Gray on Gray

It has been three decades since Alen Ožbolt took over designing the Problemi magazine and the Analecta book collection. Thirty years and 223 headlines – an imposing output and one virtually unparalleled in the publishing industry. Thirty years of book covers, designs all sharing the same starting point, but each and every one singularly unique, and nearly all alluding to the content with great subtlety. The inspiration behind the design concept was the famous quote from Hegel: “When philosophy paints its gray on gray then has a form of life grown old, and with gray on gray it cannot be rejuvenated but only known.”

The design concept is thus in sync with the concept underpinning the theory that evolved in the hundreds of volumes published in the Analecta collection and in the Problemi journal, a theory that has gained worldwide renown over the recent decades. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the Silver Windows book cover exhibition is accompanied by events that will reflect in various ways on the underlying premises and scope of this theory, grounding their reflections in gray on gray. Organised on the initiative of Dr. Jela Krečič, the series of lectures will accompany Silver Windows, an exhibition dedicated to the Problemi magazine covers designed by Alen Ožbolt on view in Cankarjev dom’s Foyer I. 

"In four evenings, four pairs of lecturers will address very different questions, ranging from topics of contemporary relevance to more elementary philosophical themes, linked by two theoretical kernels: G. W. F. Hegel, this time also as a philosopher of greyness and shadows, and the theory of Jacques Lacan, which, among other things, will serve as a starting point for analysing the current social climate and consumerism, as well as the structure of desire and lalangue. The concept of indirectness, which is closely related to both traditions of thought, will assist in diagnosing linguistic or pop cultural phenomena, as well as in reflecting on the concept of universality.”
Jela Krečič

Programme:

9 Jan 
Dr. Alenka Zupančič: Radical Evil and Its Related Matters 
Dr. Peter Klepec: On the Paradoxes of Cruelty

18 Jan 
Dr. Robert Pfaller: Gray in the Gray Service of Goods and the Structure of Desire

Dr. Jela Krečič: Hollywood, Indirectness and Ted Lasso

20 Feb 
Dr. Jure Simoniti: How Universality Became Singular
Dr. Slavoj Žižek: Can Hegel be Surpassed with Heidegger?

29 Feb 
Dr. Frank Ruda: The Battle of Shadows
Dr. Mladen Dolar: Philosophy and Homonymy

CD Club and Linhart Hall
At 19.00