book presentation
The book Magical Istria - Hidden Secrets of Istrian Hill-Forts is a unique blend of stories of fifteen Istrian castles and equally ancient Istrian tales of mythological creatures: fairies, strixes and strouges, giants, werewolves, krsniks, about the orco and the mare, the mystwraith, mogmugs and swarglings that, just like the tangible heritage, preserve the history and tradition of Istria. The present time likes to place all these creatures in the world of fantasy and folk tales, but for our ancestors these creatures firmly walked the earth and stood tall just like the castles rising before us today.
Magical Istria hopes to bring this authentic, living Istria closer to audiences both young and old, as a rich, opulent, unusual and utterly unique, nonesuch world. When an artist depicts castles and the fantastical creatures that populate them that partly have our own faces, we become the actors that share bygone times, and the past becomes the present, carrying that heritage into the future. This book is bestowed on the reader as a token of past and future: time becomes cyclical and all-encompassing. The past shaped that which is present for us, and we bear the responsibility of passing it on to future generations.
Zdenko Bašić is multimedia artist with a numerous awards for illustrations and animated films inspired by mythology and heritage. He received Kiklop Awards for Chocolate Story, Tales of the Wind and Moon Shadows. He was added to IBBY Honours List, and proved his international recognition through storybooks Faithful Ghost and Alice in Wonderland. He is the Artistic Director of Perunfest and Museum of Lost Tales.
light installation
A capsule is a space surrounded by a membrane, dividing two systems. If the membrane disappears (disintegrates or breaks), the two systems are exposed to one other (they come into contact) and a reaction (an exchange of substances or information) can take place between them. The two systems then become one (they merge, intertwine). The membrane can also selectively allow certain substances to pass through it, it can act as a selector of information and allow certain reactions to take place within it independently of its surroundings; it extracts only what it needs from the environment and excretes only substances that it no longer needs. The membrane can also act as a conductor of information – it acts as a sort of sensor which informs the cell (or whatever else may be enclosed inside the capsule) about what is happening outside of it. The membrane is therefore the main factor in determining the relationship between the two systems. The two systems can be mutually dependent, symbiotic, mutually neutral, or incompatible, antagonistic, one may be invasive to the other, or the two can be mutually invasive (they can coexist in harmony/symbiosis, help each other grow, promote mutual growth, deplete each other, establish a parasitic relationship, attack each other, etc.). Action - reaction (stimulus - effect), everything is flowing, changing and adapting (evolving, growing). The capsule can act as a probe (sensor, sense) within a larger system, the probe is a foreign agent (an unknown) within a system, an instrument for observation and exploration. The capsule can be observed (and it can even observe the observer). The capsule can observe. The capsule can be part of a larger system of observation. The membrane remains, the reaction is ongoing (information is flowing). The system observes being observed. The system observes itself, as it is being observed by another system. The reaction is flowing, everything is flowing, let it flow. As long as it lasts, it is flowing and changing. What changes disappears, and everything that changes endures. The status quo is a naive illusion of comfort. Let it flow, let it all flow.
Text by: Matej Bizovičar
Matej Bizovičar (1969, Ljubljana) studied painting at ALUO in Ljubljana between 1991 and 1995. He’s been creating in his studio in Metelkova mesto since 1993. He’s contributed to theatre, to Radio Študent and he’s been involved in the Hostel Celica project for more than 20 years. He also works in interior design of private homes and hospitality & tourist businesses. He creates custom unique furniture and is generally dedicated to woodworking. Apart from painting, in the visual arts he’s also involved in sculpture, spatial installations and mosaics.
