Predrag SIDJANIN
multimedia artist, scientist and writer
Predrag Siđanin, author of the trilogy MULTILAYERED REALITY, has been writing under pseudonyms since the 1990s.
ZKMDY is the pseudonym of the author of the novel Surprise Mode, first used in signing the story Louvre - The Hut, published in the book Fragments by Branko Budžarov, First Edition, Novi Sad, 2022. ZKMDY is Serbian, an acronym that combines bunnies (zeka) and bears (meda). His portrait is the following logo:
In the other two novels of the trilogy, Emma in the Book and Maya and Gug, Predrag Sidjanin, written under the pseudonym Emma Neuman, whose AI portrait was created using the visual generator AI / Chat GPT.
Predrag Sidjanin is a multimedia artist who began his creative work in the 1970s as part of the New Artistic Practice movement in formal Yugoslavia. Over the years, he has worked in various media, ranging from classical to ephemeral forms like video, performance, web art, and VR.
In the 1990s, while residing in the Netherlands, he actively engaged in online writing, expanding text boundaries into other media (hybrid narratives) and collaborating with internationally renowned authors.
During this period, he embarked on a scientific career, becoming a trailblazer in applying VR and AI to scientific research. His pioneering work led to the award of a Master's degree in VR in 1995 and a PhD in AI and OODB in 2000 at TU Delft in the Netherlands. He has since shared his knowledge as a professor at the FTN and Educons Universities in Novi Sad and a visiting professor abroad.
His first novel, Surprise Mode, the opening installment of the trilogy MULTYLAYERED REALITY, culminates his experience in VR, AI, and related disciplines. This work sets the stage for his future literary endeavors.
A wet-plate collodion process portrait made by Milan Vlaski
The biography and pseudonym of a novelist represent two aspects of artistic creation that intertwine and complement each other. In this context, a biography is not merely a factual account of one's life but a synthesis of reality and literary imagination, where creative freedom transforms the author's life story into a work of art.
The pseudonym, on the other hand, serves as a tool that allows the author to explore different dimensions of identity—protecting privacy, experimenting with new genres, and developing a unique or alternative literary expression.
Together, the biography and pseudonym provide the author with a space to shape parallel worlds, where reality and fiction become inextricably intertwined.
Collodion Photography: Milan Vlaski
One morning, I woke up at the usual time with a head full of brain. I brushed my teeth, slipped on my dressing gown, and went to my cold study. I pulled out a large piece of paper, and... That's when the story was born.
I woke up with the complete structure of the novel Surprise Mode. In that cold room, I quickly created a schematic structure for the novel. The main character, She, and the problem she faces. Her relationship with the other characters, Young Man, LoL, Cat, the waiter, Fatty, and the supporting characters: the Artist, Old Man, and others.
Satisfied, I made some tea, opened my laptop, and began to write, filling in the schematic structure. As I finished each part, I marked it off with a purple marker on the initial scheme. Some connections within the given framework of the novel, as one might assume, I changed, expanded, and added during the writing process. After a few months of daily writing, the novel was finished. Corrections of spelling and grammatical errors followed. I hadn't even thought about a publisher, editor, or publication when the following situation occurred.
I met an old acquaintance I hadn't seen at an international video festival opening for a few years. He asked me how I was doing and what I was working on. I explained that I had finally, on my third attempt, retired and that I had just finished writing a novel. This intrigued him, and he asked me to tell him about the novel. I briefly informed him, and he asked me if I had a publisher. No, I hadn't even thought about that next phase. "Please send me the manuscript," he said, "if I like it, I will publish it for you." I didn't even know that the institution where he worked, among other activities, also engaged in publishing. And that he was precisely the editor. Thus, after only a couple of months, Surprise Mode was published.
Since I had time, as I didn't paint in my studio every day and didn't have to go to the university so often, I had time to think. In fact, I missed the characters from the novel with whom I had become virtually friends. I felt the need to prolong their lives, place them in different situations, and shed light on what was only hinted at in the first novel. And so, first Emma in the Book, and then Maya and Google were created.
Since I often used pseudonyms during the nineties in my creative and somewhat hacking activities, all three trilogy novels were written under pseudonyms. The first is ZKMDY, and the other two are Emma Neuman. Where did they come from?Well, ZKMDY, my wife and dear friends sometimes called me Emma Neuman. It was one of the slightly altered (it was Anna Neuman) pseudonyms from the nineties when I was actively involved in online writing, hacking, web art, writing, and science. The first-person singular feminine form suited me perfectly.
Emma is an author who records strange events happening to her, entering the Book Surprise Mode, contacting She/Girl, and helping her get out of the situation imposed on her by the AI bots of the metaverse. Emma writes new life chapters for my heroes.Emma almost falls into a thriller with her writing, but fortunately, that didn't happen. Encouraged by the success of her first novel, Emma begins writing the second, in which new characters appear: Google and a fourteen-year-old girl, Maya. During a flight to New York, Maya meets her creator, Emma, and the novel takes unforeseen turns. One situation brings all the actors together at the premiere of Norma at the Metropolitan Opera, where everyone eagerly awaits Maya's performance in the lead role. At one point, Emma is drawn to a gaze from the gallery. She realizes that it is ZKMDY, the author of the first novel, the author of her character, and all those imaginary characters around her—in fact, the author of all three novels.
As these three novels are interconnected not so much by the plot but by the characters, who live parallel lives in intertwined moments of strange and unbelievable personal experiences, the trilogy's name suggested itself: The Multilayered Reality.
The Multilayered Reality is an unpretentious read that raises questions about contemporary life in which new technologies, science, culinary recipes, and the bubbles of different champagnes intertwine.