Selected texts

From catalog of the Venice biennale pavilion

THE ROLLING SUNS 

by Zoran Petrovski 

Winter Blues

 It was the winter of 2005 in Northern Lapland, the last day of the polar night. In search of a location to shoot the shortest day, Nikola Uzunovski noticed that the sun rays hover above the surface of the terrain, illuminating only the nearby trees and not touching the ground at all. At some higher points, with a raised hand and a little hopping, the light could be reached with the finger tips. Those were the days when Uzunovski was in Finland, participating in the international workshop, where he could feel the effects of the cruel weather and the scarce sun warmth upon the mood and the temperament oscillations in that micro-social milieu. From his Finnish friend he heard of the "winter depression" or the "winter blues", a psychological disorder caused by the lack of sun light, in the medicine referred to as "seasonal affective disorder" (SAD). One of the usual therapeutic methods against this disorder is the exposing to artificial light similar to the daylight, as a supplement to the requirement of sun energy. 

Catch the Sun (Whenever You Can)! 

Not long after that, back in Italy, he heard an information in the media on the construction of a huge mirror in the village of Viganella in the Italian Alps. Due to the high mountains that surround it, the village gets sun light only 83 days a year. The agile mayor wanted to change this inconvenient situation for his citizens and contacted architects and engineers who constructed an eight meters wide steel mirror on the neighboring hill which rotates and follows the course of the sun in order to redirect the light towards the shady village square. That reminded Uzunovski of the Lapland experience and then he asked himself: what could he do to provide the people in the frozen northern night with the southern warmth and liveliness? This question soon became the guiding principle of his draft project, which he labeled as My Sunshine. Referring with enthusiasm to his earlier interest in astronautics and his knowledge of aerodynamics and physics, Nikola began his research and work on the basic concept of the design of an aerostatic balloon where he intended to implement a rotating mirror made of light reflexive plastic. Having in mind the periodical change of the course of the sun and the unstable meteorological conditions, the balloon was meant to function similarly to Nikola's hopping with a raised hand in order to touch the sun rays, that is, it was supposed to be able to change the altitude in search for an open sky and catch the sun, redirecting its vital light and energy to the ground. 

Luke from Earth

 If Uzunovski manages to fulfill completely his concept of the aerostat, he would get a shiny lighting body which, when perceived from the ground and in the absence of sun above the Lapland sky, should look like its surrogate, like a kind of its copy... a "copy" of the sun. The sky on a photograph that the artist took from tourist brochure, and which looks like a fairytale Christmas card from the land of Santa Claus is amended by a line of six rolling copies of suns, transforming that cosy warming scenery into a typical SF landscape where even "Luke Skywalker would feel at home."1 But what is perhaps the most fascinating in Uzunovski's vision of multiplied "suns" is his faith and claim that he can turn this vision into reality. 

Science Says...

Almost two years after the launch of his project, Uzunovski has been futilely trying to acquire support and opportunity by the Scandinavian countries to check his concept. The first actual opportunity occurred at the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, when the Italian artist and curator Massimo Premuda proposed Nikola Uzunovski for the Trieste Contemporanea award for young and emerging artist from Central-Eastern Europe. This award was his first opportunity to promote the concept of the project in public, and what is even more important, to organize kind of a research laboratory and workshop which was to be attended by several notable scientists from the prestigious international astrophysics research institutes located in Trieste. The researches chiefly referred to calculations of the required altitudes which the aerostat would have to reach in different periods and in different positions of the sun in relation to the Arctic Circle in order to achieve the best effect of the sun reflection. The results were encouraging because they proved Uzunovski's concept to be feasible and attainable. The award fund helped Uzunovski to travel to Lapland again, where in the Arctic Research Center in Sodankilä he gathered data on the meteorological conditions, the wind speed, the temperature and the humidity. These results were not very encouraging: in winter the sky above the Arctic Circle is clear only 20% on the average, the rest of the time it is cloudy, rainy and windy. The use of the sun in such conditions can not be satisfactorily frequent and every available moment would have to be used in order Science Says... to reach the sun. 

The Sun in its Mirror from the Earth 

In the summer of 2008 Uzunovski stayed in the Pollinaria artistic residence of Mr. Gaetano Carboni where he had his first opportunity to make a simple and static prototype of the balloon, two meters in diameter and with a mirror made of reflexive plastic. In the course of a photo session, in the impressive landscapes of the nearby plane Campo Imperatore, with a group of associates Uzunovski set the model of his first "copy of the sun", in the period from sunrise to sunset and in different weather conditions. The model of the balloon was not meant to fly and the photographs of this session show the light effects of the sun which reflects in its future "copy", symbolizing the desire and the efforts of the people who try to see the new or the "other" sun raised towards the sky. During his stay in Pollinaria Uzunovski and his associates conducted a detail research of the most appropriate materials and the required construction for the design of the future "real copy of the sun". It should contain electronic components meant to drive and control the mechanism that follows the course of the sun and precisely direct the reflexive mirror towards its target. But the best effects of the ideal "copy", the one which would be constructed according to the researches and formulas from Trieste and Sodankilä, as Uzunovski reassures us, would be achieved by constructing a much larger and considerably expensive static aerostat with motors that would drive it and a navigation system which would at its best be able to avoid the unpredictable and difficult weather conditions at the end of the earth atmosphere. 