Interactive light installation
Waterlight Graffiti is a material composed of thousands of LEDs that light up when in contact with water. By touching the edge of an LED, the water creates an electrical bridge, allowing it to shine. The more water there is, the brighter it glows. Simple yet brilliant, its goal is to offer a new reactive surface for drawing or writing ephemeral luminous messages in urban space. The project was inspired by the artist’s discovery of dishu in China—an ancient practice of painting calligraphies with water on the ground. During this trip, Antonin felt his retina imprinted by glowing street billboards. He then imagined a new interactive surface, offering an alternative to dull urban ads and a new form of public interaction. This creation also pays tribute to the Etch A Sketch, invented by Frenchman André Cassagnes, who, through his invention, also introduced a new kind of expression.
Antonin Fourneau, a French digital artist, draws inspiration from popular culture and local practices, creating at the intersection of technology, games, light, sound, and cinema. His work spans installations, attractions, and events, providing frameworks that invite audiences to bring each piece to life. Antonin founded Eniarof, a unique creative funfair that redefines interaction with the audience, with over 34 editions held internationally. In 2017, he published Eniarof – User Guide to Make a Funfair, capturing its collaborative and playful essence.
Notable projects include Waterlight Graffiti, a moisture-sensitive material that lights up upon contact with water, captivating audiences worldwide with its innovative and mesmerizing effect. In 2016, he created Luminous Memento in Poitiers, a translucent concrete memorial honouring war and conflict victims. His research into sound and visual interaction led to Sonoscriptum, a project blending sound and drawing, exhibited internationally since 2019. Antonin’s creations have been featured at venues like the Centre Pompidou, Vivid Sydney, and Ars Electronica.
a scientific workshop experience
Microplastics are an emerging pollutant.
Their spread across Earth’s spheres is increasingly concerning the medical and scientific world.
Researchers Deakin University (Australia) co-developed with GLOBE Italy the Microplastics Monitoring Protocol, a protocol accessible to schools and citizens to monitor the concentration of microplastics in surface waters. Since 2021, GLOBE Italy has tested and applied the MMP in over 20 countries, reaching over 700 educators and 10,000 citizen scientists. In this experience, of a mobile pop-up lab, it is possible to try the protocol and discover some of the research findings. The occasion marks a strengthening of a partnership between the R.o.R festival and the GLOBE Italia Association and an announcement of a wider collaboration in the near future.
GLOBE Italia Association is the Italian contact point for the GLOBE PROGRAM network, an international environmental science education program founded by Al Gore in 1994 in Colorado.
Their mission is to work collaboratively with schools (over 300 in Italy, more than 43,000 worldwide), research institutions, and citizens to develop and disseminate scientific skills among students, citizens, and scientists so that everyone can take informed action to protect the planet.
A wide variety of tools are used to achieve these goals, including workshops, music, exhibitions, and digital media.
light installation
Light plays a crucial role in defining personal identity. Without light, every person would be faceless and invisible.
Through the refraction of light on our skin, unique to each individual, our external characteristics become visible.
Romanian artist Radu Ignat Radu explores this concept with his installation "Facelessmen". He projects various animations onto an oversized metal mask, creating a constantly changing form. The magic of light breathes new life into the otherwise lifeless mask. The same mask can convey different portraits and stories through the manipulation of light. The captivating and ever-evolving appearances of the video mapping challenge viewers' visual expectations, leading them to question their own humanity. This innovative artistic approach raises important questions about the perception of reality, particularly in the age of AI and digitalization.
Radu Ignat is a professional visual artist, metal sculptor and a member of the Union of Plastic Artists of Romania. His artistic media primarily consist of metal sculpting and 3D digital modelling. He is internationally recognized for his visual installations and video mapping. Ignat has participated in various competitions around the world and has presented his projects at international art festivals.
Installation
Gaia is a touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram.
Measuring seven metres in diameter, Gaia features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface*. The artwork provides the opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating in three-dimensions.
The installation creates a sense of the Overview Effect, which was first described by author Frank White in 1987. Common features of the experience for astronauts are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.
The artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the real Earth with each centimetre of the internally lit sculpture describing 18km of the Earth’s surface. By standing 211m away from the artwork, the public will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon.
A specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award winning Composer Dan Jones is played alongside the sculpture. In Greek Mythology Gaia is the personification of the Earth.
