The World of Art Laboratory opened on Saturday, October 20, 2007, the exhibition LabSUs, Personally in the City Gallery of Labin.

LabSUs, Personally features the personal choice of six curators. The concept of this collective exhibition was that each curator would make his/her choice based on subjective, non-theoretical views on contemporary art. The curators did not make any mutual agreement on the selection of artists nor did they determine a collective theme or premise of the exhibition. The challenge was two-folded: a candid self-confrontation of the curators with their own personal preferences – which undoubtedly influence the curator’s decision-making as much as it might seem professionally uncontested; on the other hand, devising the setup for such a selection was a challenge in itself, along with shaping the contextual-formal criteria for this kind of exhibition.

The exhibition LabSUs, Personally is part of the programme of long-term activities of the World of Art Laboratory, which examines the working modes of curators and curators’ collectives through theoretical works, debates and with its own exhibiting practice.

Curators’ collective: Ivana Bago, Petja Grafenauer Krnc, Petra Kapš, Vasja Nagy, Mojca Puncer, Jaka Železnikar

Artists:

• Božena Končić Badurina,
• Tanja Dabo in Igor Grubić,
• Ksenija Čerče,
• Ištvan Išt Huzjan,
• Marko Košnik,
• Robertina Šebjanič,
• Simon Macuh,
• Vuk Ćosić

Introductory text on the exhibition, Petra Kapš

Curator: Ivana Bago:

Božena Končić Badurina (CRO): Meeting, 2007, performance
At the exhibition LabSUS, Personally, Božena Končić Badurina presented her performance in the office of the City Gallery of Labin. This was the space where the participants of the WOA Laboratory have had their first working meetings.

• Božena Končić Badurina (1967, Zagreb) graduated in 1995 in German and Russian Language and Literature at the School of Philosophy in Zagreb. In 1996, she graduated at the Department of Graphics at the Fine Arts Academy in Zagreb, with Professor Miroslav Šutej as mentor.

Tanja Dabo and Igor Grubić (CRO): Vacation, 1998, documentation of the project
Instead of making an exhibition, the artists have used the financial support they have received from the City Office for Culture of the City of RIjeka to go for vacation, in a gesture of micro-resistance and subversion of the art system.

• Tanja Dabo (1970) graduated in 1997 in Fine Arts in Rijeka. She received her M.A. at the Fine Arts Academy in Ljubljana in 2003. She took part in numerous collective and individual exhibitions as well as projects in Croatia and abroad (Zagreb, Berlin, Toronto, Linz, Edinburgh, Kassel, New York, Istanbul…)
• During his artistic career, Igor Grubić (1969) has carried out a number of significant interventions in the social-political contexts of everyday life. He exhibited in numerous exhibitions including the Manifesta 4, Apexart in New York and Cornerhouse in Manchester.

Explanatory text of Ivane Bago

Curator: Petja Grafenauer Krnc

Ksenija Čerče (SLO): The Series of Author’s Books Hortus Conclusus, 2003, five author’s books
The author’s books of Ksenija Čerče emerge in parallel to the artist’s paintings. On the one hand, they serve as the documentation of the artistic process; on the other hand, they stand as autonomous works of art with their own expressive power. The author’s books of Ksenija Čerče are not illustrations but rather intimate diaries of creative processes and (compared to her paintings) a different medium for exploring the visible.

• Ksenija Čerče (1969, Maribor) graduated (1999) and received her M.A. (2002) at the Fine Arts Academy in Ljubljana in painting and presented her works at numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. In 2003, she received the Fulbright Scholarship for professional specialisation in the United States of America where she received her M.A. in Video and Sound Art at Purchase College State University of New York. She is a free-lance artist and currently creates her works in the medium of video and sound art as well as painting.

Ištvan Išt Huzjak (SLO): About words, sentences, paragraphs and an exclamation point, 2007, installation (3 author’s books Das Buch /introduction by Igor Grdina/, video, 3 min, loop)
The author’s book Das Buch explores the idea of a book and its role in society. The artist has made a collage-novel that he published in several copies, then burned them and packed the remainders in vacuumed bags. Das Buch is an object – the idea of the Book – that doesn’t reveal its content. The work was presented at the exhibition as part of the installation About Words, Sentences, Paragraphs and an Exclamation Point.

