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Adrijan Praznik: WHO CAN BE SURE OF ANYTHING* 5 – 26 May 2023 Opening: 5 May, at 7 pm Curator: Mojca Grmek Adrijan Praznik is a painter of the middle generation, who is already well recognised on the Slovenian art scene and has also exhibited abroad. In his paintings, he uses a variety of materials and processes, which he combines and interweaves within single paintings so that different themes also appear simultaneously in his works. His working method is therefore clearly collage-like, which the artist sees as a reflection of the times we live in and especially the way we experience our everyday lives. In this exhibition, he presents his latest works, which focus on layering fabrics with different textures and patterns, applications of paint and various other materials such as nets, papers, found texts, images and so on. The artist applies the materials in several layers, creating a relief on the surface of the painting, which is sometimes further animated by pasty layers of paint in a chosen colour, usually black and white, or a limited colour palette. Finally, he covers the surface with varnish to emphasise the drawing of light created in the relief. He often inserts texts into his paintings that also serve as titles, or he clearly outlines individual motifs that function as symbols (e.g. a carnation or a skull). The resulting works are characterised by a play of contrasts that takes place on various levels – between the colourful textile collage and the predominantly monochrome areas of colour, between the orderly treatment of the lower layers and the loose applications of paint over them, between the relief and smooth surfaces and the highlighted and shaded areas, and not least between the stark directness of the central field and the hints that arise from the accents on the edges. The method of consciously combining and interweaving different materials and processes, with which the artist creates an infinite play of contrasts in his paintings, is also conditioned by the process of their interpretation – it is determined by a constant transition between associations, memories, experiences, thoughts, feelings and the skipping between the conscious and the unconscious, which means that nothing definitive can be said about them. * The title of the exhibition WHO CAN BE SURE OF ANYTHING is a visual quotation or transcription of the picture-text from one of the works in the exhibition. ──────────── Adrijan Praznik (1988) completed his studies in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. He has presented his works in several solo exhibitions, including at Simulaker Gallery in Novo mesto (2016), Hiša kulture in Pivka (2017), Alkatraz Gallery (2021), GalerijaGallery (2021) and Švicarija (2022) in Ljubljana. His work has been featured in many presentations at home and abroad, including in the exhibition A time without innocence at Moderna galerija (2019) and The next 21 days will be crucial at Škuc Gallery (2021) in Ljubljana. He also works as a curator and producer. In 2017–2018, he attended the School of Curatorial Practice and Critical Writing, World of Art. Since 2020, he has been the artistic director and curator of Simulaker Gallery in Novo mesto. As a curator and producer, he has co-created the konSequence exhibition in Ljubljana's Cukrarna gallery (2023) as part of the konS project. He lives and works in Ljubljana. instagr.am/adrijan_praznik Special thanks: Goran Bertok, Simon Gmajner, Lara Malec, Lenart Merlin, Jan Pogorelec, Miha Perne, Bernarda Praznik, Katja Vidovič, Jure Zrimšek and the institutes Projekt Atol, Kersnikova and LokalPatriot, as well as ŠKUC Association.

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Simon Kocjančič: Blank Realm 7 – 28 April 2023 Opening: 7 April, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Simon Kocjančič works in the fields of painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, installation and art zines. His formal language moves on the border between different worlds: figuration and abstraction, warm and cool colours, round and angular forms, line and colour field, etc. On the level of content, too, his works constantly oscillate between the personal and the social, the inner and the outer world. In this exhibition, entitled Blank Realm, he presents his latest works in large formats, complemented by small paintings and prints. The central theme of the exhibition is the problem of the excess, oversaturation and exaggeration of contemporary society in general and the art system in particular, which is on the other hand accompanied by a lack of content and substance (in the immaterial sense of the word). What inflates this glittering balloon is an insatiable desire that knows no bounds and, in its greed for more and more, cannot even ask itself about its supposed meaning and purpose. The artist approaches this subject unencumbered and with a touch of humour. His characteristic skin pink mutates into scarlet and the otherwise serene blue becomes painfully greenish. Even his recognisable recurring motifs, most of which have no specific meaning, become communicative. One of them – a characteristic circular-square shape that has appeared regularly in the artist's work since 2017 – can appear in these paintings as a metaphor for the desire to build castles in the sky, and at the same time as a symbol of the alluring if uncertain seventh heaven. At the same time, it can also represent the opposite – a place where insatiable desire can come to rest. The motif of the brick wall, which has been an integral part of Kocjančič's paintings since 2017, also appears in various forms – from a simple grid drawing stretching across the background of the painting, to a three-dimensional but translucent wall, to a partially or fully constructed "living" house with a pair of sad eyes. In this context, the motif can be understood as an allusion to a meaningless construction, since the brick wall does not support, conceal or protect anything, or to an imaginary obstacle, a fixed idea that cannot be gotten rid of and blocks any forward movement. It has been written many times, and it holds true this time as well, that Simon Kocjančič's enigmatic visual language does not aim to please and appeal to our senses, but on the contrary; the multisensory motifs, indefinable shapes and impure colours stimulate ambivalent feelings, emotions and thoughts, and thus a discomfort that makes us think. ──────────── Simon Kocjančič (1979) graduated in Painting from the Arthouse College of Visual Arts in Ljubljana. He has presented his work in several solo exhibitions, including Galerija P74 (2016) and Škuc Gallery (2022), as well as in numerous group presentations in Slovenia and abroad. He lives and works as a contemporary artist in Truške near Koper.

