Chapter Four, The Echo of Our Voices (Jordan, 2024), is on view at the Galerija Fotografija gallery.

In cooperation with Galerija Fotografija and WILLAS Contemporary

A major exhibition by one of the greatest environmental photographers of our time, Nick Brandt (1964). 

The Day May Break is the first part of a global series portraying both people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. The series was shot in different locations around the world – countries that are the least polluting but the most climate vulnerable. The first two chapters were photographed in Kenya, Zimbabwe (2020) and Bolivia (2022), while SINK and RISE, dedicated exclusively to humans, was shot in Fiji. Photographed underwater, the local people in these photographs are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the sea level rises.

But despite their losses, the subjects – both people and animals – have nevertheless survived; and thus the series also offers hope and a possibility for the future. 

Chapter Four, The Echo of Our Voices (Jordan, 2024), is on view at the Galerija Fotografija gallery.

In cooperation with Galerija Fotografija and WILLAS Contemporary

A major exhibition by one of the greatest environmental photographers of our time, Nick Brandt (1964). 

The Day May Break is the first part of a global series portraying both people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. The series was shot in different locations around the world – countries that are the least polluting but the most climate vulnerable. The first two chapters were photographed in Kenya, Zimbabwe (2020) and Bolivia (2022), while SINK and RISE, dedicated exclusively to humans, was shot in Fiji. Photographed underwater, the local people in these photographs are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the sea level rises.

But despite their losses, the subjects – both people and animals – have nevertheless survived; and thus the series also offers hope and a possibility for the future. 

Ob svoji veliki razstavi Napočil bo dan, ki jo do začetka septembra gosti Galerija Cankarjevega doma (poglavja I do III) ter Galerija Fotografija (poglavje IV) bo Ljubljano obiskal eden največjih okoljevarstvenih fotografov današnjega časa, Nick Brandt. 

V Londonu rojeni fotograf Nick Brandt (1964) je študiral slikarstvo in film (na Saint Martin's School of Art). Med režiranjem epskega videospota Earth Song Michaela Jacksona v Tanzaniji leta 1995 se je zaljubil v živali in vzhodnoafriško pokrajino. Kmalu za tem je ustvaril svojo prvo fotografsko serijo On This Earth (2000–05), ki s poznejšima cikloma A Shadow Falls (2009) in Across the Ravaged Land (2013) sestavlja trilogijo. On This Earth je leta 2005 izšla v knjižni obliki z uvodi naravovarstvenice in primatologinje Jane Goodall, pisateljice Alice Sebold in fotografske kritičarke Vicki Goldberg.

Poznejši seriji Inherit the Dust (2016) in This Empty World (2019) sta bili prav tako posneti v vzhodni Afriki. 

Leta 2010 je Brandt v Keniji/Tanzaniji soustanovil neprofitno organizacijo Big Life Foundation, ki več kot tristo petdeset lokalnih čuvajev oz. naravovarstvenih nadzornikov zaposluje za varovanje in ohranjanje 1,6 milijona hektarjev zaščitenega ekosistema Amboseli/Kilimandžaro. 

Njegove fotografije so del številnih javnih in zasebnih zbirk. Pri svojem delu se osredotoča na posledice uničevanja okolja in podnebnega zloma tako za najbolj ranljive prebivalce planeta kot tudi za živalski in naravni svet.

V sodelovanju z Galerijo Fotografijo in WILLAS Contemporary

Chapter Four, The Echo of Our Voices (Jordan, 2024), is on view at the Galerija Fotografija gallery.

In cooperation with Galerija Fotografija and WILLAS Contemporary

A major exhibition by one of the greatest environmental photographers of our time, Nick Brandt (1964). 

The Day May Break is the first part of a global series portraying both people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. The series was shot in different locations around the world – countries that are the least polluting but the most climate vulnerable. The first two chapters were photographed in Kenya, Zimbabwe (2020) and Bolivia (2022), while SINK and RISE, dedicated exclusively to humans, was shot in Fiji. Photographed underwater, the local people in these photographs are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the sea level rises.

But despite their losses, the subjects – both people and animals – have nevertheless survived; and thus the series also offers hope and a possibility for the future. 