Gaia has been created in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Bluedot and the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres.
*The imagery for the artwork has been compiled from Visible Earth series, NASA.
Luke Jerram’s multidisciplinary practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations and live arts projects. Living in the UK but working internationally since 1997, Jerram has created a number of extraordinary art projects which have excited and inspired people around the globe. Jerram has a set of different narratives that make up his practice which are developing in parallel with one another. He is known worldwide for his large scale public artworks.
comic books presentation
Vodnjan Tales are an international comic book format project initiated by the Vodnjan Tourist Office in cooperation with local and regional comic book artists. Inspired by the rich tapestry of Vodnjan`s local legends and folklore, this captivating comic series brings to life the enchanting stories that have been passed down through generations. We delve into the lives of typical characters, each facing their unique set of problems and seeking extraordinary solutions. Authors involved in the project are Aleksa Gajić (SRB), Enis Čišić (BiH), Fran Strukan (HR) and local Istrian authors Vili Paoletić, Vibor Juhas and Vjeran Juhas.
Mr Joe is a comic book created by authors Vibor & Vjeran Juhas that takes the main character of Veli Jože, from the eponymous classic literary work by Vladimir Nazor, and takes him on a completely new adventure. A reimagination of a cultural treasure in a modern take.
The story places Mr Joe (Veli Jože or Jože the Giant) in the African desert in 1980, as an assistant to German archaeologist Heinrich Himmler during excavations. Of course, the excavations do not go according to plan, because an evil giant squid emerges, ridden by the high priest of an ancient ritual whose goal is to exterminate the "pagan vermin”.
Vjeran Juhas is a graphic designer from Pula who works with various institutions, associations and entrepreneurs such as: Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula Film Festival, TZ Vodnjan, Zelena Istra, TZ Pula, Rojc Social Centre, Hook&Cook festival... His rather big love is comic books and Japanese animation, which is why he started the Mrkli Mrak comic book project in Pula. He is one of the organizers of the Brtonigla Toons & Tunes festival, he teaches an elective course of Japanese animation for students of Japanese language and culture at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Pula, he is the creative coordinator, screenwriter and cartoonist for the project Vodnjanske štorijice – comic brochures featuring traditional short stories from the local region of Vodnjan, and together with his brother Vibor Juhas he is the author of the comic book Mr. Joe... He is also one of the founders of the Croatian Association of Interdisciplinary Artists (HUiU) and at the same time the president of the art council at the HUiU gallery in Pula, where the Comic Book Reading Room Mrkli Mrak operates.
Vibor Juhas was born in 1982 in Pula. He works in illustration, animation, music and film. He is the author of several music videos for, mostly, bands from Pula. His first short fiction film No Way Out was completed in 2011, and a year later, in cooperation with the Monteparadiso collective, he made the feature-length documentary film Monteparadiso 20. He is an illustrator of children’s books and picture books. In collaboration with Manuel Šumberec, he is the author of the interactive picture book Žive razglednice Pule, the text for which was written by Miljenko Jergović. He designed and animated the set for the play Vampirska kronika – Jure Grando, which won the 2016 Croatian Theatre Award for the best set design. He directed and animated the short animated films Cijena ugljena in 2016 and Zarobljenici ugljena in 2017, when he also released the first issue of the comic album Mr. Joe. He is the author of many posters and animated jingles for various events and performances (Sa(n)jam knjige u Istri, Monte Librić, Pula Film Festival, Istrian National Theatre, Uljanik...), and illustrator of editorials for different websites.
light and music installation
"Jellyworld" is an atmospheric music and light installation by Daniel Kurniczak, where visitors can walk through a magic underwater world with glowing jellyfish made of used plastic. This is meant to remind us on one of the most environmental problems on this planet: plastic in the sea. The 7 minute music piece was specially composed by the artist, telling the story of Jellyworld and keeps the visitors staying in this magic moment. The installation won the “Remondis Light Award” in 2019.
