ŽELJKO
BELJAN W/ VEDRAN RAO BRLEČIĆ: PINBALL WIZARDS
Rad Pinball Wizards, prvi put predstavljen u ljeto 2025. godine na izložbi Mi smo z vami! u dijalogu sa slovenskom umjetnicom Aleksandrom Gruden u Galeriji Veselov vrt u Ljubljani, od samog je početka zamišljen kao sustav koji se aktivira performansom, ali ne završava njegovim okončanjem. Suradnja Željka Beljana i Vedrana Raa Brlečića proizlazi iz razdoblja u kojem su od 2010. do 2015. godine zajedno djelovali na zagrebačkoj alternativnoj glazbenoj sceni. Nastupali su u bendovima Contract, MFC i Panache Panache, Vedran kao bubnjar i gitarist, a Željko kao frontmen i basist. Nakon tog razdoblja njihovi se profesionalni putevi razilaze: Beljan se afirmira unutar polja suvremene umjetnosti, dok Brlečić ostaje primarno vezan uz glazbu i zvuk. Pinball Wizards predstavlja njihovo ponovno presijecanje, rad u kojem se iskustvo kolektivne improvizacije, sirovog zvuka i DIY estetike ne citira nostalgijski, nego se prenosi kao princip rada. Otvorena struktura, nepredvidivost i odsustvo unaprijed zadanog ishoda, nekad svojstveni koncertnom prostoru, ovdje su transponirani u drugi medij: umjesto pozornice i pojačala, sada su tu rezonantne kutije, čavli i kuglice; umjesto benda — sustav koji proizvodi zvuk kroz sudar materije. Pinball Wizards je prostorno-zvučna instalacija u formi dvaju primitivnih flipera: dviju rezonantnih kutija koje funkcioniraju kao skulpture, instrumenti i situacije. Jedna je metalna, druga drvena; obje ispunjene gustim rasterom čavala koji razbijaju putanju kuglica i pretvaraju gravitaciju u zvuk. Svako bacanje pokreće lanac mikrosudara, a svaki sudar proizvodi novi, neponovljivi akustički slijed. Kompozicija se događa u realnom vremenu, bez partiture, memorije i mogućnosti ponavljanja.
Rad započinje performansom umjetnika, no ne prestaje kada izvedba završi. Nakon inicijalne aktivacije instalacija ostaje otvoren sustav u kojem publika preuzima ulogu izvođača, pokretača i slušača. Svaki posjetitelj postaje istovremeno igrač i glazbenik, a svaka partija vlastita, efemerna izvedba. U tom smislu prostor instalacije djeluje kao ono što je Johan Huizinga nazivao „magičnim krugom“: autonomnom zonom igre u kojoj vrijede posebna pravila, a slučaj i vještina ulaze u napetu ravnotežu. Igrač baca kuglicu, ali njezina putanja izmiče potpunoj kontroli; između namjere i ishoda otvara se prostor nepredvidivosti, prisutnosti i slušanja.
Rad se nadovezuje na tradiciju aleatorike i ideju indeterminacije kakvu je artikulirao John Cage: autor ne kontrolira zvuk, nego postavlja uvjete njegova nastanka. Kuglica ne izvodi unaprijed zadanu kompoziciju, nego proizvodi zvuk kroz nepredvidive sudare unutar sustava. Umjetnički čin ovdje leži u osmišljavanju mehanizma, a ne u kontroli njegova ishoda.
Naziv rada referira se na kultni film Tommy redatelja Kena Russella iz 1975. godine, u kojem Elton John u ulozi Pinball Wizarda pjeva o dječaku koji, iako gluh, slijep i nijem, posjeduje izvanrednu sposobnost igranja flipera. Fliper ondje postaje metafora percepcije koja nadilazi uobičajene kanale osjetilne kontrole, odnosno metafora intuitivnog odnosa prema unutarnjoj logici igre.
Nakon performansa rad nastavlja živjeti bez originalnih izvođača i ostaje otvoreni mehanizam koji se neprestano transformira kroz novu publiku. Svaka interakcija briše prethodnu i uspostavlja novu, a sam rad u svojoj punini postoji samo dok se igra.
U tom trajnom započinjanju, Pinball Wizards postaje prostor u kojem se skulptura pretvara u instrument, igra u kompoziciju, a publika u zajednicu privremenih izvođača, pozvanu da kroz igru otkrije vlastiti ritam, bez potrebe za formalnim znanjem ili tehnikom.