Chapter Four, The Echo of Our Voices (Jordan, 2024), is on view at the Galerija Fotografija gallery.

In cooperation with Galerija Fotografija and WILLAS Contemporary

A major exhibition by one of the greatest environmental photographers of our time, Nick Brandt (1964). 

The Day May Break is the first part of a global series portraying both people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. The series was shot in different locations around the world – countries that are the least polluting but the most climate vulnerable. The first two chapters were photographed in Kenya, Zimbabwe (2020) and Bolivia (2022), while SINK and RISE, dedicated exclusively to humans, was shot in Fiji. Photographed underwater, the local people in these photographs are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the sea level rises.

But despite their losses, the subjects – both people and animals – have nevertheless survived; and thus the series also offers hope and a possibility for the future. 

Nick Brandt (1964) was born and raised in London, where he originally studied painting and film at Saint Martin’s School of Art. 
While directing Michael Jackson's epic Earth Song video in Tanzania in 1995, Nick fell in love with animals and the East African land. 
A few years later he began his first photographic series, On This Earth (2000–05), which comprises a trilogy together with the later series, A Shadow Falls (2009) and Across the Ravaged Land (2013). 
On This Earth was published in a book form in 2005 with introductions by the conservationist and primatologist Jane Goodall, author Alice Sebold, and photography critic Vicki Goldberg.
Later series, Inherit the Dust (2016) and This Empty World (2019), were all also photographed in East Africa. 
In 2010, Brandt co-founded Big Life Foundation, a non-profit in Kenya/Tanzania that employs more than 350 local rangers protecting 1.6 million acres of the Amboseli/Kilimanjaro ecosystem. 
His photographs focus on the impact of environmental destruction and climate breakdown, for both some of the most vulnerable people and for the animal and natural world.
Since 2020, he has been working on The Day May Break, an ongoing global series that portrays people and animals impacted by climate change and environmental destruction. Chapter One (2021) was photographed in Kenya and Zimbabwe, Chapter Two (2022) in Bolivia. SINK / RISE, Chapter Three (2023) was taken in Fiji, and The Echo of Our Voices, Chapter Four (2024) in Jordan.
Brandt has had solo gallery and museum shows around the world, including New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Shanghai, Oslo, Paris and Los Angeles. 
His photographs form part of numerous public and private collections.
 

Admission 
Adult ticket: EUR 10/person 
Reduced admission: EUR 7/person (for visitors aged under 25 and 65+)
Free admission: children under 10, holders of EU Disability Card. persons accompanying disabled people, tourist guides, unemployed persons, as well as ICOM, PRESS, SMD card holders.

Public guided tour: admission fee, NO surcharge for guided tour 

Adult groups (10 or more persons):
Guided tour: admission + EUR 25 (surcharge for the tour)
School visits (10 or more persons): 
Admission: EUR 5/person
Guided tour: admission + EUR 20 (surcharge for the tour)

Books
Nick Brandt: The Day May Break, Chapter One: EUR 65
Nick Brandt: The Day May Break, Chapter Two: EUR 69
Nick Brandt: The Day May Break, Chapter Three: EUR 69
15% discount on the three-book set
 

Exhibition curator: Petra Kosi (ZDSLU)

Launched in 1993, the Slovenian Biennial of Illustration was founded by the Illustrators' Section of the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies (ZDSLU). The Biennial, with its extensive media coverage, contributes greatly to the promotion of illustration as an important artistic discipline that plays a responsible educational role, bringing stories to life as well as providing visual cues that help readers connect emotionally with the material and cement understanding. The exhibition presents works by Slovenian illustrators of all ages and publications issued by Slovenian publishing houses over the past five years. The selection is made by a five-member judging panel based on the entries received in the call for applications. The judging panel also selects the winners of the Hinko Smrekar Award, Slovenia's most prestigious prize for achievements in illustration. A special focus is placed on this year's winner of the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, illustrator, painter, graphic artist and designer Tomaž Kržišnik. The prize is awarded posthumously.

