Iva Kovač: Here We Go Again – Working with (Artists Working with) Archives
World of Art | 20th Generation | Public lecture
Wednesday, 11 December 2024, 6 pm
SCCA Project Room, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana
In their seminal article Critical Feminism in the Archives, Marika Cifor and Stacy Wood write about the relevance of archives for social movements as they bring attention to omitted persons, concepts, and narratives. Historically, women, gender non-conforming individuals, racialized communities, economically disadvantaged groups, and others on the social margins have not been active agents in creating and narrating their histories. Even when recorded, these histories were often written from the perspectives of those in power. While many efforts have been made to address the biases in archives, these efforts can feel overwhelming due to a lack of documents and misrepresentations.
A great deal of archival work (in the broader sense of the word – contributing to historicizing rather than necessarily adding material to existing or creating new public or community archives) and activation of underrepresented narratives has been done through research-based and documentary practices by contemporary artists. These alternative archives sometimes uneasily coexist with official histories, but as part of transdisciplinary efforts, they amplify struggles to change how history is recorded and narrated.
Intersecting the two thematic focuses presented at the 28th and 29th editions of the City of Women festival — which examined questions of decolonization in Southeast Europe and archiving practices of resistance, respectively — the lecture Here We Go Again – Working with (Artists Working with) Archives by Iva Kovač will focus on the artworks and practices presented in recent City of Women Association’s yearly programming. These works not only bring underrepresented narratives into focus but also open up new ways of thinking about protocols for engaging with formal archives, collecting omitted histories, and addressing the ethical considerations of working with sensitive stories.
Free of charge. The event will be held in English.
Iva Kovač works at the intersection of feminist and decolonial curatorial and artistic research. She co-founded the art collective Fokus Grupa, which explores art, design, and architecture through exhibitions, publications, and educational projects. Since 2021, she has been the program director of the City of Women Association in Ljubljana, where she curated the interdisciplinary program of exhibitions, performances, and public programs South in Us and Archaeology of Resistance: A Corrective for the Future. Adapted, the exhibitions travelled to Likovni salon Gallery (Celje) and Podroom Gallery (KCB Belgrade), respectively. She curated an exhibition and public program Looking a — way: Othering in/of the (semi)periphery at tranzit.sk (Bratislava). She is one of the co-curators of the conference on ecology, feminism, and care, Connecting Lines, organised by the City of Women, held this year at the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana. Previously, she was a curator at the PM Gallery in Zagreb from 2010 to 2012 and at the SIZ Gallery in Rijeka from 2013 to 2015. From 2017 to 2021, she worked as a curator in the GSG art space in Rijeka, where she initiated and is the editor of the first three issues of the GSG journal on contemporary art and social issues, published both in print and online at ArtsEverywhere.ca. She has curated numerous solo and group exhibitions and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions as an artist (Fokus Grupa). (Photo: Nada Žgank)
Title image: Exhibition display of the video Algerian Novel, Chapter 1 by Katia Kameli at the Archeology of Resistance exhibition (3 October – 2 November 2023) at the Škuc Gallery. Photo: Nada Žgank
Organised by SCCA-Ljubljana.
The World of Art school programme is created in partnership with Cukrarna/MGML.
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture