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Iva Tratnik: Ana and Meta Morphosis 3 – 24 March 2023 Opening: Thursday, 3 March, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Iva Tratnik works with various media within the field of the visual arts, such as painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, photography, video and installation. In this exhibition, she presents a selection of her latest paintings. These works are typically populated by various objects, plants and animals, as well as their fragments and remains, all of which are quite ordinary and recognisable on their own, but together form an imaginary, fantastic whole. The artist creates this tension by selecting motifs from completely different, even contradictory environments (natural-artificial, organic-industrial, present-past) and arranging them in her paintings in such a way that they defy all physical laws – either so that the spatial relations between them are (grotesquely) disproportionate, or in such a way that they float weightlessly in an undefined "space" that is a cross-section of more or less fantastic landscapes, or else in front of a flat background that is monochrome or covered with various patterns, which are in most cases reminiscent of interior decoration. In this way, the painter creates fantastic worlds that captivate and enthral the viewer. Not only because he feels small and lost due to the large format of the medium and the gigantic scale of the depicted motifs, but also because he cannot identify with anything. Significantly, nowhere in these works does the human figure appear as a being that would structure this fantastic world and give it meaning. Rather, the human being is only indirectly present in it, through his remains – parts of the skeleton or objects he once made and used – as a thing among things. This leads to the assumption that the fantastic world depicted in the paintings is in fact a kind of posthuman community in which all the individual entities – beings, objects and human remains – are the same in their essence. They are so interwoven and intertwined that it is impossible to say where one ends and the other begins, and they form a kind of mixture, a new "primordial soup" from which a new world will eventually emerge. That the female principle will play the main role in this process, leading it towards a more inclusive direction away from anthropocentrism, is underlined by the title of the exhibition and is also evident in certain motifs, such as the moth with its complex symbolism involving both transformation and the search for enlightenment, as well as the archetype of female knowledge (in Slovenian the term moth is used for an old woman or a witch and today has a negative connotation, whereas originally it referred to a woman who knows about nature and its pervasive powers) or the female body as a form that conceals one kind of life or another, and ultimately the entire universe. ──────────── Iva Tratnik (1980) completed her master's degree at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2012, specialising in Painting. Within the field of the visual arts, she works in the media of painting, sculpture and installation. She regularly exhibits her work in solo and group shows in Slovenia and abroad. In addition, she also works in performance, either alone or in temporary collectives. She lives and works in Celje and Ljubljana.

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Miha Majes: Hi!potheses 3 – 24 February 2023 Opening: 3 February, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Miha Majes is a visual artist of the youngest generation, working in the fields of painting, printmaking and spatial installation. He defines his visual language as a millennial interpretation of pop art in late capitalism and an appropriation of consumer aesthetics that addresses the lack of thinking skills in today's society. Accordingly, he often uses the iconography of pop- and sub- culture(s) in his works, incorporating various everyday objects (toys, gadgets, ornaments, clothes, etc.) and spicing it all up with elements from his personal mythology shaped while growing up in the Slovenian countryside. The works presented in the exhibition at hand are linked by the title Hi!potheses. It is summed up by the opening painting to the entire exhibition that depicts an enclosure in which a fantastic creature composed of parts of various animals is imprisoned, next to which stands a cracked egg with outstretched wings. The image, on the one hand, represents the confinement of the imagination and creativity within the (art) system or structure, and on the other hand, the desire for liberation. The title Hi!potheses therefore summarises the artist's exploration of new forms of expression in artistic production. In this sense, the term hypothesis takes on a somewhat different meaning than usual, which the artist also marks with an exclamation mark. If in the scientific field it denotes an affirmative statement that has to be proven or confirmed, here, in the field of art, it stands for a kind of antithesis to the existing, a conceptually open position that can have several possible solutions. One of the artist's hi!potheses refers to the way artworks are created and consequently exhibited. In the exhibition, Majes presents paintings and objects juxtaposed as an installation in the gallery space. The paintings and objects were created in parallel, and by switching from painting to object and back again, the artist constantly left the form open to new solutions. The gradual and experimental character of the creative process is also reflected in the compositions, which at first glance are characterised by a bold interplay of different techniques, materials and styles, as well as the transition between painting and sculpture. In terms of content, too, the exhibition is conceived as a collection of different fragments, for the artist's works touch upon the many problems of today's world, from terror and military conflict, to ideological, political and religious extremism, to environmental pollution and climate change. Although the cynicism, grotesqueness and decadence associated with these issues are undoubtedly reflected in his works, Majes does not want to be gloomy about it. This is why, he approaches these problems with a certain naivety, playfulness and humour, convinced that they are much more likely to open a path to reflection than lecturing or pointing the finger. ──────────── Miha Majes (1993) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2019, where he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Printmaking alongside with Painting. During his studies, he also furthered his knowledge at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. He has presented his work in solo exhibitions at the Alkatraz Gallery in Ljubljana (2021) and TransStation SubArt in Kranj (2022), as well as in several group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad, and has participated in a number of international artist residencies. He lives and works between Ljubljana and Radovljica.