Daniel Kurniczak – Music Composer & Light Artist Press Short Daniel Kurniczak is a composer of electronic and orchestral music and a light artist. He has written music for the Festival of Lights in Berlin, the BLOOP Festival in Ibiza and the Glow in Eindhoven and he wrote the official music for the Champions League projection in Düsseldorf 2024.
He also stages his own light shows with his music like “The Bureauxx” at Light Night Leeds in England or “Viaggiatori nel tempo” CidneOn in Brescia in Italy. In 2018 he produced his first bigger music and light installation “Sounds of the Sky”, which was shown at several Festival like Enchanted Gardens in Arcen (Netherlands) and now it was also a part of the event Christmas Garden, an event with many locations around the world. His music and light installation "Jellyworld" was honoured with a sustainability award at the Essen Light Festival in 2019 and was also shown in Switzerland at the Lilu Light Festival in Lucerne in 2025. His audiovisual project “Imagine” with children's drawings, which he created together with his wife, has already been performed several times, including at the Svetlo Valmez festival in the Czech Republic. His interactive light installations have also enjoyed international success, such as "The Super Magic Stone Circle" in Poland at the Light Move Festival
inflatable light installation
Oculucis features two large spheres with textures representing two eyes. This simple yet powerful aesthetic choice captures the viewer's attention and invites them to reflect on universal themes related to perception, introspection, and connection with the world.
The installation invites viewers to question what it truly means to "see." Is it a superficial glance tied to appearances, or a deeper exploration that transcends what is immediately visible? The two spheres, as giant eyes, become metaphors for this eternal question, a bridge between exteriority and interiority.
Hermes H:E:M Mangialardo is a Cartoonist, visual light artist, 3D video mapper and visual design teacher.
His short films and music videos have been awarded with more than 100 awards at national and international festivals (“Nastri d’Argento” in Italy ,”100″ film festival in Tehran” “MTV flash award” in Hamburg, etc.).
From 2013 he started his activity as a light artist and 3D mapper, creating Architectural mapping around Europe, and many light and museum installations, including DIVINE STANZE, dedicated to the Divine Comedy.
His video mappings have illuminated some of the most important buildings around Europe (such as the Colosseum, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Pecs Cathedral or the 360 degree work on the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome).
His 2024 light art work “Oculucis” has been presented at the Essen Light Festival (Germany – October 2024), GlowFest (Nederlands – November 2024), Alberobello Light Festival (Italy – December 2024) and Logford Lights Festival (Ireland – February 2025)
photo projection
The HEalingART project is a global artistic initiative that will be presented at the most prestigious locations around the world. It is a revolutionary portrayal of the art of nature, holding up a mirror to humanity and sublimely conveying the hidden messages of nature, which are usually inaccessible to our eyes but are crucial for reconnecting with nature and ourselves.
HEalingART is not just an art project, but an innovative method that makes the "invisible" visible, providing tangible proof that all hypotheses about the divinity of nature are true. Through its mysticism, it speaks to the heart and activates our mind. This art serves as a healing tool for humanity, contributing to spiritual and physical balance, and holds great potential for healing and enriching our existence.
HEalingART is not merely a visual experience; it is an invitation to a healthier life, to spending quality time in nature, to recreation, and to a healthy way of thinking. The artistic nature photographs featured in this project encourage people to delve deeper into natural motifs, allowing us to find inner peace and harmony through them. In a world where we are often disconnected from nature and subjected to constant stress, this return to nature is essential.
The insight that led to the creation of the HEalingART project occurred in Slovenia, the only country in the world whose name contains the word "love." This is no coincidence, but a significant sign pointing to Slovenia's deep connection with peace and love. Let Slovenia become a crossroads of peace, a place of innovation and progress, where new frequencies of life will awaken, significantly influencing a brighter future for our planet.
