Multimedia exhibition at Thapong

Sasa Majuma
Correspondent | Saturday May 18, 2013 00:00

Mr Andrija Klaric is an Upper Sixth A-Level student at Maru a Pula School (MaP). He is interested in film studies and hopes to continue his studies abroad next year. Mr Steve Jobson, his teacher at MaP, curated The Decay of Lilly White. Klaric had a previous exhibition at Thapong that used only the flat cinema screen. The challenge this time was to create a multimedia experience adapted to the L-shaped exhibition room at Thapong and integrating, pictures, motion, sound and smoke.

Steve Jobson said that the evening was a success, that the presentation was inventive, incredibly imaginative, and that people said they had enjoyed it.  The challenge to adjust an exhibition to the space at Thapong had been achieved. Andrija Klaric presented his 21st Century Garden of Eden as the Decay Trilogy. He created a Narcotic Garden photographic series where the Twisted Ballerina - 'a metaphor for grace, beauty and elegance'-responded to temptation. In the second part he presents the Twisted Ballerina's fall from grace. This led to RED, where 'giving into temptation' results in 'complete self-indulgent depravity'. In the end self-indulgence has achieved nothing.

Lilly White was a paper model, designed for a project on food and over indulgence. A rainstorm led to her demise. 'Lilly reflects an automatic indulgence which we all take part in-involvement in mass media and today's pop culture. Some of us may not like it, but it is forced upon all of us through radio, television and news' says Andrija Klaric. Botswana's experimental multimedia theatre entrepreneur, Ms Moratiwa Molema, commented on Andrija Klaric's presentation: 'It was an exceptional experiment with different varieties of light that broke special boundaries of the Thapong Visual Arts Centre gallery ... very unique for Botswana'. What was also special was the way he used artificial smoke to create visual effects.