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SLOVENIAN PAVILION | Painter Marko Jakše
24 April 2022 — 27 November 2022
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Exhibition website

 

Representing Slovenia at one of the most prestigious global exhibitions of contemporary art this year is the painter Marko Jakše, an artist that continues to build his recognizability exclusively on the basis of his art, and not on his image.

The Slovenian Pavilion is once again located in the Arsenale, one of the two Biennale’s main exhibition venues. The vernissage is scheduled for 23 April, with the exhibition open until 27 November 2022. The Slovenian Pavilion will open on 21 April.

 

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia sees appearances at the art and architecture biennials in Venice as one of the priorities in its promotion of Slovenian art and architecture. The Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Judita Krivec Dragan stressed the importance of the location of the Slovenian Pavilion, which is again located in the Arsenale, in the oldest part of this complex – a spectacular 14th century space that enjoys a 600-year tradition.

 

According to the curator of this year’s Biennale, Cecilia Alemani, “[T]oday, the world seems dramatically split between technological optimism − which promises that the human body can be endlessly perfected through science − and the dread of a complete takeover by machines via automation and artificial intelligence. This rift has widened during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced us even further apart and caged much of human interaction behind the screens of electronic devices.” She has further stressed the significance of material and immaterial fantasy transformations.

 

The focus of this year’s biennial is Leonora Carrington’s art, but Artistic Director Cecilia Alemani’s emphases need to be understood more broadly than as a mere reference to the surrealist tradition (or even a specific group of artists) or as foregrounding painting,” offers the Commissioner, Aleš Vaupotič, PhD, Director of Moderna galerija. “Carrington’s art is a comprehensive mix of artistic media, including children’s picture books and novels. More importantly, in one way or another we are all faced with the key questions posed by Alemani. And this is exactly what the International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia is at its core: an overview of contemporary artistic articulations of this historical moment, and here is where we wish to see what is actually going on, where, who and what we are.

 

In his rejection of digital media, the painter Marko Jakše proves that a personal touch and connection, free of intermediaries (or indeed interfaces) is still – if not now more than ever – exceedingly important.

 

In the context of this year’s Venice Biennale theme, Jakše’s paintings challenge the idea of controlling nature and the related categories of existence, the scientific systems, and the knowledge of what actually is the primordial in and outside us; and above all, how something is,” said the curator of the Slovenian Pavilion exhibition, Robert Simonišek, PhD. “Jakše’s response to these questions covers a broad range from Nietzschean Dionysian abandon to meta-symbolistic and meta-romantic allegories reflecting the enthralling drama of human passions and yearning – mysterious games without a master. The enigmatic images are so convincingly coherent and rounded out that they function as self-sufficient realities, underscoring the mundane predictability of our everyday ideas and lives,” he added.

 

The exhibition in the Slovenian Pavilion comprises works made in this millennium.

 

The Commissioner Vaupotič thanked the artist Marko Jakše and the Slovenian Pavilion curator Robert Simonišek; Aleksandra Kostić and KID Kibla for their collaboration in the production; poet Anja Zag Golob; architects Mateo Eiletz and Claudia Ortigas for the Slovenian Pavilion and exhibition design; Aurora Fonda for her assistance in organizing the exhibition; Gorazd Krnc for the video presentation; Jaka Železnikar, Narvika Bovcon, and Ana Korenini and Borut Kovačec from Vikida for the exhibition website; the catalogue designer Jagoda Ječič; the photographer Dejan Habicht; the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia for their support and trust; and all the colleagues at Moderna galerija and others who have in any way assisted in the project.

 
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