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Saša Bezjak: I Am Her 6 – 27 January 2023 Opening: 6 January at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Saša Bezjak is a visual artist who works in the parallel fields of painting, sculpture and performance, but is best known for her drawings – embroideries on various, mainly home textiles. Drawing is the foundation of Saša Bezjak's work, it is the offshoot for all her works, created spontaneously, on a daily basis and in large quantities. The artist uses drawing to convey many things: to express her feelings, ideas and concepts, to record everyday situations and special events, to describe social and intimate relationships, and on a personal level, drawing is a way for her to release inner tensions and conflicts. When she draws, she surrenders herself completely to the process, which is why the drawings are always imbued with the immediacy, spontaneity and originality that she appreciates in children, disabled persons and indigenous peoples. This approach to creating is also reflected in the form. The drawings are simple and simplified, stripped of all superfluous detail and effective only through the suggestiveness of line. The figure predominates as the central motif, which can appear alone or in combination with others, sometimes also with animals (fish, dog) and various details from nature (sun, stars, rain, trees). Its physiognomy is emphatically expressive and deformed, the limbs are incongruous in relation to each other and/or to the whole, they are too big, too small, too long, too short. Often, they are missing, most frequently the arms, or they appear all alone, without a body (phallus, vulva, head, eye). The figures are placed in impossible positions – as if they were made of rubber that can be kneaded and moulded at will; their bodies are sometimes overstretched, elsewhere compressed and oppressed. The same incoherence characterises the relationships between the figures themselves, between the figure and the other elements in the drawings, and between the figure and the space corresponding to the support, i.e. the paper or fabric. By playing with these incongruities, the drawings speak of incompatibilities in mutual relations, in the relationship between man and authoritarian systems such as the state and religion, or between woman and society. The latter is particularly emphasised in the drawings embroidered on textiles, which is no coincidence, as embroidery is traditionally associated with female agency. The drawings of Saša Bezjak can therefore be understood as socially critical works that speak about inequalities and, in this context, especially about the position of women in a patriarchal society, while at the same time addressing these issues in a very personal way, through the traces they leave in the individual's psychological and physical make-up. So they work in multiple ways – they touch everyone directly on an instinctive level, but they also encourage reflection and a search for deeper meanings. ──────────── Saša Bezjak (1971) graduated in Fine Art Education from the Faculty of Education in Maribor and in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, where she also completed her master's degree in Sculpture. She has shown her works in many solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad. Her works are represented in several art collections, including the collections of the Maribor Art Gallery, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška and the Murska Sobota Gallery. She lives and works as a self-employed cultural worker in Gornja Radgona. https://sasabezjak.si/

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Klemen Zupanc: SCHALAR SEE 1413 2 – 23 December 2022 Opening: 2 December, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Klemen Zupanc is a painter of the younger generation who often takes the banalities of everyday life and the established modes of existence and functioning of contemporary society as the starting point for his work. As part of his exhibition in Pivka, the artist presents the permanent collection of the Musée de Schalar, a renowned museum for the archaeology of lake fauna, which deals with the life of Škalar, the sea monster of Šalek, whose existence has been considered a folk legend for many years. The museum dates back to 1922 when people began to notice the strange shape of what looked like a large animal under the surface of the lake in Šalek Valley. A research institution was established that hired esteemed experts in various fields, who systematically recorded, analysed and preserved a variety of evidence establishing the existence of the supposed lake monster over the following decades. Over time, the museum became less and less concerned with proving the existence of the monster and more with its physiognomy and eating habits. It was discovered that the Škalar is biologically unique in the world as an osteocambiar organism that sporadically replaces its endoskeleton instead of the exoskeleton to meet the demands of its growing physiognomy, and each replacement requires a huge intake of carbon, which the organism needs to consume in a short period of time to produce a new endoskeleton. It is interesting to note that the timing of the alleged renewal of the endoskeleton and the location of the monster's habitat coincide remarkably well with the appearance of the Šalek Lakes, suggesting that the Škalar consumed so much coal in the subterranean world of the Šalek area that the surface collapsed and the lakes were formed. At this point, however, the situation became complicated for the museum researchers, as the unspoken but quite clear implications of their theory about the carbon-based feeding cycle of the osteocambiars fell out of favour with the socialist authorities, who refused to acknowledge the existence of a giant animal beyond their control. The authorities disbanded the team of experts and closed the museum for the next decades. Only after independence did the political landscape change enough to allow the museum to resume operations. A new generation of experts has published a comprehensive theory on the feeding cycles of the lake monster, based on earlier studies and their own research. They found that alternating carbonogenic and cellulogenic feeding cycles occur in the life of the Škalar, during which the organism must ingest sufficient amounts of cellulose to increase the surface area of its scaly integument and adapt it to its new body size. Cellulose can be obtained from a variety of natural sources but is most commonly found in cellulose products such as paper banknotes. This finding, like those of the previous generation of museum experts, has provoked a strong political reaction. It turns out that the huge financial hole created by the construction of the sixth block of the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant (TEŠ), whose investment costs rose from the original 650 million euros to an incredible 1.4 billion euros, coincides exactly with the new cellulogenic feeding cycle of the Škalar, which puts the developments in the TEŠ6 story into a completely new light. The exhibition presents the development of the museum and the diverse archaeological material relating to the existence, physiognomy and feeding habits of this famous lake monster. At the opening of the exhibition, the collection will be presented by the Museum's Director, Klemen Zupanc. The hosting of the permanent collection of the Musée de Schalar is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Pivka and Artiko – company for the digitisation of images d.o.o. ──────────── Klemen Zupanc (1989) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. During his studies, he received the Prešeren Award (2013). His work has been presented in several solo and group shows in Slovenia and abroad. His solo exhibitions include the P74 Centre and Gallery in Ljubljana (2013), the Celje Art Salon (2015) and the DDT Gallery in Trbovlje (2019). He has also participated in group exhibitions, among others, Prints and Impressions, International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana (2012), Visual Art in Šaleška dolina and Zgornja Savinjska dolina from 1975 to 2015, Velenje Gallery (2015), Triglav after Triglav, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana (2018). His works are represented in several collections, including the collection of MG+MSUM, Ljubljana and the collection of Velenje Gallery. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

