Vesna Bukovec

Ideja telesa / The Idea of the Body

Exhibition: Ideja telesa / The Idea of the Body
Location: Riko Debenjak Gallery, Kanal ob Soči, SI
Date: November 14 – December 5, 2014
Opening: Friday, November 14, at 6.30 pm

Artists: Brane Širca, Črtomir Frelih, Katja Oblak, Sašo Vrabič, Vesna Bukovec

Curator: Monika Ivančič Fajfar

The new series of thematic exhibitions at the Riko Debenjak’s Gallery explores the relationship of contemporary artists to classical art historical genres such as figure and portrait, landscape, still life and abstract or conceptual art.
The first exhibition in the series will focus on the figure and portrait. The exhibition, entitled The Idea of the Body involves five authors representing different generations, styles and media. By depicting (and using) the human body, selected artists address various artistic and substantive issues such as body-space, human-nature, intimate-social and physical-spiritual dichotomy. They invite the viewer to question the relationship of the individual to him/herself, to others and to the surrounding world.

More info (in Slovene only)

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Ideja telesa

Razstava je zasnovana kot prvi del štiridelnega sklopa in nadaljuje linijo skupinskih tematskih razstav, ki jih v Galeriji Rika Debenjaka pripravljajo od leta 2006. Sklop je namenjen raziskavi in prevetritvi klasičnih umetnostnozgodovinskih pojmov.
V ospredju je zamisel, da se predstavijo slogovno in vsebinsko raznoliki avtorski prijemi. Z njimi se gledalcem ponudi razmislek o različnih konceptih v umetnosti in kulturi, pa tudi razmislek o vprašanjih aktualnega prostora in časa. Brane Širca, Črtomir Frelih, Katja Oblak, Sašo Vrabič in Vesna Bukovec upodabljajo (in uporabljajo) človeško telo za odpiranje številnih likovnih in vsebinskih problematik; odpirajo vprašanja odnosa telesa do prostora, človeka do narave, intimnega do družbenega, telesnega do duhovnega; na gledalca naslavljajo vprašanja o odnosu posameznika do sebe, do drugih in do sveta, ki ga obdaja.

Človeška figura v zgodovini likovne umetnosti uprizarja zgodbe, posreduje metaforične vsebine, pooseblja ideje, beleži portretne podobnosti ali simbolno upodablja družbeni položaj. Lahko je ekspresivna, realistična, abstrahirana ali simbolistična. Sodobni umetniki, ki v svoje delo vključujejo človeško figuro in portret, lahko črpajo iz vseh teh tradicij in vanje vnašajo svoje avtorske vizije. Spajanje tradicionalnega in sodobnega oziroma preizkušenega in inovativnega priča o univerzalnosti govorice umetnosti v prostoru in času.

Več o razstavi

Ideja telesa (zloženka, pdf)

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Iz besedila ob razstavi:

Vesna Bukovec: Od splošnega k posameznemu

Dialog razstavljenih ciklusov There is no society without spectacle* in Ali me nočete, ker sem kritična odpira vprašanja o identiteti posameznika in vlogi posameznika v družbi, hkrati pa poudarja funkcijo umetnosti pri iskanju odgovorov na aktualna družbena vprašanja.

Vesna Bukovec nas s ciklusom osmih risb spomni na delo Družba spektakla (La Société du spectacle, 1967) francoskega marksističnega misleca Guya Deborda.** Niz s spleta vzetih primerov »družbenega spektakla« ilustrira tezo, da spektakel ni skupek podob, ampak medosebni družbeni odnos, katerega posrednik so podobe. Identitetne vloge posameznikov se vselej spreminjajo glede na določeno družbeno situacijo in tako oblikujejo skupno identiteto množic; bodisi so to gledalci teniškega turnirja ali obiskovalci rock koncerta, protestniki na Wall Streetu ali vstajniki na slovenskih cestah, množica, ki čaka na hrano, ali množica, ki čaka novi iPhone, delavci tovarne v stečaju ali šolarji pri molitvi.

