… The film’s international premiere screening coincides with the 38th anniversary of the events depicted.

English subtitles commissioned by the Slovenian Cultural Center Berlin

An Apology for Modernity (OmeU)

SI 2021, documentary, 71 min, director: Igor Zupe

Zupe documents the very first Venice Biennale pavilion of NSK State in Time, the collective’s “first global state of the universe”, through which NSK explored issues of nation-state, borders and identity. Commissioners, curators, artists, delegates and visitors to the pavilion ask questions about the meaning of European cultural and political heritage, its past and future.