Event Horizon

And so it appeared, growing slowly, erecting from the ground. A monolith, standing tall, carrying an object that became a symbol of my past. This artefact is a monument, a time capsule to mark the point of no return. I helplessly kiss past moments goodbye as I watch them disappear beyond the Event horizon.

My work has grown closer and closer related to the investigations of nostalgia: the ultimate utopia found in the past; the wishful thinking; the distorted memory. How much of it is real? Time. Ageing. The monolithic structure pays an absurd tribute to a trivial moment from my past. The specific Slovenian vanilla pudding I ate when five-years-old is saturated by particular space and time from my history. This sacred object in Zaartpark is, therefore, creating a sacred ground for temporal worship.

The structure has been placed in the public space of Breda. During the three-month period, the work has been documented and observed. Finally, one unit (box with a pudding cup) has been buried on the site, representing the ceremony of time capsule burial. This (private) performance has resulted in a new video work: Shedding (2023). 

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Article by Ruth de Vos: URŠA PREK – A MONUMENT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS (read the full Article here)

[…] When Prek was contemplating the name of the work, she doubted between monument and monolith. The word monument comes from the Latin monumentum meaning ‘memorial’ or ‘that which remembers’. Erecting a monument is a way of preserving a memory and ensuring that the memory of the event is not lost. The memory is transferred to the object and therefore does not have to remain permanently in people’s heads. A monument is usually erected to keep the memory of important events or people alive, but Prek uses it to record a very small and also hyper-personal memory. In the end, Prek decided that monolith was a more appropriate name for the work. A monolith, or a large piece of stone that has been put upright, is actually also a monument. The thing is it has been there for so long that no one remembers its original purpose. This is also the connection with the meaning of her work: Event Horizon is an attempt to connect to a memory she can’t remember the context of.

The memory associated with the dessert is very vivid and sharp for Prek and she knows exactly where it took place. She ate the dessert when she was five years old in her late father’s apartment. She just has no idea what else happened besides eating dessert. Why has this memory remained so clear and bright, what is so important about the dessert, what has she forgotten and can the dessert be a way to activate her memory? The title of the work also refers to this. Event horizon is a concept from cosmology that describes the boundary beyond which information, matter or light, can no longer reach a certain other point. Just like how Prek’s memory of eating dessert has become a point in time she can no longer access. […]