PARAFERAL

Artistic research, art production,
visual design and related services for posthumankind

PARAFERAL is a creative research facility operating in the intersection of art, consciousness and technology.

PARAFERAL art productions are of experimental and underground nature; varying from gallery exhibitions to immersive audiovisual works to collectible art objects in small editions.

PARAFERAL also contributes to special projects in the fields of contemporary art, audiovisual design and communications, and related subject matters.

Additionally, PARAFERAL maintains an archive for art and media related to its founder’s work spanning 30+ years.

PARAFERAL stands on the outside looking further out.

para-
\ˈpär-ə\

– above, beyond;
– abnormal, incorrect;
– closely resembling, almost.

feral
\ˈfir-əl, ˈfer-; ˈfɛ-rəl\

– a domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans;
– a person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.

peripheral
\pə-ˈri-f(ə-)rəl\

– of, relating to, or being the outside boundary or edge of an object, area or sphere;
– of, relating to, or being the outer part of the field of vision;
– the outside edge of an area; the area that surrounds a place or thing.

Research

The primary areas of PARAFERAL research include consciousness, the posthuman condition and frontiers of sensory experience as well as any interconnections thereof.

PARAFERAL may also investigate everyday events from a deconstructive angle, with the aim to reveal and make use of underlying currents of influence otherwise concealed. Any power structures encountered in the process will be questioned and dismantled if deemed inhibitive to creativity or hostile to liberty.

Artistic research allows, encourages and requires taking personal involvement in the subject matter. Unrestricted by objectivity — which is never absolute — the artist may freely immerse oneself in the process. A subjective, immersive approach enables one to obtain information otherwise unavailable.

The creative process involves diverse levels of experience: physical, emotional, intellectual, transpersonal and beyond. Thus the works of art themselves exist and communicate on all these levels.

Development

PARAFERAL utilizes digital and analog devices, the latest high tech as well as obsolete systems resurrected and modified for new purpose, not forgetting tools that have been in use for a hundred thousand years. Hardware, software, wetware, moist media, paranormal vapours… Coding, sketching, printing, painting, smudging, hacking, breaking, fixing, to take it apart and put back together in random order.

PARAFERAL embraces chance as a core element in the creative process in order to transcend any restrictions and predictability set by rational, organised factors.

PARAFERAL aims to develop tools, techniques and knowledge required for proper realisation of each project.

Some of the developed tools may become products if deemed beneficial for creative use outside of the laboratory.

Production

The research and development process eventually crystallizes into various kinds of ‘end products’ — objects, events, environments; virtual, conceptual and concrete. The works may take many different forms and variations, dependent on their inherent nature and their individual needs.

In the age of instant gratification, constant availability and infinite replicability, PARAFERAL favors qualities like uniqueness and rarity, ambiguity and complexity, alienation and obscurity — essentially for their inherent value.

PARAFERAL productions include unique pieces of art and limited editions of physical and digital objects as well as live audio/visual performances and installations of temporary nature in concrete and virtual spaces.

Still, some things remain outside of commerce, and some things happen for their own reasons only.