It is an extraordinary honor for us that the global HEalingART project will be present at two strategic locations during the European Capital of Culture: the Peace Monument in the Municipality of Miren and the central space of the TIC in Nova Gorica. With its presence, the project is also illuminating the international festival of contemporary and intermedia art practices, R.O.R, which unites art and technology and opens doors to new creative dimensions.
The mission of the HEalingART project is to support indigenous local communities worldwide, those who have not forgotten their true roots, values, and traditions, and to open the hearts of as many people as possible. As the word HEART (“srce”) is "hidden" in the official name of the project, our goal is to guide people to higher frequencies of existence, which will ultimately lead to the "First World Peace."
Lado Rot is an interdisciplinary artist, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has extensive experience in the performing arts, acting, and directing. He is the creator of the TV project Star Trekker and the author of the multimedia book »Matahari – Oko dneva«.
Lado is a healer, alchemist, and expert in foraging mushrooms and medicinal plants, known worldwide as Dr. Fungi. His mission is to connect humans with nature and encourage inner transformation through unique wellness experiences.
In his "forest laboratory," he prepares natural tinctures and oils from medicinal plants and mushrooms, which promote physical, mental, and spiritual healing. Lado leads transformational journeys aimed at awakening the inner peace, wisdom, and strength of participants. He is a proud member of the global transformers' network We Love Transformational Travel from Dubai and an ambassador for the world's largest Retreat Show – Synergy (USA).
Through the Lifetime Experience institute, Lado organizes workshops, retreats, lectures, and exclusive wellness experiences that guide individuals towards balance and a deep connection with nature and themselves. For his long-term work, he has received numerous awards, including the prestigious recognition from the Slovenian Tourist Organization for his experience »Mushrooming with Dr. Fungi«, which was named a finalist for the 2023 Sejalca Award and was ranked among the most boutique experiences in Slovenia as Slovenia Unique Experience. His current global project HEalingART by Lado Rot combines all the elements of his extensive work and understanding of humanity and nature.
site-specific video mapping installation
"Tekoče viaggio" is a site-specific video mapping installation at Nova Gorica's Town Hall, created as a result of R.o.R residency. This project is uniquely designed for the location, celebrating Nova Gorica and Gorizia as the European Capital of Culture 2025. Utilizing advanced video mapping techniques, this installation immerses audiences in the topics of the Soča river, borderlessness, and the region's rich history and myths, while highlighting the cultural fusion of Slovenian and Italian influences.
The installation employs a combination of 3D animation, pre-recorded live drawing and experimental approach to create a multi-layered visual experience. The Town Hall's brutalist architecture serves as an artistic canvas, where the interplay of projections and the building's geometric forms enhances the narrative depth. The unique characteristics of the facade allow for a tailored visual storytelling approach that cannot be replicated on other structures.
Key themes are explored through the integration of digital techniques. The Soča River is depicted as a source of life and symbol of cultural fluidity, with animated visuals that flow seamlessly across the building's surface. Pre-recorded live drawing elements add a tactile quality to the projections, bridging the gap between traditional artistic techniques and contemporary digital art. This fusion of methods emphasizes the historical significance of the Town Hall while celebrating the natural beauty of the surrounding environment.
Utilizing cutting-edge technology, "Tekoče viaggio" offers a multi-sensory experience that engages audiences in a dialogue about art, history, and the environment.
Ultimately, "Tekoče viaggio" celebrates the identity and natural beauty of Nova Gorica. The title, combining the Slovenian word »tekoče« (fluid) and the Italian word »Viaggio« (journey), encapsulates the project's essence, symbolizing cultural border-crossing and interconnectedness.
Nano VJs is a visual media art collective founded in 2010 by Beáta Kolbašovská and Jakub Pišek in Košice, Slovakia. They specialize in video mapping, light installations, live visuals, VJing, interactive installations and multimedia performances in Slovakia and worldwide. They cooperate with artists, musicians, bands, DJs, independent theatres, contemporary dancers and performers. Through creative and experimental artistic production with an interdisciplinary approach, they create site-specific projects, directly tailor-made. As media artists, they present their works at group exhibitions and international festivals at home and abroad.
audio visual performance
Composing Kinetic Worlds represents a merging of real-time or sketch predefined composition with the elements of animated kinetic worldbuilding. Experimental/conceptual compositions - soundscapes and grooves that directly influence the building and morphing of an imaginary world.
