Companion Cube: Subsurface [A/V2V]
Performative AV installation at R.o.R+ festival

Photo: Katja Goljat

OPENING: Thursday, 1 October 2026, at 19.30
VISITING HOURS: from 2 to 4 October 2026, from 18.30 to 23.00
LOCATION: R.o.R+: Blue Drift, Vila Vipolže, Goriška brda

Artistic direction: Stella Ivšek / BEAM TEAM

Visuals: Urša Čuk, Thomas Versa, Virage

Music production: Črt Trkman (Terranigma)

Companion Cube: Subsurface is the second iteration of the A/V2V:_Companion_Cube_(en) Companion Cube audiovisual installation, which explores collaboration as a fundamental aspect of contemporary artistic practice through projection mapping. The project brings together four artists from Slovenia and Italy, who develop a shared audiovisual composition through sound, moving image, and spatial projection. The music and visual content are created within a common conceptual framework and adapted to the specific characteristics of the projection object.
Companion Cube: Subsurface AV installation was created as a response to this year's R.o.R+ Festival theme – Blue Drift, which explores water, microplastics and the connections between humans and the environment through art and science. Under artistic direction of Stella Ivšek, the installation is co-created by visual and intermedia artist Urša Čuk (rastrLAB), intermedia artist, music producer, and sound designer Črt Trkman (Terranigma), visual artist Virage, whose work explores the relationship between moving image and sound, and Thomas Versa, VJ and founder of the Artelettronica collective. Their artistic practices range from generative visuals, projection mapping, and live AV performances to spatial sound, experimental film, and electronic music.

Artists

Thomas Versa, always fascinated by visual experiences, found his path by bridging craft and the digital world — becoming a VJ. He brings together his skills to create immersive situations across clubs, theatres and exhibitions, drawing music with images, turning sound into frames. Every set is unique, every space a canvas that breathes. Founder of the Artelettronica collective, since 2015 he has made his passion his work.

Virage has been redefining the intersection of moving images and sound since the early 2000s, evolving from lo-fi experiments with Amiga, Commodore, VHS, and vintage video mixers into a distinctive cinematic visual language. Collaborations span underground clubs and major international festivals, working with artists including Jeff Mills, Chris Liebing, Gilles Peterson, Greg Wilson, and DJ Hell. In 2025, Virage developed ADE, an original audiovisual project investigating the dialogue between sound, moving image, and immersive environments. Conceived as a study of non-light, ADE explores the conscious and subconscious dimensions that images evoke in photography and visual art, questioning how absence, shadow, and perception shape emotional and cognitive experience.

Črt Trkman (Terranigma) is an intermedia artist, music producer, and DJ working at the intersection of sound, space, and digital media. He creates audiovisual installations, multichannel spatial sound environments, and musical compositions for galleries, media arts festivals, and performing arts projects. As a member of the BEAM TEAM collective, he collaborates on the development of intermedia projects, contributing as a sound designer. Under the alias Terranigma, he develops original music productions that blend electronic, experimental, and ambient music.

Urša Čuk (rastrLAB) is a visual and intermedia artist working in the fields of audiovisual installations, generative video projections, projection mapping, and animation. Her practice explores the relationships between sound, space, and visual imagery, creating immersive environments in which technology, the body, and perception intertwine. Her work focuses on themes of fragmentation, temporality, and instability, translating them into generative visual structures and spatial compositions. She develops open, process-based systems and investigates the tensions between control and chance. She collaborates with the intermedia collective BEAM TEAM and regularly participates in the Lighting Guerrilla Festival. She is also active as a VJ for concerts and live music performances, as well as for electronic music and DJ events. In addition, she works within the field of performing arts, collaborating with theatre director Varja Hrvatin and with contemporary dance and performance artists including Anja Mejač and Radharani Pernačič.

Stella Ivšek is an intermedia artist, visual performer (VJ), producer, and co-founder of the BEAM TEAM collective. Working across video art, live visuals, projection mapping, interactive installations, and stage scenography, she develops audiovisual projects that span gallery spaces, performing arts, and music venues. Under the artistic name VJ 5237, she creates audiovisual performances and collaborates on intermedia projects presented at festivals and events such as SONICA, Lighting Guerrilla, Speculum Artium, KIBLIX, Borås Bright Art Festival, and LUNA Festival, as well as other international platforms dedicated to contemporary audiovisual and media arts. Since 2019, she has led and produced V2V, a platform dedicated to connecting artists working in video art, VJ culture, audiovisual performance, and intermedia production. As a member of BEAM TEAM, she develops installations, light-based works, and projection mapping projects. She is also active in the performing arts, creating video design and scenographic elements for theatre and dance productions.

About the project

Phto: Katja Goljat

A/V2V: Companion Cube is an interdisciplinary audiovisual project that connects local and foreign VJs with local music producers in the process of joint creation of new AV compositions. The project is based on collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the intertwining of different artistic practices, exploring the connection between sound, space, and mapped video projection. Artists have prepared original visualizations based on a coordinated proposal and pre-recorded sets of original music. The central element of the project is a three-dimensional cube-shaped structure designed as a physical platform for video mapping and a symbolic space for joint creative collaboration, a contemporary interpretation of the Companion Cube, an extremely popular item in the Portal series of games from the Half-Life universe.

V2V

V2V is a platform dedicated to the development and presentation of contemporary audiovisual (AV) and intermedia practices. The program connects creators in the fields of video art, visualizations, video mapping, and AV installations, and encourages collaboration between artists, technicians, and producers.

The main purpose of the platform is to establish conditions for long-term collaboration, research, and knowledge exchange in a local and international context. Events are designed as meetings, performances, and presentations of original projects that serve as a laboratory for the development of new ways of creating, presenting, and connecting AV art.

Under the curatorial leadership of Stella Ivšek, V2V combines educational, production, and exhibition formats to promote the development of contemporary AV art and its integration into the broader cultural space.

V2V @ Instagram
V2V @ Facebook

Credits

• Project management, video curator, video editing, and object development: Stella Ivšek
• Coordination and production: Katja Pahor
• Technical director, recording, and sound editing: Črt Trkman
• Technical support, transport and installation setup: Miha Zupan
• Setup and video mapping assistance: Urša Čuk
• Communication and socials: Jan Drozg, Lina Steiner
• Tech support: Forum Ljubljana, Glej Theatre, Slovenian Cinematheque, Projekt Atol Institute
• Coproduction: Ljudmila, Art and Science Lab and ROR Institute (R.o.R+ Festival curators: Sendi Mango and Jurij Pavlica)
• Thanks: Marko Čeh, Grega Mohorčič, Katerina Mirović, Marko Turkuš, Rea Vogrinčič

A/V2V is co-financed by the Department of Culture of the City of Ljubljana.