Exhibition Notes / Wet Feet / Returning the Gaze

Three upcoming exhibitions featuring women artists in the Cukrarna Gallery.

Rosa Barba: Exhibition Notes
Berlin-based artist Rosa Barba, whose work From Source to Poem was shown as part of the first exhibition at Cukrarna, The Wonderfulness of Memory, is now presenting Exhibition Notes. It includes Blind Volumes (2016/2022), an installation in which the artist uses steel frames as a support, a kind of stage on which kinetic sculptures are displayed and images projected. Eight further artworks address the subjects of time, light, sound and film technologies, filling the gallery space with sound and light projections and turning it into a place of experimentation. The gallery thus becomes a space where the constitutive elements of the film medium are presented: elements that often remain invisible, overlooked and unexplored precisely because they are so obvious.

Through her use of a steel construction in which empty blocks act as unique scenographic elements while also serving a functional purpose, the artist brings a dynamic interpretation of its constituent parts to the gallery space. In so doing, she invites the viewer to adopt different perspectives and focus on the individual artworks, highlighting the basic building blocks of the film medium: filmstrip, projector, reel, light and sound. Both the basic physical elements and the metaphysical concepts thus become key vehicles for thinking about film as a process, a medium and, ultimately, a message.

Maruša Sagadin: Wet Feet
The exhibition intriguingly titled Wet Feet showcases her recent sculptures, carefully thought-out compositions forming a metaphorical reflection on urban spaces intended as places for public gathering.

The works and the dialogues between them are in harmony with their expressive forms and their individual titles, which are often playful and witty: Tschumi Alumni, Stress in Texas, Bad Mood Without a Kiosk and Kitchen, Summer. Their judicious juxtapositioning takes the specifics of the gallery and its immediate surroundings into account, thereby creating a meaningful whole that encourages viewers to look beyond the merely aesthetic and actively think about the purpose and accessibility of gallery spaces.

The artist’s aim is not to encourage irresponsible use, or even to define their purpose too rigidly, but rather to use subtle gestures to dismantle the established codes of how to view artworks in a gallery, and thereby create new perspectives and broaden our understanding of what art spaces are for, and the social responsibility they bear.

Returning the Gaze
Nika Autor, Lela B. Njatin, Uršula Berlot Pompe, Suzana Brborović, Mateja Bučar, Jasmina Cibic, Lea Culetto, Dragica Čadež, Špela Čadež, Ksenija Čerče, Tina Dobrajc, Eclipse, Elena Fajt, Feminalz/Tatovi podob, Meta Grgurevič, Olja Grubić, Sanela Jahić, Duša Jesih, Andrea Knezović, Metka Krašovec, Ema Kugler, Tanja Lažetić, Maja Licul, Polonca Lovšin, Aprilija Lužar, Sanja Nešković Peršin, Špela Petrič, Irena Pivka, Marjetica Potrč, Alenka Pirman, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Marija Mojca Pungerčar, Nataša Ribič, Lina Rica, Rene Rusjan, Maruša Sagadin, Duba Sambolec, Ana Sluga, Mojca Smerdu, Maja Smrekar, Saša Spačal, Zora Stančič, Robertina Šebjanič, Nika Špan, Apolonija Šušteršič, Neja Tomšič, Polona Tratnik, Milena Usenik, Aleksandra Vajd, Petra Varl, Kamila Volčanšek, Tanja Vujinović, Irena Z. Tomažin, Joni Zakonjšek, Mojca Zlokarnik, Zdenka Žido, Nataša Živković, Janja Žvegelj

The exhibition offers a glimpse into the creative processes and practices of nearly 60 women artists, all either Slovenian or working in Slovenia, from the 1990s to the present day. Many of the works in the exhibition are either characteristic of a particular period or groundbreaking in their approach or execution. Some of them focus on specific social themes, such as issues of identity, gender and feminism and the way women artists are represented in the art system. The exhibition presents an extensive selection of paintings, sculptures, videos, performances, interventions, and sound events, as well as an accompanying programme of presentations, film screenings, lectures, and discussions; the aim being to shed light on aspects of today’s Slovenian art scene by creating dialogical relationships between the works of artists from different generations, all using different media, practices, and approaches.