Samožder is an audio-visual experimental project that explores sound art of concrete, experimental and improvisational music that creates kinetic worlds and stories.
Samožder are:
Vibor Juhas: el. guitar/noisebox/synth/video/loops/processing/electronics
Marko Kalčić: el. bass guitar/synth/electronics/loops/video/processing
performance
11 women on roller skates, golden suits, black full-face helmets with double visors, 11 black pedestals, 11 sculptures (popcorn in expanded polyurethane, stucco, gold leaf), mixed choir of 27 voices and choir director
The work unfolds as a secular ritual, a ceremony that celebrates and deconstructs the cult of repetition and contemporary spectacularization.
11 figures (in alchemy: super-consciousness, wisdom, perception, and extreme intuition), golden, anonymous, faceless beneath black helmets, stand in a circle around a simulacrum of consumption:
popcorn, enlarged beyond measure, transformed from a popular snack into a totemic object.
The gold of the suits suggests both preciousness and artificiality, a display that drains individual value, reducing it to pure scenic function.
In the initial silence, time is suspended.
The mixed choir introduces Smells Like Teen Spirit, a generational anthem of rebellion, here stripped of its electric sound, devoid of distorted rage, becoming a purely vocal structure, almost sacred.
The song’s meaning fragments through repetition: eight iterations, like an obsessive litany, a postmodern mantra whose sense is emptied by excess exposure.
The skaters remain still during the first execution, like devotees awaiting a signal.
Then, gradually, they activate: lifting their object, the popcorn-simulacrum, they glide into space, merging with the audience.
It is the moment when ritual becomes spectacle, where art blurs with life and vice versa.
The audience is immersed in movement, yet remains a passive spectator of an action repeating in an inescapable loop.
At this point, the action introduces an element of rupture.
Without warning, some golden figures approach randomly selected spectators, lift the visor of their helmets, and whisper:
"This is really dangerous."
Then, they lower the visor again and resume skating, as if the moment never occurred.
The gesture breaks the choreographic flow and introduces a subtle but destabilizing tension.
What is truly dangerous? The contact? The ritual? The idea of obsessive repetition and spectacularization itself?
The phrase, though ambiguous, evokes a paradox of modernity: danger is no longer an external event but an inner condition, a latent state.
As in Kierkegaardian anxiety, the individual finds themself suspended before the vertigo of choice and the awareness of nothingness.
The performance plays with this sense of uncertainty, transforming an apparently harmless action into an opaque and indecipherable omen.
The return to the black pedestal in the final iteration marks the climax of the performance:
the restitution of the object, the deposition of the fetish on its profane altar, and finally, dispersion—
the performers dissolving along the edges of the space.
The circle widens, the distance amplifies: the golden figures become silent guardians of the scene, witnesses to the conclusion of a cycle.
The performance is a reflection on repetition as a form of alienation and postmodern sacredness.
In an age where consumption is ritualized and ritual is spectacularized, the work plays at the boundary between celebration and emptiness, between rebellion and conformity.
As in Nietzsche’s eternal return, the gesture repeats—always the same, emptied of its original essence yet inevitable, because it is inscribed in the mechanics of time.
In the final silence, when the last voice fades, only the trace of an echo remains:
the audience, like the performers, has traversed a cycle, a collective rite in which presence became gesture,
and the gesture dissolved into nothingness.
Dragana Sapanjoš was born in Koper in 1979. She finished the School of Applied Arts and Design in Pula, and graduated from Brera Academy in Milan. She lives and works between Milan and Novigrad.
