A well-known folk legend says: "If a fern seed falls unknowingly into your shoe on Bonfire Night, you can become invisible and understand animal language." This tale serves as a starting point for the scene that is gradually revealed to the viewer in the work In the Circle Beneath the Flower by knnz. In a mysterious meadow in a dark forest, various animals have gathered around a red carnation, inviting us to join them and glimpse into their magical world.

In her work, the artist brings to the fore the reflection on the coexistence of nature, technology and the individual. By exploring magical stories from folklore and past rituals, she builds a secret world full of imaginary details and symbolic elements, looking back to a time when nature was an important element for our ancestors, in which they sought power, wisdom and omens.

‍In the Circle Beneath the Flower can be seen as a fable, which moves away from the anthropocene view and imagines a new reality in which species of animals, symbolically considered as dedicated and diligent workers, appropriate the human ritual of the bonfire and begin to unite into a new communities where humans are not present. By building a fictional environment and storytelling, the artist reflects on our connections and communities in contemporary society and our relationship to nature.

knnz – Neža Knez (1996) completed her bachelor's degree in Graphic and Interactive Communication at the NTF and continued her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, majoring in Video, Animation and New Media. Her work is multidisciplinary, combining CGI (computer-generated imagery), animation and music. Her work is often presented in the form of video installations and VJ performances, allowing her to show otherwise two-dimensional works in multiple spatial dimensions. She is a member of the Beam Team and the V2V community, and collaborates with Tetometo and Uryan, where she works as a VJ and visual artist. In 2020 and 2021, she participated in workshops at the Lighting Guerrilla Festival, and in 2022 she joined the festival with the project Sam si plačilo za vse (You Pay for Everything) in collaboration with Luka Lavrenci. She also exhibited her work in the solo exhibition LivinLaVidaLoca at DobraVaga Gallery (2022), thekidsaren’talright in MGBS (2023) and the group exhibition S03E03: This too shall archive at Kino Šiška (2020). In collaboration with Marko Gavez, she prepared an interactive AR (augmented reality) visualisation for the refurbishment of the exterior of the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture in 2022.

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Znana ljudska legenda pravi: “Če ti na kresno noč v čevelj nevede pade praprotno seme, lahko postaneš neviden in razumeš živalsko govorico.” Omenjena šega služi kot izhodišče za prizor, ki se v delu V krogu pod cvetom umetnice knnz postopoma razkriva gledalcu. Na skrivnostni jasi mračnega gozda so se okrog rdečega nageljna zbrale različne živali, ki nas vabijo, da se jim pridružimo v njihovem čarobnem svetu.  

Umetnica v svojem delu v ospredje postavlja razmislek o sožitju narave, tehnologije in posameznika. Z raziskovanjem magičnih zgodb iz ljudskega izročila in preteklih ritualov ter grajenjem skrivnega sveta polnega imaginarnih podrobnosti in simbolnih detajlov se ozira v čas, ko je narava za naše prednike predstavljala pomemben element, v katerem so iskali moč, modrost in znamenja.  

‍V krogu pod cvetom lahko razumemo kot basen, ki se odmika od antropocenega pogleda in si zamišlja novo realnost, v kateri si živalske vrste, ki simbolično veljajo za delovne in pridne, prilastijo človeški ritual kresovanja in se začnejo povezovati v nove skupnosti, v katerih niso prisotni ljudje. Z grajenjem fiktivnega okolja in pripovedovanjem zgodbe umetnica razmišlja o naših povezavah in skupnostih v sodobni družbi ter našem odnosu do narave.

knnz – Neža Knez (1996) je zaključila dodiplomski program na NTF v smeri Grafične in interaktivne komunikacije ter študij nadaljevala na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje, smer Video, animacija in novi mediji. Njeno ustvarjanje je multidisciplinarno, v delu povezuje CGI (računalniško generirane podobe), animacijo in glasbo. Svoje delo pogosto predstavlja v obliki video instalacij in VJ performansov, kar ji omogoča, da sicer dvodimenzionalna dela prikaže v večprostorskih dimenzijah. Je članica Beam team ter skupnosti V2V, sodeluje pa s tetometo in Uryan, kjer deluje kot VJ-ka in vizualna umetnica. V letih 2020 in 2021 je sodelovala na delavnicah v sklopu festivala Svetlobna gverila, leta 2022 pa se je na festival v sodelovanju z Luko Lavrencijem vključila z delom Sam si plačilo za vse. Predstavila se je tudi na samostojnih razstavah LivinLaVidaLoca v DobriVagi (2022) in thekidsaren’talright v MGBS (2023) ter na skupinski razstavi S03E03: This too shall archive v Kinu Šiška (2020). V sodelovanju z Markom Gavezom je leta 2022 pripravila interaktivno AR (obogatena resničnost) vizualizacijo za projekt prenove zunanje podobe Centra urbane kulture Kino Šiška.