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Vanja Mervič: take-it chew-it throw-it 4 – 25 November 2022 Opening: 4 November, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Vanja Mervič is a painter by training, even though he works in different media, as he believes that every idea has its own form of expression. His works generally deal with the world beyond the visible layers of materiality. On the one hand, he explores what becomes visible only with the help of modern technology (such as the electron microscope and the Kirlian camera), i.e. the micro-structure of matter, and on the other hand, the world of the immaterial, of ideas, thoughts and energy. Accordingly, his art practice shows an affiliation to the modern scientific, material world view and at the same time a commitment to something primordial, eternal, inexplicable that lies beyond the material. In this exhibition entitled take-it chew-it spit-it-out, the artist presents various works that deal with chewing gum as a metaphor for today's consumer society. He warns that humanity has made an incredible technological leap in the last two centuries, but that parallel to this process it is rapidly losing the values that make the world a pleasant place to live in. Recently it has become increasingly clear that so-called progress has got us nowhere; we are shuffling along, wrapped up to our necks in one disposable product or another. We are surrounded by impenetrable piles of objects that we immediately throw away after their first use, while at the same time drowning in information, advice and ideas that we quickly take in, chew and spit out again – like chewing gum. In the exhibited works, the artist treats chewing gum – this perfect representative of waste – as an artefact and in this way tries to find meaning in its nonsense. In keeping with the gallery space, he divides the works into three groups. The first, entitled Topography of the Daily, includes frottages, an artist's book and a tray object with chewing gum intended for visitors. The second group, entitled Obscure Passage, consists of a series of photographs composed of SEM microscope images, sound and video. The third, entitled Aftermath, presents works in progress – paintings and objects with collections of used chewing gum that visitors to the exhibition can also add to. ──────────── Vanja Mervič (1973) initially studied Painting at the academy in Venice, before transferring to the academy in Milano, where he graduated in 2001. He continued his master's studies at ALUO in Ljubljana, obtaining a master's degree in Video and New Media in the class of Prof. Srečo Dragan in 2008. He furthered his studies in Belgium (Hoogeshool, Ghent), New Zealand (UCOL, Wanganui) and Austria (FH Digitale Medien, University of Applied Science, Hagenberg), and has taken part in several artist residencies in France, Italy and Russia. His work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad. He has received several awards and recognitions, including the ZDSLU Award 2015, the Silver Snowflake of Sarajevo Winter 2018 and the Jury Prize at 60Seconds Festival 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark. He lives and works in Nova Gorica.

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Boris Beja: He Never Comes Alone 7 – 28 October 2022 Opening: 7 October, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Boris Beja has been appearing as an artist on the Slovenian art scene for ten years. His work is about the exploration of everyday life, the interweaving of personal experiences and intimate feelings with (current) social phenomena. This transition from the intimate to the social manifests itself formally in the use of different media that he often combines in one and the same work, which is why the installation as a spatial "formulation" of these relationships occupies a central place in his art practice. The starting point of the current exhibition at Hiša kulture is a print by France Mihelič (1907–1998), which is located in the flat where the artist lives and works. The interior of the flat has not changed for 50 years, and three of Mihelič's prints in the linocut technique are also part of the interior: Memory of Father (1954), Army in the Snow (1950–60) and Dead Kurent (1953). The latter is the starting point of the exhibition at Hiša kulture. In conceiving the works presented in the exhibition, the artist takes the figures on the prints as his point of departure. In doing so, he plays with the transformation of a two-dimensional image into an object (and back) and in this way subverts the traditional idea of the Kurent as a figure that drives away winter and awakens spring, thus symbolising fertility and also life. Inspired by the graphic figures, he creates several sculptures that he places on graceful, dematerialised stands and arranges in the gallery space. The one that stands alone is a fairly realistic representation of the figure seen from behind in the print. The three that stand in the group are fantastical derivations of all the other figures. It is no coincidence that the derivations are exactly three since this is the most important number in Slovenian tradition. Essentially, it stands for perfection and wholeness, which refers to various contexts: past, present and future as the trinity of time, the subterranean, earthly and heavenly spheres as the trinity of space, the concept of the triad, three sons, three Fates, three trials, Mount Triglav ... to name a few of the best-known references. In this context, the sculptures take on the meaning of almost totemic-like figures, warding off not winter but all evils or evil in general. The figures are accompanied by graphic prints on textiles, hung as curtains in the gallery space, on which the image of one of the figures is repeated in one hundred variations. In this way, the artist refers to the well-known Slovenian proverb "When the devil has his brood, he has a hundred", which vividly expresses the everyday experience that misfortune or the devil never comes alone, as the saying goes in English. In this context, the images on the curtains represent the antipode of the three totemic figures, i.e. the multiplied evil against which the figures struggle, but since they are essentially descended from one of them, as they multiply, one could also say propagate, simultaneously increases their power to overcome evil. The exhibition as a whole combines and interweaves various elements of Slovenian tradition – the figure of the Kurent, the symbolism of the number three, a saying as a verbalised everyday experience – into a new whole in which the artist creates new ways of understanding tradition and the possibilities of its use in the present with the help of various twists and derivations. Similar to France Mihelič, who used tradition for his inner expression, he also tries to rethink his own life experience in this way. ──────────── Boris Beja (1986) first graduated in Graphic Arts Technology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering in Ljubljana and continued his studies in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana Year, graduating in 2013. He has held solo shows in all major galleries in Slovenia and has participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as the 8th Triennial of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (2016), Views of Slovenian Sculpture 1975–2015, Piran City Gallery (2016), Expanding Sculptural Structures, City Art Gallery, Ljubljana (2014). He has received many accolades for his work. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