Tatjana Pregl Kobe about this year's recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award: “Slovenian illustrator, painter, graphic artist and designer Tomaž Kržišnik (1943–2023) received his MA in book illustration from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1968. He belonged to the trailblazing generation that trained at various European academies and was responsible for introducing diversity into the field of illustration. Innovativeness is reflected in not only his illustrations, drawings, puppets and set designs, but also his visual signs and posters, spatial installations, as well as glass and ceramic products. He gained national recognition with his exceptional, multifaceted and always distinctly original drawings, as well as with well-considered, colourful graphic prints and illustrations. He broke new ground in combining his drawn- or painted images with typographic elements to create thematically rich, compelling and unique visual messages, book objects and illustrations.”
 

Admission
Adult ticket: EUR 6 /person 
Discounted ticket: EUR 4 */person (*visitors under 25 and over 65)
Free admission: children aged 6 and under, EU Disability Card holders, valid Museum Card holders
Guided tours extra charge (for groups of 10 persons and more): ticket price + surcharge EUR 20 /group
Public guided tour: ticket price, NO extra charge

Children's workshop with guided tour: EUR 6 /person
Catalogue: EUR 15 
 

Kuratorka: Katarina Hergouth, mag. um. zgod., vodja razstavnega programa CD

Z deli se predstavljajo Katarina Caserman, Evgen Čopi Gorišek, Meta Drčar, Živa Drvarič, Katja Felle, Jure Kastelic, Gašper Kunšič, Dino Kužnik, Nana Wolke, Jana Zornik.
 
Odprti globus je skupinska razstava desetih slovenskih umetnic in umetnikov, ki sta jim skupna generacijska pripadnost ter dejstvo, da živijo in delujejo živijo v tujini, kjer so uspešno vpeti v mednarodno umetniško prizorišče in prisotni na tamkajšnjem umetniškem trgu. Razstava bo na enem mestu predstavila zanimive umetniške produkcije avtorjev, ki čeprav niso neznani slovenskemu razstavnemu področju, razstavljajo večinoma v tujini. Večina del je nastala v zadnjih letih, nekatera bodo celo razstavljena prvič.

Rojeni med letoma 1984 in 1996 so prvotno umetniško izobrazbo in formiranje pridobili doma v Sloveniji; večina jih je na Univerzi v Ljubljani zaključila diplomski študij (prva bolonjska stopnja), nato pa so študij (magistrski študij, druga bolonjska stopnja) nadaljevali v tujini, kjer so ostali. Več jih je študiralo na pomembnih umetniških akademijah (kot so na primer londonski Royal Collage of Art, Goldsmiths, Central Saint Martins), ki so jim služile kot dobra odskočna deska za uspešen začetek umetniške poti, drugi so se v umetniško sceno uspešno vpeli tudi drugače (samoiniciativno povezovanje, razstave in sodelovanje z galeristi, kuratorji, drugimi umetniki). 

Po besedah kuratorke, Katarine Hergouth izbrana deseterica umetnikov zaobjema pestrost različnih umetniških izrazov, tem in medijev. »Njihova dela so komentar sodobnega, digitaliziranega sveta, hkrati pa se dotikajo večnih, brezčasnih tematik.«

Razstava ne temelji na iskanju skupnih točk v opusih umetnic in umetnikov, temveč jim želi ponuditi prostor za vzpostavljanje vezi nazaj, iz tujine v domovino. Razstava bo na enem mestu ponudila ogled izbranih zanimivih umetniških produkcij, pri čemer bo odpirala tudi vprašanja, kako je generacija, ki ji pripadajo, vplivala na njihovo dozorevanje (tako osebnostno kot umetniško) – generacija, ki je odrasla skupaj s prehodom iz analognega v digitalni svet, za katero sta bila študij in odhod v tujino lažja in dostopnejša kot kdaj koli prej, ki pa se je hkrati soočila z nestabilnim zaposlovanjem in stanovanjsko problematiko – ter vprašanja, kakšen pomen in vlogo imata odhod in življenje v tujini ter kakšna ostaja povezava z domovino.

