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{{Article
| status       = PHOTO COVER
| maintainer   = Jwilcoxen
}} 
{{Infobox
| name                = Projekt Atol Institute
| local name          = Projekt Atol, Zavod za umetniško produkcijo, posredovanje in založništvo, Ljubljana
| logo               = Projekt Atol Institute (logo).svg
| street              = Ane Ziherlove 2
| town                = SI-1000 Ljubljana
| telephone           = 386 (0) 1 425 4006
| fax                 = 386 (0) 1 425 4006
| email               = office.atol@gmail.com
| website             = http://www.projekt-atol.si/
| contacts = {{Contact
| name                = Marko Peljhan
| role                = Director
| email               = mp@arcticperspective.org
}}
{{Contact
| name                = Uroš Veber
| role                = Project manager
| email               = uveber@gmail.com
}}
| accounts            =
https://www.facebook.com/ProjektAtol
}}

{{Teaser|

{{Image|Projekt Atol Institute 2010 Arctic Perspective Mainz.jpg}}

[[Projekt Atol Institute|Projekt Atol]] is a non-profit cultural institution founded in [[established::1992]] by Slovene conceptual and new media artist [[Marko Peljhan]] and officially registered in 1994. Its activities range from art production to scientific research and technological prototype development and production. The technological arm of Projekt Atol, called PACT Systems (Projekt Atol Communication Technologies), was founded in 1995, and the flight operations branch, Projekt Atol Flight Operations, was founded in 1999 to support art and cultural activities in the atmosphere, in orbit, and beyond.

Projekt Atol serves as the institutional, financial and logistics support frame for several projects and initiatives, such as its ''Makrolab'' project and the recent ''Arctic Perspective Initiative''. 
}}

== Projects ==

As of 2012, Projekt Atol Institute runs a joint programme of regular artists residencies, workshops and new media art projects together with the [[Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory]]. Since 2015, Ljudmila and Projekt Atol are also responsible for the week-long 'hack-camp', called [[PIFcamp]]. 

=== ''Makrolab'' ===

Projekt Atol is probably best known for its ''Makrolab'' project which in the period 1994&ndash;2007 grew into a complex set of technological, political and environmental activities and researches. The project has won its initiator, [[Marko Peljhan]], a UNESCO Digital Media Prize in 2004 and a [[Prešeren Award and Prešeren Foundation Awards|Prešeren Foundation Award]] in 2007, and has been recognized in worldwide media art textbooks and survey literature.

In 1994 the project ''Makrolab'' was developed as an ongoing mobile laboratory set-up for open and integral research and the common work of artists, scientists, and tactical media workers in the fields of telecommunications, migrations research, weather and climate. First set up in 1997 during the ''documenta X'' exhibition in Kassel, Germany, it subsequently operated in Western Australia (Rottnest Island), Slovenia (Veliki Kras), in the Scottish Highlands (Atholl Estates) on the island of Campalto (Isola di Campalto), and (as part of the 2003 Biennale di Venezia art exhibition and the TEMPUS PHARE CBC Interreg IIIA programme) in the Venice Lagoon. 

During 2007&ndash;08, the International Polar Year, the ''Makrolab'' project produced installations in Antarctica and Nunavut. This mission involved a conceptual and practical linkage of both polar regions. In this transnational spirit, ''Makrolab'' was managed by I-TASC, the Interpolar Transnational Ars Science Constellation.

===''Arctic Perspective Initative''===
Following ''Makrolab'' and a direct descendant of I-TASC, the ''Arctic Perspective Initiative'' is another long term project, one of the main focuses of the Projekt Atol’s recent work. It focuses on the empowerment of the Arctic people through open source technologies and applied education and training, but also serves as one of the focusing points for promotion of contemporary art and science of the circumpolar region on the "global south". The project is aimed to last at least 10 years and is based on various themes, such as traditional and contemporary conceptual art practices, architecture, geopolitics, autonomy and technology. Hatje Cantz Verlag has already published two ''Arctic Perspective Cahiers'' and two more are about to follow in 2011. A renowned Argentinian curator Victoria Noorthoorn listed the ''Arctic Perspective'' exhibition among the top ten in 2010 in the December issue of the ''Art Forum Magazine''.

===''polar'' (2000) and ''polar<sup>m</sup> [mirrored]'' (2010)===
''polar'' (2000), a project by artist Carsten Nicolai and [[Marko Peljhan]], was commissioned by ICC NTT Tokyo and was concerned with the assumption of the global communications networks as an intelligent matrix. The main thesis of the polar was that the human created networks are beginning to mimic indeterminate phenomena as we find them in nature itself. The project won the Golden Nica Prix for Digital Media Arts at the Ars Electronica Festival.

In 2010 the Peljhan and Nicolai project ''polar<sup>m</sup> [mirrored]'' was commissioned by the Yamaguchi Center for Art and Media (YCAM) as a follow-up to the award-winning ''polar'' in 2000. While in residency at YCAM, the two artists explored the the earth's radiation and electromagnetic ecosystems in an attempt to understand these phenomena as a method of environmental exploration that is deeply rooted in physical nature. Ten years after the first ''polar'' project, technology and measuring devices are even more precise. But what do they bring us closer to? 