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inhale exhale 9 – 30 September 2022 Opening: 9 September at 7 pm Artists: Boštjan Kavčič, Lučka Koščak, Tejka Pezdirc, Luka Širok, Iva Tratnik, Jaka Vatovec, Sonja Vulpes, Leon Zuodar Curator: Mojca Grmek The exhibition entitled inhale exhale was conceived by curator Mojca Grmek, who invited the selected artists to interpret the term 'inhale exhale'. She wanted to know: Could it be understood as a metaphor for the brevity and transience of life? As a simple notation of its beginning and end? Or as everything that happens in between? Even though the term is interpreted differently by the participating artists, certain connections between them can be discerned. The work of Boštjan Kavčič springs from the awareness that the universe is a whole in which everything is in dynamic balance with each other. Accordingly, he understands his sculptures as ORGanisms that are created by releasing energies from stone and, once completed, harmonise the energies in the space in which they are located. The work presented in the exhibition consists of two ORGanisms, Core as spirit and Roll as matter, which together form Unity – a new life. Similarly, sculptor Lučka Koščak (1957–2022) always believed that her human-angel figures create balance, not in the universe as a whole, but in ourselves. The work in the exhibition – a posthumous book composed of original materials from the artist's 2013 solo exhibition at Hiša kulture entitled Breath – stands out starkly at first glance in the artist's oeuvre, but also seeks to encourage one of the most natural yet almost forgotten forms of communication – connecting with oneself through breath. The relationship to oneself and to others is also a theme that Luka Širok deals with in the work Faceless in Smoke. The series of three paintings shows "portraits" that appear and disappear from seemingly random strokes of colour on a predominantly grey background, looking different each time, depending on the mood, will and imagination of the viewer. On a basic level, then, the paintings speak of the fluidity of identity, of the creation of identity through the eyes of the other, of anonymity, impersonality, but we can also see in them an artistic metaphor for the randomness of (non-)existence – something that is here this moment and gone the next. Sculptor Tejka Pezdirc is also interested in the theme of simultaneous presence and absence. Her work entitled No small talk is the largest and at the same time the last in the series, in which she uses bones as a central motif. Bones have a kind of ambivalence, on the one hand, they bear witness to the decay and disappearance of the body; on the other hand, they are the only part that has survived this process, so paradoxically they are also a sign of the obstinacy of existence as such. The artist tries to emphasise this moment even more in her works in order to allow the viewer to see in the inevitability of decay the beauty of the emergence of something new. The connection between Eros and Thanatos is expressed in its own way in Leon Zuodar's painting entitled Red LP. The painting, similar to the artist's recent works, was created by recycling remnants of old (painted) canvases, which the artist assembled using a sewing machine into new backgrounds and hand-embroidered motifs to create new stories. However, it is not only the process of creation that embodies the interaction between the aforementioned forces, but also the central motif of the open mouth that appears both attractive and threatening, which is further emphasised by the ambiguous symbolism of the colour red. The reciprocity between Eros and Thanatos, albeit on a more subtle level, also characterises the diptych Butterfleyes by printmaker Sonja Vulpes. Although her works usually show the dark side, this time it is the other way round. If the positive atmosphere, the playful body of the woman and the butterflies in her eyes have not yet convinced us, we are finally seduced by the inscription Must be love. It is about love, about falling in love, about total surrender and immersion in the Eros that takes hold of us and carries us away – even at the cost of losing ourselves. Jaka Vatovec also reflects on the connection between the mortality of a single organism and the indestructible power of life in the painter's diptych entitled Seedless Apple. The diptych shows in both parts a more or less abstracted form of an apple with a chain surrounding it, whereby the apple appears stronger and more distinct in the first part, the chain in the second. The artist is thus trying to depict a process that, through its association with genetic engineering, makes us think about the meaning of death in the context of evolution. The meaningful arc of the exhibition closes with the work Like Tears by Iva Tratnik. The painting, like most others from her oeuvre, shows a vision of a posthuman world inhabited by insects and plants, while man is only present through his remains – the objects he once produced and used – as a thing among things. One of these remnants is also artificial intelligence, which has long forgotten its creator and, unlike him, has come to life as a "creature" of this world. It is quite fitting to end the exhibition with the message that even without man, life in the world remains and continues to evolve. Regardless of how the participating artists interpret the term 'inhale exhale', the main aim of the curator of the exhibition is to remind all participants, including the viewers, of what it simply means – to be.