• Ištvan Išt Huzjak (1981, Ljubljana) graduated (2005) at the Venice Accademia di Belle Arti with Professor Carlo di Raco as mentor. He exhibited his works at numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. In 2007, he began his Post-graduate Studies at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. He works as free-lance artist. Huzjak’s base is in fine arts, bonding him with spatial settings. In 2006, he established a publishing company, 21st Century Books.

Explanatory text of Petja Grafenauer Krnc

Curator: Petra Kapš

Marko Košnik (SLO): Exercise for the End of the World, action, documents, video screening

http://web.mac.com/marchegon/iWeb/vaja_k/vaja_index.html

In 1994, the newly established SCCA-Ljubljana – Soros Contemporary Arts Centre –
in Slovenia rejected the proposal for Exercise for the End of the World that was submitted to their application call for the exhibition Urbanaria, with the explanation that the author, Marko Košnik, was attempting to “demount” the Soros institution with the project. In the frame of the exhibition LabSUs, Personally, which is part of the curators’ seminar i.e. the WOA Laboratory organised by the SCCA-Ljubljana 13 years following the event, Petra Kapš features Exercise… in order to verify it in contemporary context.

• Marko Košnik (1961) works as polymedia artist since the early 80’s of the past century. He created numerous stage/intermedia performances and installations. Since 1986, he is head of Egon March Institute, a production platform for theory and handling of artistic projects.

Explanatory text of Petra Kapš

Curator: Vasja Nagy

Robertina Šebjanič (SLO): Bubble, 2007, 7 min., video loop DVD
The video entitled Bubble is exhibited at LabSUs, Personally as a spatial projection. Hence it establishes a sensual and intimate atmosphere for an encounter with a peculiar, soft, movable object reminding of a live being, which is surrounded together with the spectators by an ambience sound.

• Robertina Šebjanič (1975) is about to conclude her studies of Sculpture at the Fine Arts and Design Academy in Ljubljana. Prior to that, she has received her education at the Applied Arts School Famul Stuart in Ljubljana. In 2006, she was at the New Media Department at the Fine Arts Academy in Gotheburg in Sweden as part of students’ exchange. From 2003 to 2006, she was head and co-ordinator of the series of lectures Free Department at the Fine Arts and Design Academy in Ljubljana. From 2005 to 2006, she was active in the frame of the group TEMP. She creates video and spatial installations in which she includes elements of basic robotics.

Explanatory text of Vasja Nagy

Curator: Mojca Puncer

Simon Macuh (SLO): Monsieur, monsieur, un stylo!, 2007, drawings
Simon Macuh doesn’t confine his expression merely to sculpture. Thus he will present himself this time with a series of drawings Monsieur, monsieur, un stylo!, works that were created during the preparations for the exhibition while the author was travelling through Morocco and communicating with the indigenous people. The process of creating images in the environment of an iconoclastic Islam, in which models and interlocutors took part also with their interventions, turned into a peculiar social game. Opting for such a performative gesture, Macuh positions himself in the field of artistic works based on communication, asking questions and instigating dialogue.

• Simon Macuh (1971, Celje) graduated in Philosophy at the School of Philosophy in Ljubljana (2003). He is currently concluding his studies of Sculpture at the Fine Arts and Design Academy in Ljubljana. The essential aspect in his artistic work is the production itself, caught in the relation between the artist (I) and his surrounding (the others), rather than the product as the conclusion of that process.

Explanatory text of Mojca Puncer

Curator: Jaka Železnikar

Vuk Ćosić (SLO): Nation – Culture, 2000, documentation of a Web installation
The Web installation Nation – Culture was presented in 2000 in the frame of the exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Slovene poet France Prešeren. The projection displayed in real-time, in the typography of the first edition of Prešeren’s poetry and in the form of sonnets the words that the users of the-then most popular Slovene search engine Mat’kurja were typing in. The work points out the tension between the actual state of the nation, as demonstrated through the usage of the search engine, and its declared values, in this case incarnated in the figure of Prešeren.

• Vuk Ćosić (1966, Beograd) graduated in Archaeology in Belgrade. In 1992 he moved to Ljubljana. Since 1996, he is active first and foremost in the field of net.art where he has achieved an international reputation. Besides his artistic activities he is also active as the expert for user experience. He exhibits worldwide. Website: http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/

Explanatory text of Jaka Železnikar