Minna Henriksson: Ljubljana Notes

Drawing, 2008

In the spring of 2008, Minna Henriksson was in Ljubljana on a two-month artist’s residency, invited by the Kapelica Gallery. She spent this time finding out about the art scene of Ljubljana as it presented itself through the stories told to her by the people she met here. The result is a drawing depicting the impressions she formed of the scene as an outsider without much previous knowledge. It also shows many of the most acute concerns of the scene at the time and the different interrelations between its members, both professional and personal. As the information was collected in informal situations, it is often very subjective and sometimes incorrect. Some misunderstandings on the part of the artist are also possible.

Henriksson’s research focuses mainly on the contemporary visual arts scene, where she herself is active. However, the art scene is only one micro-community; similar research could be conducted in other communities as well. Moreover, an art scene cannot be clearly delimited. Not all the members of the Ljubljana art scene are represented in this drawing, but only those whom the artist was told about or met during her residency.

Henriksson has previously done similar research in Istanbul (Weekend – Istanbul Map, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, 2005) and Zagreb (Zagreb Notes, Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery, 2006). Visually, the drawings resemble one another, but their content varies greatly, since the art scenes function in different ways and have different kinds of dynamics and positions of power. Henriksson presented the outcome of her research in Ljubljana in the form of an installation consisting of a series of drawings and sound, displayed at the Kapelica Gallery from 26 June to 4 July 2008. This is a condensed and edited version of it.

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Artist's web page: minnahenriksson.com