Umetniške prakse in opusi izbranih umetnikov so precej različni, tako v teoretskih izhodiščih kot uporabljenem mediju (četudi je prevladujoč medij slikarstvo, dodatno bodo na razstavi na ogled še kiparska dela in prostorske instalacije, fotografije in oblikovanje), delo vsakega pa odraža jasno usmeritev, osredotočenost in predanost. 
Delo deseterice umetnikov je izstopajoče, kar dokazujejo njihovi številni mednarodni uspehi in priznanja, povabila k samostojnim in skupinskim razstavam v ključnih umetniških ustanovah in zbirkah sodobne umetnosti ter nenazadnje tudi odkupi njihovih umetniških del. 
 
Umetnice in umetniki, ki se predstavljajo na razstavi, živijo in delujejo v različnih evropskih državah (Nemčiji, Franciji, Italiji, Združenem kraljestvu) pa tudi v Severni Ameriki (New York), pogosto se tudi selijo oziroma delujejo na več lokacijah hkrati. Ta vzorec – pridobitev prvotne umetniške izobrazbe doma, odhod v tujino in delovanje v mednarodnem umetniškem prostoru – ni značilnost le slovenskih umetnikov in tudi ne le milenijske generacije (več slovenskih umetnikov in umetnic je zelo uspešnih v tujini), temveč gre za razširjen, skoraj standarden vzorec sodobnega umetniškega sveta. 
 
Razstavo je arhitekturno oblikovala večkrat nagrajena arhitektka Sara Badovinac. 

 
Izobraževalni program ob razstavi je oblikoval kolektiv Oloop. 
Izobraževalni program z naslovom Umetnik za en dan, ki spremlja razstavo Odprti globus, ponuja vsebine, ki bodo otrokom in mladostnikom pomagale avtentično doživeti sodobno umetnost, obenem pa jim želi razstavljena dela približati sproščujoče, igrivo in povezovalno. Programske aktivnosti ne bodo klasično izobraževale o umetnosti, temveč bodo mladi obiskovalci in učitelji spoznali, kako jih umetnost in ustvarjanje lahko podpreta pri samovrednotenju, umirjanju, doživljanju prijetnih občutkov, sproščanju, refleksiji in izražanju. Program sestavljajo štirje izobraževalni sklopi – Povezovalci svetov (povezovalno ustvarjanje), Čustveni raziskovalci (izražanje čustev), Kreativni alkimisti (ustvarjalna izraznost), Junaki soustvarjanja (sodelovalno ustvarjanje), ki se po vsebinah in ciljih razlikujejo ter so namenjeni različnim osnovnošolskim triletjem oziroma srednješolcem. 
 
 
Spremljevalni program je zasnovala in izvaja kuratorska ekipa ETC magazine.
 
Ponedeljek, 7. oktobra, ob 18. uri 
Stacionarni telefon/ Landline 
Pogovor z umetnicami in umetniki, ki so v Sloveniji našli svoj drugi dom.
Sodelujejo: Simon Chang, Ana Čavić, Agate Lielpetere, Ilija Prokopiev
 
Na pogovoru se bomo srečali z umetnicami in umetniki, ki so jih življenjske poti vodile v Slovenijo, kjer so našli svoj drugi dom. S tem razširjamo temo razstave Odprti globus in obračamo pogled k lokalnemu umetniškemu prizorišču. Med drugim nas bo zanimalo, kateri razlogi mednarodne ustvarjalce in ustvarjalke vodijo k nam, s katerimi izzivi se tukaj srečujejo, kako jih je sprejela tukajšnja umetnostna skupnost ter kakšno izhodišče je Slovenija za mednarodno umetniško kariero. 
 
 
Čet, 7. novembra, ob 18. uri
Vroči telefon/ Hotline
Hitri obiski ateljejev na daljavo
Umetnice in umetniki, združeni na razstavi Odprti globus, živijo na različnih delih sveta, ta pa še nikoli ni bil manjši kot danes. Na dogodku bomo zato po vrsti na daljavo obiskali nekaj ateljejev sodelujočih ustvarjalk in ustvarjalcev ter se z njimi sprehodili po prostorih, v katerih ustvarjajo. Obiskovalke in obiskovalci boste na razstavi videna dela tako lahko umestili v ateljeje, kjer so nastajala, dobili vpogled v ustvarjalni postopek umetnic in umetnikov ter s tem morda tudi v dela, ki šele nastajajo. 