Risbe iz ciklusa Ali me nočete, ker sem kritična so referenca na strip z naslovom Tinza konceptualnega umetnika Marka Pogačnika.*** Petinštirideset let kasneje je družbena vloga ženske še vedno podvržena stereotipom. Vesna Bukovec jo problematizira v seriji šestnajstih podob z napisi, ki na gledalca naslavljajo vprašanja: Ali me nočete, ker … sem ženska, kritična, naivna, depresivna, ker živim v revščini, imam lastno mnenje, pričakujem otroka, ker nisem mlada in lepa, ne jem dovolj zdrave hrane in podobno.

Banalne ilustracije ob vprašanjih poglabljajo nelagodje gledalca. Namesto produkcije novih podob se Vesna Bukovec odloči za recikliranje in prerisovanje iz neskončne zaloge spletnih podob. To so fotografije, ki ilustrirajo raznolike medijske vsebine in pod katerimi v drobnem tisku nemalokrat preberemo »slika je simbolična«. Tako avtorica konceptualna izhodišča, da je umetnost bolj delo duha kot ročne izurjenosti, sooči z aktualnim stališčem o medijski onesnaženosti s podobami.

Recikliranje podob se sklada z recikliranjem družbenih stereotipov. Rutinska, neosebna in tehnicistična risba s tušem na papir formata A4 poudarja osredinjenost na vsebino in kaže na univerzalnost upodobljenega. To gledalcu omogoča poistovetenje. V ozadju na videz nevtralne risbe torej ni le ironija, cinizem in družbena kritičnost, temveč tudi osebno sugestivna sporočilnost.

* Ni družbe brez spektakla. **Guy Debord: Družba spektakla. Komentarji k družbi spektakla. Panegirik, Koda, 1999. ***Marko Pogačnik: Tinza, strip, objavljen v Problemih, št. 83–84, str. 672–702, 1969.

Monika Ivančič Fajfar

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I will participate with two series of drawings: Ali me nočete, ker sem kritična / Do you not want me, because I’m critical (2012) and
There is no society without spectacle (2011, 2013)

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Photos from the exhibition

Stik/h

Exhibition: Stik/h,
Location: Fürst House, Krempljeva 1, Ptuj, SI
Date: August 27–30, 2014
Opening: Wednesday, August 27, at midnight

Artists: Vesna Bukovec, Anja Medved & Patricija Maličev, Petra Varl, Lenka Đorojević, Small but Dangers (Mateja Rojc & Simon Hudolin – Salči), Matej Stupica, Maja Burja & Staš Vrenko

Curator: Simona Žvanut

The exhibition entitled “Stik/h” is a multifaceted combination of contemporary visual art and poetry, literature, and books. Works by participating artists (some of which will be created specifically for this exhibition and the Fürst House) will launch a dialogue with the complex festival program, which brings an unmistakable atmosphere to the Days of Poetry and Wine Festival with its numerous, diverse events and with the overall redecoration of the streets of Ptuj. The exhibition will be an indispensable part of the festival, as well as a connection point of the unexpected, a space for reflection on the intersection between various art forms. Participating artists, including Lenka Đorojević, Small but Dangers (Mateja Rojc and Simon Hudolin – Salči), Matej Stupica, Maja Burja and Staš Vrenko, will enhance their exhibition on Saturday, 30 August, by a performance Stihija. The exhibition was curated by Simona Žvanut, who will organize guided tours of the exhibition every festival day at 17.00 together with participating artists.

