Text by Bojan Ivanov

The latest creative concept of the young Macedonian artist Iskra Dimitrova (1965), represents a complex attempt towards establishing a dialogue among the work and the audience, the medium and the object. This virtual lacework of relations - as envisioned and devised by the artist, unites into a singular event the properties of an exhibition, of performance art, and of presentation. The problematic core of this event is the Binary ContACT: the touch of two bodies, the exchange of two energies, or just simple, transient departure from desolation. Both the chosen theme and the applied procedure indicate that an important explorative direction in the career of Dimitrova is coming of age, and in a way, is already concluded. Namely, as regards the contents, one may depict the creative biography of this artist as a travelogue of feelings - a journey that had started in awe by the miracle of birth, and that was brought to an end in dismay by the mystery of death. At the same time, the developmental thread in the expressive techniques with Dimitrova could be displayed through the amassment of experiences gathered using scenographic settings, arranged vistas, light effects and soundscapes, ritual gestures and performance art. The Binary ContACT is an endeavor accomplished by deceivingly simple means: a darkened gallery room with a glass plate mounted on its front wall; affixed beneath this glass surfaces is a silhouette of a corpulent female figure, made of fabric resembling snake's skin; a touch is required in order to bring to life this figure upon which the digital animation is cast from the overhead video-beam machine. According to the intentions of Dimitrova, one participant in the ContACT and one aspect of this object are to join in the interchange of tactile, visual and auditory fluid. There is no work of art, there are no dimensions, there is no technique - there is only experience. The event, on the other hand, exists on the level of testimony. The audience sees, or perhaps anticipates the ConACT with the creative presence of Dimitrova, as embodied in the artifact painted with light. Two become one. Nonetheless, it so transpires that the emotional climax is reached only after the intentions of Dimitrova are accomplished. Savoring the termination of the ContACT, reverting to the solitude, the falling of the opaque veiling of nonsense between the agents of the exchange - all these experiences remain dissociated from any preliminary preparation and beyond the language capacity of the project. At this particular point in time, the grotesque female figure and its communication counterpart are really becoming one. Reconstructing in the guise of Binary ContACT, this perfectly aimless structure of the celestial mechanics, Iskra Dimitrova is actually announcing the decline of her own fascination with the beginnings and ending of the things. It seems that in the very act of ContACTing, the artist is reiterating her personal parting with the world of inconclusive propositions and speculative conclusions, that is to say, as if she were exposing her own submission to the storms of existential tensions of the everyday life. The beauty of this tormenting communion with the artist's personal drama is proffered by the coherent visual language Dimitrova develops from the associations embedded in the pictures-words: ContACT Binary, silicone skin, star system, connection, occultation and eclipse, union and junction. On its own part, the most powerful, affective message of the event is conveyed through the proficient treatment of familiar assets, and with grasp on the poetic essence of the New Machine. Ultimately, the ContACT also represents an announcement of exciting researches and results that Iskra Dimitrova is undoubtedly going to accomplish in her subsequent planning over the unexpected.