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Painted Pivka / Leon Zuodar: Artist at Work Project curator: Mojca Grmek Painted Pivka is a multi-year project (2022–2025) of the Hiša kulture gallery in Pivka that explores mural painting, its expression, scope and meaning in public space using the example of a small town like Pivka. As is well known, the central significance of mural painting is that it brings art into public space. In this way, the artwork reaches the widest possible audience, including those who never enter a gallery, and at the same time can become an effective medium of social communication, for example between the dominant culture and subcultures or in ethically, socially and ideologically divided communities. Since there are no public murals in Pivka (yet), it seems particularly suitable to investigate what impact wall painting can have on the city's inhabitants, the relationships between them and the social atmosphere in general. Hiša kulture therefore sees the project as a kind of laboratory for exploring the relationship between art and society, and at the same time hopes that it will make an important contribution to the development of the city's visual image and the promotion of visual art in general. In the first implementation of the project, painter Leon Zuodar created a mural entitled Artist at Work, which focuses on the artist's work, his contribution to the development of society and society's perception of contemporary art. Zuodar conceived the wall painting in his characteristic style with a simple drawing but a complex content resulting from the interpretation of various, more or less hidden references from the world of (contemporary) art and pop culture grafted onto the personal interpretation of each individual viewer. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Pivka.

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Poems in Prints / Srečko Kosovel 3 – 24 June 2021 opening: 3 June, at 7 pm participating Jovana Đukić, Miha Majes, Monika Plemen, Maša Pušnik Poems in Prints is the title of a multi-year project (2022–2025) that explores the connections between poetry and visual art through the medium of printmaking. The first implementation of the project focuses on the poetry of Srečko Kosovel (1904–1926). In the introductory part, the participating artists went on a literary walk through Sežana In Step with Kosovel, where they learned about the poet's life and work. This was followed by a practical part of the workshop where they created prints using the screen printing technique. They chose a poem by Kosovel as a starting point for their work and used it as inspiration to create prints in two given colours. The prints were then made and half of the printed copies were used as the basis for collage. Throughout the process, typography was used as a pictorial element, creating a direct visual link to the poetry. All the resulting works, a print portfolio and an accompanying catalogue in the form of a zine are presented in the exhibition at Hiša kulture. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Pivka and Kosovelov dom Sežana.

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Poems in Prints / Srečko Kosovel Print workshop and group exhibition workshop 30 May – 2 June 2022 exhibition 3 June – 24 June 2022 participating Jovana Đukić, Miha Majes, Monika Plemen, Maša Pušnik Poems in Prints is a new multi-year project that continues the established practice from the past which has proven to be successful (PIVKA 45°40'49.63 "N 14°11'46.98 "E, 2015-2021). The project is conceived in the form of a workshop in which 6 invited artists create graphic works on a specific theme in a chosen technique. The theme is presented in connection with a partner (institution, company, society...) and a corresponding printmaking technique is also linked with it. All the resulting works, the print portfolio and the accompanying catalogue in the form of a zine are presented in an exhibition at Hiša kulture and the partner's premises, and subsequently become part of our permanent collection. The central theme of the project is the poetry of the famous regional poets. They are Dragotin Kette, Srečko Kosovel, Maksa Samsa and Miroslav Vilhar. The participants of the project get to know the selected poet and his/her poetry and create new graphic work in this context. They approach printmaking experimentally, outside its basic parameters (print, reproduction), and authorially, i.e. they transform prints into originals in various ways. Typography must be used as a key element that is a direct visual link with the poem. The first implementation of the project will focus on the poetry of Srečko Kosovel (1904–1926). In cooperation with Kosovelov dom in Sežana as a project partner, we will take part in the guided literary walk In Step with Kosovel, where we will learn about the poet's life and work. This will be followed by a practical part of the workshop where participants will combine print and collage with the simultaneous use of typography. They will choose one of Kosovel's poems as a starting point for their work and draw inspiration from it for the concept of their print in the technique of two-colour screen printing. They will then produce the print and use half of the printed edition as the basis for their collage. The reproductions of all prints and selected collages will be presented in the project catalogue. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Pivka and Kosovelov dom Sežana.

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Uroš Weinberger: Metaverse 6 – 27 May 2022 opening: 6 May, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Uroš Weinberger is a well-established visual artist on the Slovenian art scene and beyond, who is primarily concerned with figurative painting, mainly creating paintings, drawings and murals, occasionally also installations. His works are always made in response to current social events and he is particularly interested in the relationship between reality and fiction. Within this framework, he explores one way or another of constructing reality in the context of various ideologies, political or economic interests, and scientific and technological achievements. This research, as everyday life increasingly takes place in a computer environment and on the Internet, has recently led him to create virtual worlds in which there are no longer any fixed boundaries between reality and fiction, and the distinction between the two is completely arbitrary. The process of creating Weinberger's paintings has been the same for years. For his works, the artist usually uses already existing images from contemporary communication media such as various publications (newspapers, magazines), television and the Internet, or specialist and art literature and film. He tears images out of their original context and assembles them into new wholes (digital collage), which he then transfers to medium- or large-format canvases. He uses different painting techniques, often on the same canvas. In his earlier works (2008–2013) he often combined nebulous areas of colour in the background with drawn figures in the foreground, while around 2015 one and the other gradually began to crumble, until, in the most recent works (2018–2022), this dissolved into a completely "pixelated" world – here, figures with more or less blurred silhouettes stand in a space of nebulous colour dots and dashes, which in some places combine to form recognisable landscape elements such as apartment blocks or trees, and in other places fantastic grid structures or spaceships. In this world, it is not entirely clear where and when the figures merge into space (and vice versa), because everything is permeated by the same fluid matter and the unreal, luminous light that reminds us of a computer screen, which is why we associate it with the virtual. On this occasion, the exhibition focuses on the virtual, which is already announced by the title Metaverse. (According to Wikipedia, the term is made up of the prefix meta and the word universe and refers to a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection.) In it, Weinberger presents works in which we only find images from real life here and there, since spaces with unusual growth, condensed atmosphere and glowing light are inhabited by figures in spacesuits whose faces we do not see, who are busy with tasks whose purpose we do not understand. Are these people in a distant future? Or in a distant space? Are these perhaps the avatars who represent us in virtual worlds? And if so, is their virtual world our potential or just virtual reality? ──────────── Uroš Weinberger (1975) holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. He continued his studies at the Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, and participated in artist residencies in Berlin and Freising. He has received several awards and recognitions for his work, including the Student Prešeren Award (2001) and the Recognition Award for Significant Artworks of the University of Ljubljana (2018). He lives and works as an independent visual artist in Ljubljana. http://urosweinberger.com/ The Hiša kulture in Pivka programme is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Pivka. Uroš Weinberger's projects are co-financed by the Municipality of Novo mesto.