 
Javna vodenja po razstavi: vsak četrtek ob 18. uri, prvo javno vodenje bo 19. 9. 2024

This year, Cankarjev dom will once again Summer Museum Night on June 15th. The exhibition will be open until midnight and admission free.

Exhibition curators: Peter Pakesch (Maria Lassnig Foundation), Katarina Hergouth (Cankarjev dom)
Exhibition architect: Sara Badovinac

In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of Maria Lassnig (1919–2014), one of Austria’s most important and internationally renowned artists, Cankarjev dom is presenting the artist's first solo exhibition in Slovenia.

Lassnig is particularly known for the depth of psychological expression in her self-portraits and her concept of Body Awareness. Throughout her remarkable artistic career she produced a prolific body of paintings and drawings, and also pursued filmmaking (animated film). She engaged in a focused dialogue with her art, which always constituted the pivotal strand of her life. Even though Lassnig’s work gained well deserved public recognition at a relatively late stage in her life, today her works form an important part of the permanent collections of major museums (MoMA in New York City, The Essl Collection, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Albertina Museum, etc.). 

The exhibition at Cankarjev dom’s Gallery primarily features Lassnig’s drawings, as well as a selection of oils on canvas and several short animated films.  

Presented in collaboration with: Maria Lassnig Foundation, Austrian Cultural Forum, Neue Galerie Graz, sixpackfilm and others.

Slovenian Punk & Photography is a comprehensive exhibition that connects photography with various aspects of the Slovenian punk movement from 1977 to the mid-1980s, as well as the periods before and after punk. The exhibition also encompasses subcultural and alternative events in Ljubljana during the 1980s, including a focus on the emergence of the LGBT+ community in the 1980s, with groups like Laibach and other bold and subversive activities.

The exhibition provides insight into the important role of photography in documenting and being a vehicle for the expression of the Slovenian punk movement and other subcultural events of that time.

Slovenian punk contributed to the creation of a bold and provocative photographic aesthetic that is still recognizable and influential today. Punk left its mark not only on music but also on art, fashion, and lifestyle. Photography became essential for expressing the punk spirit, conveying messages about social and political issues, and creating visual imagery that reflected the spirit of the time. It became a means through which artists and scene members expressed their dissatisfaction with the political and social situation and brought alternative perspectives to the world. The photographs depict provocation and resistance to conventional norms. In many cases, photographs of the punk subculture focused on events at concerts, street protests, and alternative venues where punks gathered. These photographic images convey energy, chaos, and defiance of traditional values. Punk enthusiasts were captured in wild, eccentric, and challenging poses with distinct fashion stylings that showcased their directness, anarchism, and resistance against social norms.

Photographs of the punk subculture have become an important part of the movement's archive. They spread the messages of punks and shaped the iconography and image of the subculture. They were often published in punk fanzines, on posters, album covers, and other promotional materials. Together with music, fashion, and art, photography in the punk subculture served as a medium for expressing resistance, critiquing society, and building community. Punk induced changes in the photographic practice and encouraged creativity as members of the Slovenian punk and alternative scene self-archived and documented their own movement through photography.

Although Ljubljana occupied a central place in urban punk life, and the photographs record images of venues as legendary as Kavarna Union, Študentsko naselje (student residence halls), Galerija ŠKUC, Disko FV, the railway station, Rio, Filozofska fakulteta (Faculty of Arts), and Fakulteta za družbene vede (Faculty of Social Sciences), the exhibition also presents events on the periphery, in Novo mesto, Idrija, Škofja Loka, and beyond the borders of Slovenia. The Slovenian punk scene was known for its independence and criticism of the political system and social norms of the time. However, it was also a pro-socialist, working-class, youth-oriented, and rebellious attitude in response to social injustice, political apathy, and economic crisis. This energy also became instrumental in transforming Slovenian photography itself.

The exhibition creates a network of visual references and stories that enable a contemporary performative representation of narratives of resistance and rebellion. With this exhibition, we aim to highlight resistance as a political category with a politics of the body that opposes the body of politics. Workers' protests were an important part of the political and social movement of that time. They emerged as a response to the exploitation of the working class, poor working conditions, inequality, and other social problems. Punk bands supported these protests and often accompanied them with their music, lyrics, and performances.

