Contemporary art in Slovenia: exhibitions and festivals
Slovenia was the second destination for our team, after Hungary, to explore contemporary art in Eastern Europe this time. It was a wonderful visit, filled with impressions of Balkan nature (what could be better than mountains and the sea?), the beauty of old cities, talented people and works of art. And now, in order…
Today Moderna galeriоa is part of the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova. And if you want to hear the pulse of Slovenian contemporary art, go to Metelkova in the «Museum Quarter”. There are also plenty of art galleries in the Slovenian capital city around the Ljubljanica river between St James Bridge and Triple Bridge. In summer the city hosts the international Ljubljana Street Art Festival when artists transform the urban space.In the capital, we visited Bezigrad Gallery 1 for the Monika Slemc exhibition “Meeting of the Worlds”. Monika represents the young generation of Slovenian artists who are visionaries and creators of the new. She works at the junction of digital technology and painting and is fascinated by optical effects as if she is always asking the viewer to consider and discern the distant and the close, the familiar and the unfamiliar.
The artistic life of the country is not limited to the capital. The town of Kranj, which is also known as the capital of the Slovenian Alps, is located some 20 kilometres away from Ljubljana and its old towers in the background of the blue-white mountains are breathtaking! Kranj is also the capital of college, where KAOS, the International Festival of Contemporary Collage, was held these days. Every summer it welcomes keen people looking for new themes, techniques and original approaches to combining collages with other media. This year, one of the festival’s participants was the Ukrainian college society Cutout – more than 30 of its members and fans, who are currently scattered all over the world due to the war, performed their project “Scream in Silence” in the street gallery.
Slovenian meetings: visiting friends of G.ART
Slovenia is an incredibly beautiful country – what else does a creative person need for inspiration? The three artists G.ART Gallery cooperates with have been living here for several years now, so we couldn’t miss an opportunity to visit their studios.
The small town of Pivka in south-western Slovenia is home to Bagrat Arazyan, who was born in Armenia, has worked in various countries, and since 2017 has become the co-organiser of the Centre for Contemporary Art Pivka. At Bagrat’s ethnic-art space, we asked him about his creative and curatorial activities.
After Pivka, the road through the mountain ranges led us to the seaside town of Portorož. The Russian artist Alexander Kruchan lives there – a delicate landscape painter whose work captures the quiet charm of Adriatic old cities. We talked about the compromises in art, the best places to paint and what realism really is.
Finally, the final visit was to Ukrainian artist Eduard Belsky in the town of Izola on the shores of the Gulf of Trieste. Our thoughtful conversation, diluted with Eduard’s trademark humour, took place in the inspiring surroundings of his newly created paintings.
Thank you, dear Slovenia, for your warm welcome and great meetings!
