v e r o n i K A T Z E k o v a

Dadissuasori
(in Italian dissuasori=bollards and dadi=dices)
Intervention on broken urban furniture / Graffitti
La Pigna, San Remo, Italy
2010

The bollards were placed in front of St.Giusepe church in La Pigna, San Remo, Italy to prevent cars from passing and parking. At the moment of the intervention they were randomly displaced (pic.1). Employing their positioning and dice-like shape, I turned them into huge dices thrown on the small square to monument the shifting fortune in the competition between planned urban environment and personalized appropriation of space (pic.2 and pic.3). Strangely some functionary of the church found it blasphemous and painted over the dots (only) of Dadissuasori , making them even more sad and ugly (pic.4). How far an institution, and even more religious institution, can and should control public space outside its premises? Dadissuasori were the first permanently installed art piece in public space in La Pigna, with the potential to turn a sad destruction sight into landmark...the story isn't over. I hope the people of La Pigna will claim them back, after all the church functionary used water based paint.

wAFFENstillstand in friEDENsgefährdeten Zeiten

(War in language — made visible through hidden words)
(en. “Ceasefire In Times of Peace Under Threat”)
"SchAUGEnuss" season #5, 2025 - 2026

Permanent exhibition with rotating works on the theme of war in local and global contexts

Note: The hidden title embedded in the original German phrase “wAFFENstillstand in friEDENsgefährdeten Zeiten” — “AFFEN in EDEN” — translates as “Apes in Eden” In German metaphorical usage, the ape often functions as a distorted reflection of the human, symbolising vanity, lust, imitation, and restlessness.

November 22, 2025 – June 30, 2026
Part 1: November 22, 2025 – January 16, 2026
Part 2: January 17 – March 20, 2026
Part 3: March 21 – May 16, 2026
Part 4: May 17 – June 30, 2026

The four-part exhibition “wAFFENstillstand in friEDENsgefährdeten Zeiten” addresses central aspects, actors, figures, forces, contradictions, and absurdities of war—both specific and universal. Against the backdrop of rising global tensions and conflicts, military spending is rapidly increasing, new defense alliances are being formed, and national security strategies are being redefined. This exhibition engages with this ambivalent moment—situated between ceasefire and rearmament.

More than 50 artworks from Veronika Tzekova’s “CDoupbles” series will be presented in rotation from November 2025 to the end of June 2026 in the large display window of the hybrid cultural space Atelier 12 in Graz. “CDoupbles” is an artistic concept developed by Veronika Tzekova, based on a specific linguistic phenomenon: words in which another word unexpectedly and coincidentally resides, without any etymological relation, opening up imaginary mini-scenarios and surprising semantic spaces. These linguistic symbioses function as metaphors for the hidden layers of our linguistic and societal reality.

Display window, Atelier 12 Münzgrabenstraße 24 8010 Graz, Austria

click on the photo for more exhibition views and artworks

My Blog
challengedgames.blogspot.co.at

The CHAlleNGED GAMES blog was conceived with the hope to stimulate divergence thinking and challenge the viewer to rethink one's routines and shift his/her perspective on the status quo.

The blog was initially dedicated to the CHAlleNGED GAMES series and seeks for extended meaning in playing and its relation to aspects of human existence and production.

As with the time I started to experiment with another system - the language, to apply mathematical logic and seek patterns in words, in the last years my publications are mostly about this part of my work.

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st.art

Author: Veronika Tzekova
Publish Date: September 27, 2010
Dimensions: 18 x 18 cm, 70 pages
Language: English/Italian

As a manner of artistic creation in many of my recent works I employ existing urban situations, objects, visuals, texts and just add often a small detail, which significantly changes their meaning and/or function.

St.art book includes art works in the period 2004-2010, some still in progress at the time and some as ideas developed during 2010. The selection is made to guide the viewer through an artistic process that lead to the birth of ideas such as Space NRGZers and Dadissuasori.

The book ends with a couple of blank pages, which are to e filled in with sketches and ideas for new works employing the same approach.