International Festival
of Computer Arts

N A I V S T A L G I J A

Project

N A I V S T A L G I J A

  • 30th MFRU
  • Nostalgic Rituals Outlet
Artist Undoing.Studio
N A I V S T A L G I J A

An exclusively online phenomenon, vaporwave took over the internet during the first decades of the 21st century, filled with mockery for the capitalist faux-utopia at a time when its promises began to fade. From a position of irony overlapping with genuine nostalgia, this audiovisual art style deconstructs the aesthetic and sensory signifiers of the hypercapitalist dream through maximalist reappropriation.

Open atriums adorned with synthetic indoor gardens and brightly lit corridors laden with colorful products invite the listener on endless leisurely strolls, in a world flooded with stimuli that satisfy and numb the senses. Whether this journey unfolds among the aisles of a bright megastore, through the pages of the world wide web, or between the layered synths of a resampled ’90s hit, the sense of estrangement it carries need not bother our listener. As she sinks deeper under the intensifying directional cues, the overabundance of comforting colors and soothing sounds will caress and envelop her saturated body toward its own haunting—until she herself becomes the ghost haunting the magical multiplex of her dreams.

In seeking to open up this playful dialogue with the ghosts and dreams of our times and places and to find the way out of the endless stroll/scroll, Undoing.Studio appropriates the appropriator and invites you to the long-anticipated new release of a legendary mariborwave label: F U T U R S T A L G I J A by Večni Zadruga.

Unearthed from the archives of Maribor's 1982 newspaper ‘Rečer’, Večni Zadruga, the legendary Yugoslavian music label that discontinued its releases in the 1990s, emerges as an exquisite source of "sentimental music with sticky choruses, catchy melodic structures, and an extraordinary abundance of romantic themes."

A brief search in early Slovenian internet forums reveals Maribor's nostalgia for the label's active days, with the locals expressing a longing for the sense of optimism and companionship they felt during those "priceless times." "The music... it was coming from all around," a woman named Maja recalls on the forum "MARIBORWAVE". "I felt as if it was emanating from our bodies," remembers another fan. "It was as if my body was part of everyone's body... and we were singing in unison." But right below this last entry, someone comments in angry capital letters: "DOVOLJ S TO NAIVSTALGIJO!" ("ENOUGH WITH THIS NAIVESTALGY"). Intrigued, we look up the term and find ourselves haunted by a strangely familiar universe.

N A I V S T A L G I J A leads us to the page of a mariborwave label with the same name that has apparently been operating in Maribor since the early 2010s. However hard it is to extract information about its recent activities, due to the fact that after 2020 the names and descriptions of the records evolve into a strange script, it seems that there is at least one new release announced and a launch party scheduled to take place in Maribor in October 2024, “F U T U R S T A L G I J A by Večni Zadruga” we read, and the name flickers before our eyes as we press "JOIN"...