The next 21 days will be crucial
The annual exhibition of the School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing World of Art
13 May – 2 June 2021, Škuc Gallery

Photo: Klemen Ilovar © Galerija Škuc and SCCA-Ljubljana archive

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Nataša Berk, Imagine More, 2012─

Imagine More is a series of artworks that Nataša Berk has been working on since 2012. This time she uses empty media − photo frames, a painter’s canvas and a television to which post-it notes with variations of the word Imagine are stuck − to create a space that is intended for the viewer’s imagination. With written reminders and instructions, the artist creates images and situations that challenge the viewer to create their own content and invite reflection on both formally aesthetic and socially critical contemporary artistic practices. At the same time, Berk responds ironically to the negative attitude of some individuals or institutions towards contemporary art, encouraging them to imagine a work of art that meets their expectations. So, is the visitor willing to go beyond the perception of a real object and imagine more?

Ana Obid, Sanja Vatić

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Adrijan Praznik, Portfolio, 2021

 

Adrijan Praznik uses the framed pages of his own portfolio to comment on the workings of the art system in which artists, with their portfolios, unique bonds in their own way, are listed on the art world’s “stock exchange” and build their careers. The installation of the portfolio in the gallery space contributes to a humour and media leap as it makes us think about what a work of art is and what constitutes its aura. The exhibited Portfolio sheds light on the artist’s most recent series of works Pure Speculation (2018−). With a certain irony and absurdity, it addresses, among other things, the behind-the-scenes processes of an artist’s career, full of routine professional risks, clothed in precariousness and uncertainty. This is hinted at, among other things, through the reproduction of an oil painting in Portfolio, which shows a common hook in art, measured in Euros − the monetisation of the artwork versus the financial survival of the artist. If we speculate that the vaccination passport will be a ticket to a carefree vacation and travel next summer, Praznik says that the portfolio is one of the devices that more or less speculatively opens the doors of art institutions and other opportunities. Or as it says on one of the artwork, “Anything can happen now!”

Teja Kosi

Acknowledgments: Klemen Ilovar

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Beli sladoled, Exhibition Opening Suits, 2021

Beli sladoled presents the project Opening Suits, a further development of an idea, first realised in 2010. In response to the public perception of the two artists as street artists, they painted a brick wall on the gallery wall at the time. The brick motif continued in future projects and became a recognisable symbol of the group. Recognising that a uniformed look brings both recognition and benefits, the idea for an orange men’s suit with a brick pattern was born. The uniforms were gradually upgraded with various accessories, from shoes to electronic belts displaying their names. The belts emphasise the humorous effect of the artwork, although at the same time the artists want to draw attention to the distorted perception of artists and art that can be created by a refined public image. In the work Exhibition Opening Suits, they escalate the idea to the point that the suit/uniform acts as an artefact in its own right. With a dramatic presentation and lighting, they elevate it on a pedestal as their public image, which they underscore by their physical absence (so far they have mostly appeared uniformed at exhibitions). In this way, Beli sladoled creates a distance between the visitor and the artefact, at the same time pointing out humorously, (self-) ironically, sarcastically and critically that the manner of presentation can be more important than the work itself.

Hana Čeferin, Teja Miholič, Maša P. Žmitek

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Simona Semenič & Nada Žgank, his dreamery, 2020

The work, printed on kitchen cutting boards for chopping meat, reveals from up close eight photographs by Nada Žgank, in which Simona Semenič dresses her naked body in the Gorenjska national costume. It was presented for the first time as a photo series in 2020 at City Art Gallery Ljubljana as part of the group exhibition Free Sun and is the result of another collaboration between Semenič and Žgank. The two previously collaborated in 2009 to create Note to an Entirety, which was brought under the spotlight by critics of conservative politics and the media when Simona Semenič was awarded the Prešeren Fund Award in 2018. his dreamery can thus be perceived as a replica of the first work, while also echoing the theme of Semenič’s performance Picture Perfect, which premiered at the City of Women Festival in 2020. Visually, through euphoric vivacity and a smiling face, they show a parody in juxtaposition with content that seriously draws attention to the social and political tendencies of a return to traditional values. Away from “degenerate” art, to a time when a stereotypical woman knew her place. She returns to that place; we follow her journey from sinful nudity to a real Slovenian woman with a chicken in her hands. The symbolic affirmation of Slovenian-ness is impossible to miss.

Tamara Mlakar

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Small but dangers, Art is Beautiful, Beneficial and Mystical 1, 2, 2020

 

The simple and materially modest collages, the typical visual approach of the duo Small but dangers, do not say much at first glance. The play of contradictions created by the two artists is seemingly direct and humorous, yet the failure of the connection between the image and what is supposed to be its signifier encourages further reflection on the possible existence of many relationships that still seem to be maintained by the works. The constellation is mounted in a setting of countless frames. The suggestive title statement frames the viewer’s expectation, the artists physically frame their two collages, and these, placed in the gallery space, enter the frame of the institution, cultural politics and its economy, suggesting new possibilities for reading. Reduced to the essential in terms of medium, they focus thought not on clear content, but on recognising the enigmatic nature of various relationships: between form and content, between artistic autonomy and cultural ideology, and the significance of the placement of works in various contexts.

Maša Knapič

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Aldo Giannotti, 2021

A cluster of ten visual commentaries drawn directly on the gallery walls by Aldo Giannotti addresses several themes. On one wall he comments on the current socio-political climate in the country and encourages the people of Ljubljana to continue the resistance. With the darkened floor plan of the gallery, he comments on the shrinking space for creativity caused by cultural politics. On the opposite wall, he humorously comments on the unresponsiveness of people who postpone the beginning of their own activation into the indefinite future. The time of Corona has been marked by an unmanageable present that makes the next step into the future unattainable. It has also affected the way we visit exhibitions. With the reopening of cultural institutions, the artist therefore offers visitors suggestions with three drawings from a series of instructions for viewing art that playfully change the expected behaviour at an exhibition of visual art.