=== Other projects ===
Projekt Atol's other projects in the field of technology and communications research include the ''Resolution'' series projects, the ''Trust-System'' series projects, the Insular technologies initiative, the Wardenclyffe series projects, the ''Signal-Sever!'' series of performances, the ''Egoritmi-Egorhythms'' performances, the ''Ladomir-faktura'' series of situations, the Slovene Space Agency in Constitution initiative. In addition, Projekt Atol has produced music and sound related projects such as the [[rx-tx]] music label and the ''Re-lax'' event series.

In 2001, together with the Baterija group of architects, it co-ordinated and lead the production of the mobile media lab ''Transhub'', realised as ''Mobilatorij'' for the Mobitel company and managed by [[Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab|Ljudmila]], [[Cyberpipe]] and Mobitel.

Projekt Atol collaborates with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Moscow and between 1999 and 2003 co-ordinated seven parabolic flights in microgravity for different artistic projects, the first of these involving the [[Noordung Cosmokinetic Cabinet]] (1999); Projekt Atol subsequently produced three other Noordung Cosmokinetic Cabinet performance events prior to 2003 and continued to collaborate with [[Dragan Živadinov]] on the ''Three Elizabethan Tragedies'' [Tri elizabetinske tragedije] trilogy by the Croatian playwright Vladimir Stojsavljević. The trilogy discusses the relation between theatre and the state in the period of Renaissance through its main protagonists, namely Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. The first two parts were co-produced with the [[Delak Institute]] - ''The Forbidden Theatre'' [Prepovedano gledališče] premièred in 2008 and ''Marlowe'' in 2009. 

''Territory 1995'' is a project dealing with the Srebrenica genocide. It was presented at the Istanbul Biennial in 2009 and in 2010 at the group exhibition ''Serbia - Frequently Asked Questions'' in New York and at Museum of Contemporary art in Belgrade.

== International profile ==
Productions of Projekt Atol have been presented at the ''documenta X'', the Johannesburg Biennale, the third Manifesta European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana (2000), the Gwangju Biennale, ISEA, CanonARTLAB, Ars Electronica, and at other venues around the world, such as P.S.1 MOMA, New Museum of Contemporary Art, ICC NTT Tokyo, and YCAM Yamaguchi.

Projekt Atol Institute regularly participates as a producer or production partner in various performing and new media arts projects. One such project, a recipient of funding from the European Commission's ''Culture Programme'', was entitled ''IMMEDIATE: Immersive Media Dance Integrating in Telematic Environments''. Together with co-organising partners Ciant (CZ), Laboratory for Mixed Realities-LMR (DE), Amber (TR), and A4 (SK), with the participation of artists and researchers from Dardex and Mort2Faim collective (FR), the project sought to develop high-quality creative workshops resulting in mixed-reality choreographic performances.

Projekt Atol Institute is partner to the following initiatives: Arctic Perspective Initiative (API), world-information.org (WIO), the MIR network (Arts Catalyst, Leonardo/Olats, V2, and Multimedia Complex of Actual Arts), Acoustic Space Lab, and AUVSI. 

== See also ==
* [[rx-tx]]
**[[Puna Syndicate]]
* [[Noordung Cosmokinetic Cabinet]]
* [[New media art timeline]]
* [[PIFcamp]]
* [[Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.projekt-atol.si/ Projekt Atol Institute website] (in Slovenian)
* [http://ladomir.net/ Ladomir.net peljhan territories archive]
* [http://world-information.org/wio/program/participants/992285490 Marko Peljhan on World-Information.Org website]
* [http://www.theinfluencers.org/en/marco-peljhan/video/1 Marko Peljhan's lecture at The Influencers Festival 2005]
* [http://www.makery.info/en/2017/07/25/marko-peljhan-lutopie-materialisee-du-makrolab-12/ Extensive interview with Marko Peljahn on Makrolab, 2017]
Projects
* [http://polar-m.ycam.jp/index_en.html ''polar<sup>m</sup> <nowiki>[</nowiki>mirrored<nowiki>]</nowiki>'' project website]
* [http://www.ycam.jp/en/art/2010/04/carsten-nicolai-marko-peljhan.html ''polar<sup>m</sup> <nowiki>[</nowiki>mirrored<nowiki>]</nowiki>'' at YCAM Yamaguchi Center]
* [http://arcticperspective.org/ ''Arctic Perspective'' project] 
**[http://www.mbiederman.com/#99309/Arctic-Perspective-Initiative ''Arctic Perspective'' project on Matthew Biederman's website]
* [http://www.immediate-project.eu/ IMMEDIATE Project website]
* [http://www.icepac.org/itasc/ I-TASC, the Interpolar Transnational Ars Science Constellation website] 
* [http://nonstop-future.org/txt?tid=24ee7e9069722cb6f44955634954ce57 Projekt Atol on Non Stop Future Public Netbase]
Texts
* [http://brianholmes.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/coded-utopia Brian Holmes: ''Coded Utopia. Macrolab or the Art of Transition'', 2007]


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[[Category:Visual arts]]
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[[Category:Šiška Cultural Quarter]]

[[Category:EU funding of Slovene organisations (Culture and MEDIA Programmes)]] 
[[Category:EU Culture funding recipient]]
[[Category:EU Creative Europe, Culture funding recipient]]