More info

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Razstava Stik/h na večplasten način prepleta sodobno vizualno umetnost in poezijo, literaturo, knjigo. Umetniška dela sodelujočih umetnikov – nekatera bodo ustvarjena posebej za to razstavo in prostore Fürstove hiše – bodo vzpostavljala dialog s kompleksnim festivalskim programom, ki s številnimi in raznolikimi dogodki ter celostno ureditvijo ptujskih ulic ustvarja nezamenljivo atmosfero Dnevov poezije in vina. Razstava bo njen nepogrešljiv del, pa tudi stik nepričakovanega, prostor za razmislek o prepletu umetniških zvrsti. Sodelujoči umetniki Lenka Đorojević, Small but Dangers (Mateja Rojc in Simon Hudolin – Salči), Matej Stupica, Maja Burja, Staš Vrenko in Dejan Koban bodo razstavo v soboto, 30. avgusta, nadgradili še s performansom Stihija. Razstavo je pripravila kustosinja Simona Žvanut, ki bo vsak dan festivala ob 17.00 skupaj s sodelujočimi umetniki organizirala vodstvo po razstavi.

Več informacij

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I will participate with a new work As if (2014) and series of drawings I promise to change the world but only if 10 other people will do the same (2010)

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Photos from the exhibition

ARTSLAB 06, What if… and beyond

Exhibition: ARTSLAB 06, What if… and beyond
Location: Open Systems, online exhibition
Date: May 2014 –

Artists: Vesna Bukovec, Bernhard Cella, Giulia Cilla, Yolanda Domínguez, Gani Llalloshi, Swoon, Sašo Sedlaček

Curator: Vasja Nagy

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About the project

ARTSLAB is a project by Open Systems. The 6th edition is curated by Vasja Nagy and focuses on the trajectory of how we perceive our present now and distinguish it from the past – chaotic vs. ordered, concerning with stimulating a dialogue at its reinvention for alternative thinking on the future of a long-term survival of humanity by taking contemporary art works more as a catalyst for the present.

More: www.openspace-zkp.org/2013/en/artslab.php?a=6

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I am participating with the series of videos White Performances / Positive Affirmations (2010)

Presentation at the exhibition website:

http://www.openspace-zkp.org/2013/en/artslab.php?a=6&w=49

For the art of Vesna Bukovec generating a critical view on instant spirituality through satirical depictions is characteristic. She uses video and drawings to fake practices based on instructions for making an individual’s life better and positive. As well she criticises the attitudes in society filled with stereotyped views on marginal identities sometimes through enhancing them as caricatures or subtly just make them evident when concealed in every-day life. In 2009 she made a video It will be OK where she already used this clean, white aesthetics and positive affirmative mantra ideology. Such instructions with the goal of a happy and creative life have been popularised since decades ago through books, magazines, video courses and Internet. White performances / Positive Affirmations is a series of four videos that follow a similar course. The one from a year earlier still triggers the emotionality. Melancholic-romantic feelings should calm one’s anxiety with trust in a good outcome. On the other hand the later series is more specific in which way everything in one’s life is changing under the force of thought. The original idea was that the technique should act to tranquillise but the videos are just long enough to become annoying. Try to follow all three at one time.

Vasja Nagy

KOLEKTIVA’s project is part of the e-flux’s Agency of Unrealized Projects

KOLEKTIVA (Vesna Bukovec, Lada Cerar, Metka Zupanič)’s project Talk to the Other Side from 2006 is included in the online archive Agency of Unrealized Projects by e-flux.

More:
www.kolektiva.org/archives/1063
e-flux.com/aup/project/kolektiva-talk-to-the-other-side
e-flux.com/aup

Die Kinder der Toten_MARIAZELL

DDr. Monika Leisch-Kiesl (Faculty of art science and art history at the Catholic Theological University in Linz/Upper Austria) has published an online article with the title “Die Kinder der Toten_Mariazell” (with references to a text by the Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek). From the base of Jelineks text, Monika Leisch-Kiesl writes about religion, social pressure and connects these topics with contemporary art from Austria, Slovenia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Libanon.

The text is in German language.

The artists mentioned in the text are: Valie Export, Servet Koçyiğit, Mona Hatoum, Nezaket Ekici, Hayv Kahraman, Simin Keramati, Vesna Bukovec

http://jelinektabu.univie.ac.at/religion/machtinstanz/monika-leisch-kiesl/

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My video It Will Be OK (2009) is included in the text.