Oculos Super Ignes Vigilantes Volavimus

Bio

SPEKTR Z (Sensor Polygon for Electromagnetism, Communication, Technology, Research and Sensing) is a polygon for research art initiated by conceptual artist and researcher Marko Peljhan. In 1992, Peljhan established the arts organization Projekt Atol and in 1995 he helped to establish the new media laboratory LJUDMILA. He presented his work in some of the most eminent institutions, biennales, exhibitions and festivals of new media in contemporary art in the world, such as documenta X, Venice Biennale, Transmediale, Istanbul Biennale, Tate Modern, MACBA, New Museum of Modern Art, P.S.1 MOMA, KIASMA, Ntt ICC Tokyo, Artlab Tokyo, ACC Gwangju, Jeu de Paume Paris, YCAM Yamaguchi and Ars Electornica, where he was also the 2007 “featured artist”. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including the UNESCO digital media award, and the first award of the Prešern fund for intermedia arts in Slovenia. In 2001 he received the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica with Carsten Nicolai for their collaborative work Polar. His work has been reviewed in numerous publications such as Art Forum, New York Times, Art in America, Frieze and many others. Peljhan serves as professor of new media in interdisciplinary studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara since the summer of 2002. From 2008 to September 2013, he was the co-director of the Institute for Research in the Arts for the whole system of 10 University of California campuses, and from summer 2017 to summer 2022, he was the Chair of the Media Arts and Technology program at UCSB, where he also serves as director of the SYSTEMICS laboratory since 2011. In 2019 he represented Slovenia at the 57th Venice Biennale, and in the summer his program ISOLABS was selected as one of the featured multi-year events within the Cultural Capital of Europe GO2025 Nova Gorica-Gorizia program. In addition to artistic activities, Peljhan also acted as one of the founders for the establishment of the Center of Excellence for space technologies and sciences SPACE-SI, where he took care of international cooperation, and is one of the promotors for the establishment of the Slovenian Space Agency. He was also one of the instrumental actors for the creation and launch of the first Slovenian microsatellite NEMO-HD, which was successfully launched in space on an Ariane Vega launcher in September 2020. In 2007 he co-founded the high technology company C-ASTRAL. In the radio spectrum he operates as S54MX.