To this day, punk culture and workers' protests intertwine in the fight for justice, equality, and societal change. Punk remains a voice of resistance against injustice, exploitation, and political apathy. Therefore, it is not surprising that punk elements often appear in contemporary workers' protests, which advocate for workers' rights, social security, and systemic changes. This is also evident in the protests in Slovenia during the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.

During this period, numerous protests took place, addressing various aspects of government measures and responses to the pandemic. Photography played a significant role in documenting and preserving the memory of these events, as well as showcasing the diversity and unity of the protesters. Alongside other activists, members of the punk subculture demonstrated their active political engagement and resistance against specific political decisions and measures, thus continuing the tradition of rebellion and expressing dissatisfaction characteristic of the punk subculture.

Marina Gržinić

About the authors
Janez Bogataj has gone down in the history of Slovenian photography as a documentarist of the socio-politically turbulent 1980s.
Božidar Dolenc (1950–2008) was one of the most prominent Slovenian photographers of the second half of the 20th century.
Vojko Flegar is a lawyer, retired journalist, contributor to Radio Študent and Tribuna, correspondent, commentator and editor of Delo and Dnevnik, as well as a freelance journalist and editor of the web portal razgledi.net.
Dušan Gerlica photographed concert scenes of the most important punk positions at the beginning of punk and at the end of Yugoslav social realism.
Siniša Lopojda is one of the central figures of the alternative and subcultural scene in Ljubljana that developed in 1980s around the ŠKUC Gallery and Disco FV.
Elena Pečarič is a philosopher, cultural sociologist and activist.
Matija Praznik, an electrical engineering graduate with a four-year degree in philosophy, was an active supporter of Ljubljana’s alternative scene in the early 1980s.
Bogo Pretnar, the guitarist of the band Pankrti and their indefatigable “archivist,” keeps an extensive documentation of the Pankrti’s history.
Bojan Radovič is a co-founder of the photo gallery Pri Slonu, the Photo Gallery Novo Mesto and founder of Luminus Ltd. and the House of Photography.
RELATIONS / 25 YEARS OF THE LESBIAN GROUP ŠKUC-LL deals with the 25th anniversary of the lesbian group ŠKUC-LL (1987–2012) and with the lesbian movement in the former Yugoslavia.
Mladen Romih regularly accompanied events at the university with his camera in the 1980s, focusing on student life.
Tone Stojko worked for RTV Ljubljana and was a member of Fotogrupa ŠOLT while studying journalism in Ljubljana. In the 1980s he systematically captured the democratisation and formation of the Slovenian state.
Jože Suhadolnik began his photographic journey in 1982 in Disco FV in Rožna dolina. He documented the emerging punk and new wave scene of the 1980s.
Jane Štravs began exhibiting in the early 1980s as one of the most prominent chroniclers and protagonists of Ljubljana’s alternative cultural scene.
Tožibabe, formed in the early 1980s, are one of the first Slovenian hardcore/punk bands and the first Slovenian and Yugoslav all-female band in which women are not only singers but also authors of music, lyrics and arrangements.
Igor Vidmar, known as the godfather of Slovenian punk, was a key figure in the alternative music scene in Slovenia and the former Yugoslavia in the 1980s.

Realisation of the exhibition
Marina Gržinić (curator of the exhibition and realisation of the exhibition project) is a principal research associate at the Institute of Philosophy ZRC SAZU and a full professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Jovita Pristovšek (realisation of the exhibition project) is a research assistant at the Institute of Culture and Memory Studies ZRC SAZU.
Metod Prijatelj (architect of the exhibition) is a conceptual architect and constructor.
 

Admission 

Admission: EUR 6 /person 
Discounted tickets: EUR 4 /person (*visitors aged under 25, over 65 and pensioners)
Free admission: children aged under 12, holders of a EU Disability Card, holders of valid museum cards

We recommend that children under the age of 12 are accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Public guided tours: admission fee, NO extra charge 

School visits (10 persons or more):
Admission: EUR 3 /person

Guided tour of the exhibition: admission + EUR 20 (tour surcharge)
Groups of adults (10 persons or more):
Guided tour of the exhibition: admission + EUR 20 (tour surcharge)

Catalogue: EUR 15 
 

The selected three paintings feature both a suggestive narrative and a retreat – imbued with some latent expression – into a world far removed from reality, but one that can be evoked if the artist is able to form a connection, i.e., establish a correlation, so that it acquires a new, perhaps paradoxical, connotation, a dimension that in the imagination of our painter will achieve a level of self-sufficiency, but of course never finality.

