Marko Peljhan is an artist and a researcher, exploring art, technology and science. His projects, initiatives and collaborations range from ecology and social reflection to tactical media, technology, space exploration and geopolitics.
Born in 1969 in Šempeter pri Gorici, Peljhan studied theatre and radio directing at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. In 1994, he founded the art organisation Atol Project and a year later was one of the co-founders of Ljudmila, a Ljubljana-based new media laboratory. One of his best-known projects, Macrolab, was first presented at Documents exhibition in 1997 and again at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003.
Over the last 25 years, Peljhan's work has been featured and awarded at numerous biennials and festivals (including Venice, Gwangju, Brussels, Manifesta Festival, Johannesburg, Istanbul, etc.), ISEA and Ars Electronica exhibitions, as well as museums, such as P.S.1 MoMA, New Museum of Contemporary Art, ICC NTT Tokyo, YCAM Yamaguchi, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Asia Culture Centre Gwangju, and the Garage in Moscow. In 2001, he was the first Slovenian artist to receive the Prix Ars Electronica for Polar project, which he co-created with German artist Carsten Nicolai.
Since 2008, he and American-Canadian artist Matthew Biederman have led the Arctic Perspective Initiative, which focuses on the global significance of the Arctic geopolitical, natural and cultural spheres, and was presented at the 2011 Coded Utopia Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Peljhan's work also focuses on research and pedagogical aspects at the crossroads of art, technology and media at the UC Santa Barbara, where he holds a full professorship. In Slovenia, he was one of the initiators of the Space, Science and Technology Centre of Excellence and has been active in space and aeronautics research and culturalisation since 1998. He is known as S54MX among radio audience.
With the support of ECoC, Peljhan is working on an art and science project named ISOLABS, which will focus on the Soča Valley – fieldwork, environmental and remote sensing, mapping, as well as reflection and encounters with the local and global community. "I am particularly interested in the delta of Soča River, which is marked by everything that happens from the river's source to its mouth. We are interested in what we can understand from the environmental and ecological systems. We have already observed the delta with the help of Planet satellites," said Marko Peljhan.
The project is designed as a landscape of forensic research and dialogue, exploring the complex interplay of art, science, technology, language and environment, situated in the area from the source to the mouth of Soča River. ISOLABS integrates fieldwork, environmental and remote sensing, mapping and reflexive practices with local and global communities, exploring and testing the boundaries between different disciplines, cultures, subcultures and natural systems. This series of events and situations represents an important step in the exploration of the complex systems that shape our world, combining precise scientific research with the dimensions of conceptual art.
"We are exploring the Soča Valley, from the source to the mouth, its elements, trying to understand the environment as a generator of contents that are invisible, liminal, and create crossroads of science, art, linguistics, poetry and cultures that mix here. ISOLABS is a never-ending project." Peljhan adds that ISOLABS as a name has derived from the word isolation and also refers to the Greek term isos, as well as, of course, Isonzo/Soča, while labs refers to the whole system of the valley as a laboratory.
