LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD

Žiga Kariž & Alen Ožbolt

September 6 — October 2, 2005

You are kindly invited to attend the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday, September 6th at 8 p.m. at Galerija Škuc

The opening will be accompanied by sound event It's so simple and that's the way I like it performed by Primož Čučnik in collaboration with Žiga Kariž.

In the exhibition bearing the title Love is a Battlefield, the works of Žiga Kariž and Alen Ožbolt, two Slovene artists belonging to different generations, will be presented in the Škuc Gallery.

The works of Žiga Kariž — who belongs to the younger generation of artists very much in the forefront of the Slovene contemporary art scene (let's only remember his showcase as part of the Slovene Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale, his presence in all theme-based shows and overviews within the boundaries of his home country, and numerous exhibitions abroad, like for example, the Limerick Biennale of 2003, or the 2005 Prague Biennale) — clearly demonstrate Kariž's constant questioning and enquiry on the big names of the previous century, from the visual arts to architecture.

His co-dependence on his home production and points of departure that have accompanied him throughout his phase of searching for his own self, are nevertheless anchored also in the works of Alen Ožbolt — a member of the VSSD group (Veš slikar svoj dolg, or in English, Painter You Know Your Debt) between 1986 and 1995, whose work was featured in the Slovene Pavilion at the 1995 Venice Biennale, has exhibited widely at home as well as abroad, and works also with original text and criticism tied chiefly to the art system and its functioning.

The conglomerate of two creative individuals will not only make for an (over)saturation of the space, but also a story of two conceptually strong individuals, who will, with the help of stories from past moments, create a common story of today's time. The artists have based their concept for the exhibition on combining their fields of interest, merging them into some kind of saturated mass. The point of departure for both artists is the phenomenon of time and its (fast) gone transience, and a critical stance or commentary on the course of individual and common history.

Ožbolt will, by presenting small forms — here we are of course talking about small in the physical sense — copy, or reinterpret the forms of his own history and create new images with which he will materialise his personal position towards transient matter, objects, goods.
Without a sense of nostalgia he will place past/collapsing images in time, where the moment is worth less and less, and where it is no longer possible to follow time, since Ožbolt perceives the images, or better forms, that have come into existence in a certain instant as live organisms, or as the author himself explains:
"Life forms of inorganic matter. Elementary formative operations. Hidden forms, hidden life. Microbes, 'extremophiles', cellular forms, extreme forms need almost nothing in order to exist, a little more than nothing. They harm no-one and nothing. Hidden forms, Invisible borders. Border forms. Corner forms. And Double forms of winning over difference. These forms need a very, VERY small, extremely small living space and matter; people do not belong here." In this way, Ožbolt wishes to establish a relation with Kariž's approach towards images and historical events, which mostly lead (on) to an absurd consumption of the past.

In the project, Kariž will go beyond his working concept, which has up till now been presented mostly in the painting medium. The artist will present two installations. The first, Video Club (after Rodchenko), which was presented as part of the 7 Sins exhibition at the Ljubljana Museum of Modern Art in a more modest version and is based on combining two key works by Aleksander Rodchenko from the 20s of the 20th century (the triptych Pure Red Colour, Pure Blue Colour, Pure Yellow Colour and Workers' Club) with a collection of pirate videos and film posters of cheap action movies from the 70s and 80s of the 20th century. The second installation entitled It's so simple and that's the way I like it, will be based on the principle of scenography, therefore a space made up of two walls and a floor. The plan of the "room", which will be saturated with visual images (originals, copies, copies of copies) and audio recordings (which artist conceived together with Primož Čučnik), will thus become a platform serving as an illusionary account of reality — on the other hand, however, also wishing to establish a dialogue with the works that are to be found in gallery spaces.

Exhibitions in tandem are not rare despite the fact that this kind of presentation carries within itself a particular challenge — a co-dependence of the artists' work, reciprocity or elimination, love or hate ... The intertwining of different works, different approaches, and different responses towards that which has already passed, will bring a playful story of two artists who will present the world of the past in the present moment through uniquely intervolving individual stories.

Curated by: Alenka Gregorič

Special Thanks to:

Žiga Kariž: Boštjan Drinovec, Mike Kelly, Andrej Kariž, Blaž Križnik, Paul McCarthy, Modern Gallery Ljubljana, Franci Zavrl

Alen Ožbolt: Branko Filipič, Mike Kelly, Paul McCarthy, Mir+an, Ta-ta-ta, Franci Zavrl

Exhibition supported by:
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana City Council - Department for Culture, Ljubljanski potniški promet, RPS, Mizarstvo Mlakar.

For further information contact Alenka Gregorič, artistic director of Škuc Gallery on +386 1 251 65 40, galerija.skuc@guest.arnes.si