One rarely encounters a painter the likes of Kardelj in Slovenia’s contemporary space: this is not because of his subdued public presence as an exhibiting artist, but simply because the artist lives his active presence also elsewhere, differently. The extremely interesting view that Kardelj put forward at the international symposium Art and Marxist Theory within the Context of Criticism of Political Economy made a lasting impression on me as a critic. A viewpoint that equates two succeeding artistic phenomena – the splendours and miseries of socialist realism and the present-day cap(italist) realism.

Furthermore: under the title Suprarelikvija (City Museum of Ljubljana, 2015) Kardelj devised and created The Shroud from La Higuera – the character of the executed Che Guevara, as a monumental horizontal visionary manifestation.

Kardelj singles out, to quote from his text Beauty Is the Only Criterion, and lives a new, free art: to think, feel and act outside all currently possible contexts. If the painting dating from 2003 reveals an imposed spatial breadth of human post-mortem passages in scorching somatic whiteness of dehumanisation on red verticals, in its forerunner (2002) and in the subsequent work (2004) the painter gave free rein to the effects of, one could almost say tenderness, the fragility of his colourful layering or a prevalence of delicate whiteness. Is the painter, in his zealous use of colour, indulging in the inspirational perceptiveness of barely noticeable feminine contours rather than imaginary outlines?  

However, despite this impression, in constantly reliving anew the omnipresent Cartesian meditations, the painter’s impetus is unflagging.

Janez Kardelj, born 1964 in Ljubljana, where he lives and works. Graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts ALU in Ljubljana. He works in the fields of painting, music and set design, as an educator and adult education teacher, cultural and social critic, organizer and curator. Some of his projects are:
Exhibitions: University of Maribor Library Gallery 1997; the Ljubljana Town Hall Historical Atrium 1999, 2018; Grohar Gallery Škofja Loka 2003; Šoštanj City Gallery 2006; KUD France Prešeren 1991, 1997, 2015; SDK Gallery Tolmin 2009, 2017; Osebno, Kibla Portal Maribor 2018; exhibition of ZDSLU members (Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies): ”Umetnost ujeta v prostoru in času”, at the BBK Galerie Nürnberg 2021; international biennial Mednarodni bienale etike(te) Strah in Smeh, Novo mesto 2019 and 2021; the project Sprehajalci slik Ljubljana 2019 and 2021; Gallery of the Kranj Art Society 2013; music and literary projects: Kabaret Ciklomotorik - Učna ura Slovenščine (2002), Soma Arsen - Gluhi cirkus brez posluha (musical cabaret and a CD 2009-2010); organization of projects: Nov dan ali 99% at the KUD France Prešeren 2012; curatorship: Suprarelikvija-Prt iz La Higuere, City Museum of Ljubljana 2015; reviews and articles: a paper titled ”Blišč in beda kap-realizma in soc-realizma”, international symposium Umetnost in marksistična teorija v kontekstu kritike politične ekonomije.             

Aleksander Bassin, critic and publicist was Director of Ljubljana City Art Gallery (1989–2009), Vice-President of the International Association of Art Critics AICA, Secretary of the International Biennial of Small Sculpture in Murska Sobota and curator of the Slovenian Section at numerous national and international exhibitions (Venice Biennale, Sao Paulo Biennale) as well as the Yugoslav Section at the New Delhi Triennale. In addition to scholarly introductions to various catalogues, expert articles in local and foreign magazines and newspapers, he has published several art monographs on Lojze Spacal, Stane Kregar, Janez Boljka, Stojan Batič, Viktor Magyar, Štefan Galič, Janez Knez, Herman Gvardjančič, Stojan Kerbler, Jože Kološa, Hamo Čavrk, Miroslav Šutej and Franc Novinc.