From the moment we're born, we learn and adopt the codes of behaviour
our civilization imposes upon us. We are taught the 'rules of engagement',
so that we can communicate and successfully interact with other members
of our species. We live by these rules, unconsciously accepting them as
an unwritten law, a dogma.

We are forced to, because we think there are no alternatives.
It is up to extraordinary individuals to find and show us these alternatives.
It is up to them to look where we've all looked a million times before
and dig up tiny novelties hidden behind our blind spots. It is up to them
to perceive the invisible and turn it into the common, the apparent, the obvious.

This website is dedicated to one of these exceptional personalities.
It is dedicated to Matej Smolnik, a.k.a. Vain.

His short, solitary life ended abruptly three years ago, at the age of 23,
prematurely concluding his work - a unique collection of music, prose and drawings,
incredibly plain and yet distinctly different from what we're accustomed to.

His death remains shrouded in mystery.

His remarkable legacy, however, is finally unveiled.