Silvan Omerzu

Silvan Omerzu’s installations welcome us to each exhibition venue, entering into a dialogue with each space, its history and significance, as well as with the whole of The Oracle. As a sculptor, puppet designer, and director, Omerzu’s work is based in storytelling, masterfully navigating between addressing children or adults, never underestimating his audience, and delivering complex messages in his signature visual style.

The installations linger between the theatrical and the sculptural, frozen in motion or left to their automated movements. Even so, their expressiveness and the scenographic quality of the scenes are relatable and legible. Observing them feels like taking in lines from a book, or almost hearing the spoken words of a theatrical performance.

The installation at Grad Tivoli, the seat of MGLC, references its militaristic past. The building served as military barracks and hospital for a while, and was later gifted to Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky, whose monument stands in front. Omerzu’s installation is decidedly anti-militarist, as the automated puppets emphasise the relentlessness of the war machine, showing no mercy and sparing no one. It calls for the acknowledgment of cruelty as a fact of both the past and the present as well as a threat of the future.