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Neža Knez: Suggestions and Experiments #2 1 – 22 April 2022 Opening: 1 April, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek In her art practice, Neža Knez is concerned with crossing the boundaries between art and everyday life in a way that encourages the viewer to start thinking differently about the world. Her works, which emerge from this practice, attempt to break through the self-evident nature of ordinary life and show "something in between" and thus act as a kind of incision into daily life, opening up possibilities for a new and different view of the world. In recent years, the artist has devoted herself to an extensive project, which she is presenting in the gallery spaces in segments. The starting point of the project are the creative workshops in which she reflects together with children on today's world, on its advantages and disadvantages, and the solutions that could possibly change it for the better. She transforms the ideas born in the workshops into artworks (objects, installations or videos) and presents them in the gallery, where the viewers add to them with their imagination and thus co-create "other realities", fictional worlds of sorts that try to represent reality as children perceive it through adult eyes. From the video material created during the project, the artist will create an experimental documentary feature film, which is expected to conclude the project in 2023. The central theme of the project is the exploration of the different ways of perceiving and understanding the world that take place in the relationship between adults and children. In various ways, the artist confronts adults with children's views of the world and follows how they react to them, deal with them, try to empathise with them, etc. Within this framework, she also addresses more general themes such as the relationship between different levels of reality, crossing the boundaries between reality, fiction and the imaginary, exploring interactions and communication in a particular space and time, etc. She approaches these themes through film language, experimenting with transitions between documented and acted elements, expression and articulation, amateur and professional subjects of performativity, etc., as well as exploring the possibilities of animation. In the exhibition at Hiša kulture, the artist presents part of the project in the form of a multimedia installation dramaturgically adapted to the specifics of the gallery space. The gallery, which consists of three interconnected rooms, can be entered through two entrances, into the first or last room, and the exhibition is structured in such a way that it can be read differently from each direction. If the viewer enters through the first room, he is faced with the child's view of the world; if he enters through the last room, he is confronted with the created worlds of the imagination. Both rooms are dramaturgically connected by the middle, where reality and fiction, inspiration and creation, potential and realisation meet ... ──────────── Neža Knez (1990) earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. She regularly exhibits at home and abroad, and has received several awards for her work. Her accolades include the Prešeren Award from the University of Ljubljana (2015), the Golden Press Award for Innovative Approaches in Printmaking (2015), the Summa Cum Laude Award for her master's thesis (2017) and the OHO Group Award (2018). She furthered her knowledge during artist residencies in New York and at the WHW Academy in Zagreb. She currently lives and works in Zagreb, where she is studying video art in the RESTART programme. The Hiša kulture in Pivka programme is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Pivka.

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Polonca Lovšin: What’s the plan? 4 – 25 March 2022 Opening: Thursday, 4 March, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Polonca Lovšin develops her art production at the intersection of different ideas and practices so that her works encompass various media, are interdisciplinary and project-oriented. On the most general level, her work can be described as a transition between art and everyday life that aims to shake up established notions, beliefs and actions. A brief overview of Polonca Lovšin's work to date shows that her artistic output can be divided into periods of about five years. In the first (2000–2004), the artist focuses on exploring independent lifestyles and the mobility of the individual, which she later (2005–2009) extends to independent ways of generating energy from private to public space. In the third period (2010–2014), the artist combines all the components of her work into complex interdisciplinary and multimedia projects that involve in-depth research in collaboration with various institutions and experts, as well as the collaborative action of all those involved in the execution. In these projects, the artist combines her many years of research on how to make a (mobile) shelter, a dynamo, a water reservoir or food with simple means and basic knowledge into complex self-sufficiency systems that function independently of existing production systems and incorporate contemporary values such as high quality of life, sustainable development, environmental sustainability, etc. In this way, her work goes beyond the usual socio-critical scope of contemporary art, as she develops concrete practices that subversively impact the existing capitalist system without big words, manifestos or declarations. In the most recent period (2015–2021), the artist has expanded her social engagement into the realm of politics, as her works from this period often address the relationship between the public and the government, between different interest groups, communities and cultures, and the relationship between the West and the rest of the world. In this way, she adds a new dimension to her production by comprehensively presenting the various forms of interdependence, coexistence and cooperation in human society, in nature and between the two, as well as the need to strengthen these links in the face of climate change. The exhibition in which the artist presents collages from the series Soil, Water, Garden, Freedom (2014), Everything's Moving (2016), The Anthropocene (2016–2022), We Can't See the Forest for the Trees (2019–2021) and Heat (2021) offers an insight into the most recent period of her work. ──────────── Polonca Lovšin (1970) graduated from the Faculty of Architecture (1996) and the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (2001), where she also completed her master's degree (2005). In 2015, she completed her PhD in Fine Arts at the Bauhaus University Weimar. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad, and has taken part in residencies in Europe, the UK and the USA. She is the recipient of the Golden Bird Award 2010 and the Rihard Jakopič Recognition Award 2018, she is co-founder of the artist association KUD Obrat, which organises spatially critical art interventions, research projects and public events. She lives and works in Ljubljana. lovsin.org The Hiša kulture in Pivka programme is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Pivka.

