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The Schengen Women
February 1st – February
28th, 2008
You are kindly invited to
attend the opening of the exhibition on Friday, January
1st
at 8 p.m. at Galerija Škuc.
Maja
Bajević (Bosnia and Hercegovina),
Danica Dakić & Sandra Sterle
(Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia),
Vlasta Delimar (Croatia),
Sanja Iveković (Croatia),
Šejla Kamerić (Bosnia
and Hercegovina), Zofia Kulik
(Poland), Andreja Kulunčić (Croatia),
Tanja Ostojić (Serbia),
Tadej Pogačar and the
P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art (Slovenia),
Marija Mojca Pungerčar (Slovenia).
Curator:
Zdenka Badovinac
The
exhibition will present the works of several women artists
and one male artist who problematize the ideas and
stereotypes about Eastern European women. It will focus on
the art and fates of women on the wrong side of the border,
historically and now once again. In the past, their
otherness was defined by the Iron Curtain; today, it is
defined by the Schengen Treaty, which excludes them from the
‘Europe without borders’.
The
Schengen Treaty redefines the boundaries of Europe yet
again. At a time when it is again being decided who is a
European, there is a real danger that the otherness of
Europe beyond the border becomes even more explicit.
In the
collective consciousness of Europeans, European identity
relates primarily to Western culture and male creativity.
Undeniably we still know less about European women artists
than we do about their male counterparts; and when it comes
to Eastern European women artists, this is true twofold.
Unfamiliarity with otherness inevitably leads people to form
ideas and stereotypes.
Both
historically and currently there are many Eastern European
women artists who have problematized the various ideas about
and stereotypical images of Eastern European women, from the
androgynous partisan and communist to the poor woman who
does not match up to the western media images, and in the
time of the transition, to the refugee and prostitute.
The view of
the other often treats the Eastern European woman merely as
an object, formerly a victim of the regime, currently, a
victim of unbridled capitalism.
The
exhibition will stress the significance of the Eastern
European women artists’ self-defining, which – unlike the
view from the outside, which looks for passive otherness –
offers active otherness. By revealing the actual
circumstances under which Eastern European women live today
and by calling attention to their status and role in the
past, women artists today aim to actively bring about a
change in their position, often by making provocative
gestures.
The
Schengen Women exhibition will
be one in a series of events entitled Hosting Moderna
galerija!, organized by a number of galleries in Ljubljana
during the time the Moderna galerija building is closed for
renovation works.
A good half
of the works presented are part of the Arteast Collection
2000+ and of Moderna galerija’s national collection; the
other half are Moderna galerija’s proposed new acquisitions.
The event is part of the
action entitled »Hosting Moderna galerija!«.
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The
programme of Škuc Gallery is supported by
Ministry of Culture of the Republic
of Slovenia and
City of Ljubljana –
Department of Culture.
For
further information contact Alenka
Gregorič, artistic director of the Škuc
Gallery on +386 1 251 65 40,
galerija.skuc@guest.arnes.si
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