Iva Jurić
ŽELJKO
BELJAN W/ VEDRAN RAO BRLEČIĆ: PINBALL WIZARDS
The work Pinball Wizards, first presented in the summer of 2025 at the exhibition We Are With You! in dialogue with the Slovenian artist Aleksandra Gruden at Galerija Veselov vrt in Ljubljana, was from the outset conceived as a system activated through performance, yet one that does not conclude with the end of the performance itself.
The collaboration between Željko Beljan and Vedran Rao Brlečić stems from a period between 2010 and 2015 when the two were active together on Zagreb’s alternative music scene. They performed in the bands Contract, MFC, and Panache Panache, with Vedran as drummer and guitarist and Željko as frontman and bassist. After this period, their professional paths diverged: Beljan established himself within the field of contemporary art, while Brlečić remained primarily connected to music and sound. Pinball Wizards marks their renewed intersection — a work in which the experience of collective improvisation, raw sound, and DIY aesthetics is not nostalgically cited but translated into a working principle. The open structure, unpredictability, and absence of a predetermined outcome — once characteristic of the concert space — are here transposed into another medium: instead of stage and amplifiers, there are resonant boxes, nails, and balls; instead of a band, a system that produces sound through collisions of matter.
Pinball Wizards is a spatial sound installation in the form of two primitive pinball machines: two resonant boxes that function simultaneously as sculptures, instruments, and situations. One is metal, the other wooden; both filled with a dense grid of nails that disrupt the trajectory
of the balls and transform gravity into sound. Each throw initiates a chain of micro-collisions, and each collision generates a new, unrepeatable acoustic sequence. The composition unfolds in real time, without score, memory, or the possibility of repetition.
The work begins with a performance by the artists but does not end when the performance concludes. Following the initial activation, the installation remains an open system in which the audience assumes the role of performer, instigator, and listener. Each visitor becomes simultaneously player and musician, and each round becomes its own ephemeral performance. In this sense, the space of the installation operates as what Johan Huizinga described as the “magic circle”: an autonomous zone of play governed by its own rules, where chance and skill enter into a tense equilibrium. The player launches the ball, yet its trajectory escapes complete control; between intention and outcome a space opens for unpredictability, presence, and listening.
The work also resonates with the tradition of aleatorics and the idea of indeterminacy articulated by John Cage: the author does not control the sound but instead establishes the conditions for its emergence. The ball does not perform a predetermined composition but produces sound through unpredictable collisions within the system. The artistic act here lies in designing the mechanism rather than controlling its outcome.
The title of the work references the cult film Tommy by director Ken Russell (1975), in which Elton John, in the role of the Pinball Wizard, sings about a boy who, although deaf, blind, and mute, possesses an extraordinary ability to play pinball. In that context, the pinball machine becomes a metaphor for perception that transcends conventional channels of sensory control — a metaphor for an intuitive relationship with the internal logic of the game.
After the performance, the work continues to exist without its original performers, remaining an open mechanism that constantly transforms through new audiences. Each interaction erases the previous one and establishes a new one, and the work in its fullest sense exists only while it is being played.
In this continuous beginning, Pinball Wizards becomes a space in which sculpture turns into an instrument, play into composition, and the audience into a community of temporary performers, invited to discover their own rhythm through play — without the need for formal knowledge or technical skill.
Iva Jurić
ŽELJKO BELJAN (Vukovar, 1984.) vizualni je umjetnik koji u svojoj praksi istražuje fenomen ručnog rada i njegovu poziciju u suvremenim umjetničkim praksama. Posebno se fokusira na odnos između ručnog rada i amaterskog, hobističkog bavljenja sportom, s naglaskom na participativnost i uključivanje publike u realizaciju radova. Diplomirao je na Odsjeku za animirani film i nove medije Akademije likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu 2021. godine, alumnus je WHW Akademije (2022.) te je bio finalist Nagrade Radoslav Putar (2023.). Od 2011. godine sudjelovao je na brojnim skupnim izložbama u Hrvatskoj i regiji te je ostvario niz samostalnih izložbi.
ŽELJKO BELJAN (Vukovar, 1984) is a visual artist whose practice explores the phenomenon of manual labour and its position within contemporary art. He focuses in particular on the relationship between manual labour and amateur, hobby-based sports practices, with an emphasis on participation and the involvement of audiences in the production of his works. He graduated from the Department of Animated Film and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2021. He is an alumnus of the WHW Akademija (2022) and was a finalist for the Radoslav Putar Award (2023). Since 2011, he has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Croatia and the region and has presented a number of solo exhibitions.