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Nina Čelhar: In Between 4 – 25 February 2022 Opening: 4 February, at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Painter Nina Čelhar has been engaged in painting contemporary residential architecture for several years. She is particularly interested in spaces that are tailor-made for the individual and at the same time in harmony with the surroundings. Her paintings are characterised by a refined composition that depicts the chosen motif with few strokes and without unnecessary details and descriptions, as well as by a limited colour palette that includes only black and white in addition to shades of green and beige. White generally occupies a special place in Nina Čelhar's painting, as she uses it a lot and in different ways – as a monochrome background to the subject, as a veil that covers it completely, as a mist that dilutes its physicality, or as light coming from within it. Through all this whiteness – regardless of its specific use – the motifs depicted seem dematerialised, translucent, as if they were stuck halfway between existence and non-existence, so that they appear like a possibility, a more or less feasible illusion, a wish, a dream. The present exhibition by Nina Čelhar is special in several aspects. Not only because the artist is presenting her works on paper for the first time, but also because they are slightly different from the other works in her oeuvre. Here, the artist shifts attention from the external image of architecture to its interior, that is, the living spaces and the objects that fill them. She is concerned with everyday things such as tables, chairs, coat hangers, bags, papers and pens, which she shows in more or less stylised form on a pure white background on which one can only intuit the basic coordinates of the room, and sometimes not even that. In some places the objects are scattered indiscriminately over the entire pictorial surface, in others, they are connected into a logical whole (a desktop, for instance), with this or that having disappeared into the whiteness. Some are quite clearly recognisable, others are shown to us in parts, and still others are only patches of colour of indeterminate shape. For this reason, they seem to hover between existence and non-existence, much like the external images of architectures, but in a more radical way – we do not see them as an option that is gradually fulfilled, or as an illusion that fades with time. We see them as something that is and is not at the same time. Something in between. These works were created in the last two years and represent the artist's authentic response to the new Coronavirus pandemic, which brings constant (temporary) changes to our lives, along with uncertainty and unpredictability. These works reflect today's world "in pieces", a world that is both a ruin of something past and a blueprint for something future, a world that seeks comfort in the present and meaning in the absence. ──────────── Nina Čelhar (1990) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, where she also completed her master's degree in 2018. During her studies, she furthered her knowledge at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig. She has exhibited independently in all major galleries in Slovenia and several times abroad, most recently at the 12 Star Gallery in London. She has received several awards for her work and her paintings are included in several collections in Slovenia and abroad. She lives and works in Ljubljana. ninacelhar.com

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Urška Alič: Collisions 7 – 28 January 2022 Opening: 7 January at 7 pm Exhibition curator: Mojca Grmek Urška Alič works in the field of printmaking, which she sees as a broad polygon of exploration of different approaches and materials. She draws inspiration for her work from everyday life, where she is particularly drawn to unusual situations, oddities, mistakes and failures. Everything that catches her attention is captured in the form of a photograph, a sketch or a note and sooner or later transformed into a print, an object or a textile product. In the exhibition entitled Collisions, the artist presents her latest body of work that consists of medium-format prints in the silkscreen technique and small objects made of various natural materials (wood, mounted paper, aluminium foil). When creating prints, she generally focuses on the relationships and tensions between basic geometric shapes, pure colours, light and shadow, and tries to transfer the resulting relations onto paper, preferably in the techniques of silkscreen or risography. The compositions that arise have a surprisingly poetic effect; their charm lies in the fact that, in contrast to their simple minimalist form, they create a complexity of meaning as they evoke very different, sometimes even contradictory feelings, associations and interpretations in the viewer. This ambiguity is further enhanced by the fact that the artist does not determine the titles or positions of the prints in advance but lets inspiration guide her with each installation. The artist follows similar principles in creating objects that seem like a translation of the minimalist expression of her prints into three-dimensional form. Again, her starting point is the basic geometric shape or body, which she combines into a whole by creating a tension between round and angular shapes, emptiness and volume, different colours. The reciprocal relationship between the prints and the objects is also emphasised by the artist's juxtaposition in the gallery space, where she places the prints on a plinth normally used for presenting objects and attaches the objects to the wall, as is customary for prints. In this way, the meaning derived from the individual works, their relationships to each other and the overall layout of the gallery space is further dispersed, while at the same time playing with established concepts of artistic (re)presentation. ──────────── Urška Alič (1987) obtained her master’s degree in Graphic and Interactive Communication at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering and works in the field of graphic design, printmaking and risography. She has had solo shows at DobraVaga gallery (2017) and the L’Artichaut gallery in Nantes, France (2019), as well as several group presentations, including the Living Graphics exhibition at Equrna Gallery in Ljubljana (2021). With five colleagues, she is part of the Riso Paradiso collective. She lives and works mainly in Bohinj.