Sašo Sedlaček, Beggar Robot 1.0, 2006/2008
Fotografija / photo by Hiromitsu Murakami
 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

23 June – 15 July, 2010

Artists: Nemanja Cvijanović, Igor Grubić, Ivan Moudov, Alban Muja, Sašo Sedlaček

It is no novelty that artists who are represented by the Škuc Gallery are included in the gallery’s programme; however, it is a segment we seek to draw more attention to. Particularly because we wish to stress its significance and the fact that commercial activity is an essential part of the gallery’s activities. The commercial aspect is not manifested to a great extent locally, but more internationally, particularly with attendance at international art fairs, which has taken place since 2000, when it was initiated by Gregor Podnar, and then continued by Alenka Gregorič .In addition to allowing the development of a long-term relationship with selected artists, commercial activity is an excellent way of promotion for the artists and all the activities of the gallery, which has resulted in participation at various international exhibitions, purchases of art works for private and public collections, media response and, most significantly, in the positive response of the professional public. Long-term collaboration with artists for commercial purposes has led to solo exhibitions of works by Vuk Ćosić, son:DA duo, Miha Štrukelj and Matej Andraž Vogrinčič. This year, visitors will have a chance to see a group show by artists Nemanja Cvijanović, Igor Grubić, Ivan Moudov, Alban Muja and Sašo Sedlaček, who have been invited to work with Škuc Gallery more recently.

While every one of these artists has a specific artistic approach and language, they share an attitude to the world around them, analysing political, economic or social issues and communicating them through art. This practice is currently very widespread in contemporary visual art. These selected artists believe that an individual cannot escape reality, and through their artistic practice they point to the thin line between constructed histories, the art system, identities, and their power to reveal their mechanisms, thereby showing the possibility of subversive thinking within individual systems. Subversive practice applied to different media is one of the characteristics of a contemporary artist, which reveals constant updating and the development of artistic production. Thereby, artists reveal harsh social reality, bringing the attention of the spectator to the unpredictable mechanisms governing contemporary society in the economic, political or geographical context. Works by the artists represented by Škuc Gallery are marked by an integrated and consistent approach to a social issue, and therefore they can be combined into a logical whole. The exhibition is an attempt to organize a non-linear view and identify some core issues, processes and connections which have captured the attention of the artists represented by Škuc Gallery. In a way, the exhibition is conceived as a mosaic, with the presented works creating a space of their own by combining visual, audio, spatial and other elements.

In addition to presenting artists who began collaborating with the gallery more recently, the exhibition The Other Side of the Coin seeks to point to the positive aspects of commercial activity and to encourage a more active discourse between institutions wishing to pursue it. One of the key issues which must be highlighted in this respect is the lack of an art market in Slovenia, which creates much insecurity and enables institutions dealing and selling art works to operate in a non-transparent way. It also highlights the fact that the art market creates trends in contemporary visual art and acts as a generator attracting the professional public, which has an extremely positive influence on the area where the institution is based. The Other Side of the Coin is the initial impulse and a call to everyone to think about the possibilities of art institutions operating commercially, particularly locally, while predicting a more in-depth approach and presentation of possibilities for an art institutions of different types to operate internationally.

Curators: Tevž Logar, Jani Pirnat

A guided tour with one of the curators will take place on Thursday, July 1 and Thursday, July 15 at 18.00.

Film screening: Herb & Dorothy, film by Megumi Sasaki,

production Karl Katz & Catherine Price, MUSE Film & Television, 2009

- Wednseday, June 30 at 20.15 at Galerija Škuc.

- Thursday, July 8 at 20.15 at Galerija Škuc.

- Wednesday, July 14 at 20.15 at Galerija Škuc.

Film Herb & Dorothy tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, Herb and Dorothy Vogel quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb's salary to purchase art they liked, and living on Dorothy's paycheck alone, they continued collecting artworks guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists including Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner.  After thirty years of meticulous collecting and buying, the Vogels managed to accumulate over 2,000 pieces, filling every corner of their tiny one bedroom apartment. "Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment," recalls Dorothy. In 1992, the Vogels decided to move their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The vast majority of their collection was given as a gift to the institution. Many of the works they acquired appreciated so significantly over the years that their collection today is worth millions of dollars. Still, the Vogels never sold a single piece. Today Herb and Dorothy still live in the same apartment in New York with 19 turtles, lots of fish, and one cat. They've refilled it with piles of new art they've acquired.

The programme of Škuc Gallery is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and Cultural Department of the City of Ljubljana.