It drifted away, but then again... 

Uzunovski spent the winter of 2009 between Lapland and Helsinki, working with a group of students on the first flying prototype with a rotation system. He encountered some problems, but in his second attempt he managed to lift the balloon and control it with a cable. But eventually, the cable broke and the balloon drifted away... but then again, at an altitude of some hundred meters the sun suddenly reflected in the aluminum plate and sent a strong shiny flash towards the expecting eyes below, giving them the pleasure of seeing for an instant the effect of the "copy of the sun" .

In the City of the Sun 

In the summer of 2009 My Sunshine by Nikola Uzunovski was selected as one of the two projects that will represent the Republic of Macedonia at the 53rd Biennial in Venice. After almost five years this will be the first world promotion of the project and its basic motif, formulated in the question: what can I do to help the people of Lapland or any other place on Earth to get more sunlight and all that goes with it? The basic goals of the presentation, shown in the mobile laboratory set on the busy Riva Ca' di Dio, are to display the present results and visualizations of Uzunovski's researches and tests of and to urge the participation of all those who are able to identify with the idea of My Sunshine. This is the location where the largest and the best model of the aerostat made according to the vision and design of Uzunovski will be displayed. Its occasional takeoffs above the laboratory on Riva Ca' di Dio will raise the presentation of the "second sun" on the horizon of the city of the sun. 

Turning a Snowball into a Sunball 

The presentation of My Sunshine in Venice concludes one stage of the project of Nikola Uzunovski. His chief goals were to set up the concept of "multiplied copies of the sun", to research the conditions under which they could function and to make a prototype of the future lighting bodies. They all proved that the prolongation of the sun periods for the people deprived of the necessary light is an achievable vision. In the next stage of this open and long-term project Uzunovski plans to focus the course of that vision towards a further improvement of the model of the aerostat, towards an organized presentation of the project in the form of travelling laboratory and exhibition, and towards raising the public awareness and acquiring an additional support for its achievement. It is now meant to promote the important and initially neglected dimension of the project which is contained in the title My Sunshine and which is an addressing and a call for participation. The project is an open and unpredictable process and its further development depends on the participation of those who will be motivated to contribute to a common vision and acknowledge the fact that the utopia of Turning a Snowball into a Sunball The presentation of My Sunshine in Venice concludes one stage of the project of Nikola Uzunovski. His chief goals were to set up the concept of "multiplied copies of the sun", to research the conditions under which they could function and to make a prototype of the future lighting bodies. They all proved that the prolongation of the sun periods for the people deprived of the necessary light is an achievable vision. In the next stage of this open and long-term project Uzunovski plans to focus the course of that vision towards a further improvement of the model of the aerostat, towards an organized presentation of the project in the form of travelling laboratory and exhibition, and towards raising the public awareness and acquiring an additional support for its achievement. It is now meant to promote the important and initially neglected dimension of the project which is contained in the title My Sunshine and which is an addressing and a call for participation. The project is an open and unpredictable process and its further development depends on the participation of those who will be motivated to contribute to a common vision and acknowledge the fact that the utopia of today might become the reality of tomorrow. In one of his earlier works, the video installation The Walk, Uzunovski left the screen completely white. The only "event" in the video were the sounds of an endless walk through a snow storm and the breath of a panting man who goes in an unknown direction and with an unknown outcome. In the absence of picture, Uzunovski makes us engage our imagination and, willingly or unwillingly, we take the rhythm of his breath identifying ourselves with his arduous advance through the snow. Since we know that situation from our own experience, we feel and we know that as long as we are here and walk along with the invisible man, we have a chance to come out of the storm. The video was made in the winter of 2005 in Lapland, when Uzunovski actually came up with the idea of My Sunshine. What do these seemingly opposite works of Uzunovski have in common is the uncertain outcome and hope, incited by the absence of the picture of the world in the whiteness of the snow, and by the lower sun and the light of the polar winter. Although utterly convinced that the creation of the copy of the sun is technologically quite real and achievable, Uzunovski is still aware that the ultimate outcome of his vision of an "other" sun is not yet foreseeable. But, what is more important on his way towards fulfilling his dream is the activation of the imagination, his desire and dedication to use new technologies in the positive creation of the picture of the world. 

1 Sandra Stulle, "Un posto al Sole...", Zeno Magazine, nr. 117, 01. 2008, p. 38-40 

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