Interactive audio-visual installation
In darkness, where one’s gaze is shrouded, one’s ears begins to speak. Martina Testen and Simon Šerc's installation Nokturno explores the realm of night, which only reveals itself after sunset. With field recordings of nocturnal animals and subtle sound passages, they create a space for quiet observation and a deep appreciation of nature.
The mycelium is the central motif of the visual part of the installation - a forest-wide network of fungal threads that allows for communication and the flow of nutrients between plants. This secret ecosystem symbolizes the natural interconnectedness which one can project onto society. The installation follows the rhythm of the night - from the dying of the light to the first break of dawn – and invites us to reflect on coexistence, invisible connections and the fragility of the space that shapes us every day.
Nocturne is the nocturnal follow-up to the sound album Bioduct and a tribute to nature, which never really falls silent – even in the dark of night.
Martina Testen and Simon Šerc are experienced and internationally renowned artists working in the field of audiovisual and intermedia art. They have collaborated on numerous projects and exhibited at renowned international festivals. Their works have been featured in prominent media such as The Guardian, BBC and The Wire, and their sound albums have been repeatedly ranked among the best field recordings. They have also won several international awards for projects involving the use of artificial intelligence in art.
https://www.biodukt.net
https://www.matrix441.eu
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE4Sh-jefiE
Etno music koncert
Group Veja was founded in 2007 in Pazin, Croatia. During their 15 years of work, it has become one of the most important Croatian ethno/world music performers. From the beginning of their work, Veja found inspiration in specific Istrian traditional music, which they decided to perform in a modern way.
Due to its geographical position, Istria is a region where different influences come together, and this can be felt in the music, where you can find elements of Dinaric and Italian culture. All this resulted in a unique musical style of singing and playing music.
In their work, Veja combines all the musical styles that exist in Istria, and often pays attention to those that are not so represented in the general perception of Istrian music. The band's singer and instrumentalist Goran Farkaš is one of the most avid researchers of the Istrian tradition, and he has been joined by Saša Farkaš (guitar, tambura) since the beginning of the band. Marko Pernić (accordion), Ljuban Rajić (cajon, percussion), Sebastijan Demark (bass) and Marijan Jelenić (sound designer) joined soon after, and since 2010 the group has been active in this line-up.
From the first songs Veja intrigued with their sound, and they released their first album "Dolina Mlinova" in 2014. That album was well-received by critics and the audience alike, and several songs from it ("Anka", "Marija", "Črni orko") have become indispensable in the overview of the Croatian world music scene. After that album, Veja started with a larger number of performances and performed all over Croatia, gathering crowds at clubs, but also performing at festivals such as Ethnoambient, TradInEtno and others. Performances outside Croatia followed, so Veja delighted audiences in Italy, France, Estonia, Belgium and other countries.
The second album was long awaited. The band members were busy with other projects for a while, but Veja retained its relevance throughout this time. Before the pandemic, the first single from the second album, "Teško majki", was released, and in June 2022, the album "Škura ura" saw the light of day. It is about another journey through Istrian traditional musical heritage, and with this album Veja has definitely confirmed herself as perhaps the best promoter of Istrian music, all with a modern approach that easily brings tradition closer to new, modern generations.
Web: www.vejamusic.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/vejamusic
Youtube kanal: www.youtube.com/vejamusic
SoundCloud kanal: www.soundcloud.com/vejamusic
Music and poetry
Sabina Vostner is a singer-songwriter, poet, writer, artist... dancing among the stars. From endless travelling through space and beyond, she is very much influenced by the greatest poets of their eternal time as well as the sung stories of some musicians, and she combines poetry and music as two siblings. Various music experiences turn her to the soft genres of dreamy folk-pop melodies, and lyrics become the stories about life, love and freedom - the common search in everybody's soul. Born in Russia and raised in Slovenia, she writes in Slovene, Russian (both mother tongues) and English, transforming the borders between them into new pathways of understanding and communication.
The project is co-financed by the public institute GO! 2025 – European Capital of Culture, Nova Gorica.