Bežigrajska galerija

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Bežigrajska galerija

Dunajska 31, SI-1000 Ljubljana

http://www.mestna-galerija.si

mestna.galerija-lj@siol.net

Phone386 (0) 1 241 1770

Managed byMuseum and Galleries of Ljubljana

Bežigrajska galerija 2

Vodovodna 3, SI-1000 Ljubljana

The Bežigrajska galerija (Bežigrad Gallery) with its two units in the Northern part of Ljubljana simply named Bežigrajska galerija 1 and Bežigrajska galerija 2, features smaller personal exhibitions by younger Slovene artists, historical exhibitions of the established artist, and multimedia installations. The topical curated shows are usually rooted in the gallery's rich collection of the visual and concrete poetry. The Bežigrajska galerija organises also two traditional annual events - an exhibition on puppetry (From Sketch to Puppet) and the international experimental music concerts O-zvočenja, linked also to the gallery's Images of Notations Collection. Since 2009 both venues are administered by the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana.

The venues

Founded in 1976, the Bežigrajska galerija at Dunajska Street has been since 1996 a branch of the City Art Gallery Ljubljana. In 2002 the gallery opened its second space nearby at Vodovodna Street, so called Bežigrajska galerija 2. The space on Dunajska is since than known as Bežigrajska galerija 1 and operates on the old location. Since the City Art Gallery Ljubljana and the City Museum of Ljubljana merged into a new public institute in 2009, the Bežigrajska galerija 1 and 2 operate under the umbrella of the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana as its autonomous unities.

Programme and exhibitions

In its both spaces it hosts approximately twelve exhibitions annually, some in the cooperation with major museums and galleries in Slovenia and abroad. The exhibition program can be roughly divided into three categories: solo exhibitions of younger artists in Bežigrajska galerija 1 (in 2009 Simona Šuc, Milanka Fabjančič, Vesna Čadež, Maruša Šuštar; in 2008 Karmen Bajec, Karmen Majer, Barbara Eva Zavodnik and many others) or young established and well known artists (in 2009 Nika Zupančič, Milan Golob and in 2008 Peter Ciuha). The lager venue of both Bežigrad units, the Bežigrajska galerija 2 offers solo exhibitions mostly to well-known Slovenian artists as recently to Jože Slak, Živko Marušič, and Dušan Kirbiš.

The Bežigrajska galerija became involved with the latter in the 1980s, particularly with multimedia, including sounds of various environments, contemporary music, video, experimental film. The specialities of Bežigrajska galerija 2 are not just exhibitions of installations and objects (Mirsad Begić, Roman Makše, Lujo Vodopivec, Marko Juratovec exhibiting recently), but also multimedia events, concerts and comprehensive group exhibitions and events. The stage for music is Bežigrajska galerija 2, where since 2003 each year in the 70s established experimental group Saeta performs the concert O-zvočenje. In 2004 the intermedia project S.O.L.A.R.I.S. of Narvika Bovcon and Aleš Vaupotič was presented.

It is also the podium for international video Festival Nature that is based on images of nature, or else include images of nature in some of their sequences, or are derived from things found in nature. The 6th edition in 2009 presented 14 mostly young and fresh videasts. In 2008 the festival featured among others also the video A listening human of Miha Vipotnik, one of the three Slovenian video art pioneers. In 2005 the Bežigrajska galerija featured group exhibition of 11 Slovene established sculptor featuring the theme of the nature - among Mirsad Begić, Jakov Brdar, and Mojca Smerdu representing established generation, also works of others young established artist were shown (Damijan Kracina and Vladimir Leben, Primož Pugelj, Urša Toman - Drinovec).

Every year it also stages a traditional show entitled From Sketch to Puppet. In 2009 Barbara Bulatović featured in both spaces the selection of her drawings, sketches, and puppets created mostly between 1997 and 2006, including works from the performance the Child and the World [Otrok in svet], bestowed with the Little Prince Award in 1998.

Occasionally the Bežigrajska galerija presents also group exhibitions of foreign artis as it was the exhibition of objects and videos of established Croatian artists: Ivana Franke, Mejra Mujčić, and Viktor Popović (2006).

Collections

Visual and Concrete Poetry

The collection is based on the works collected by a poet and mail-artist Franci Zagoričnik (1933–1997) over a period of thirty years and expands also to the international part and the works of other Slovene visual and concrete poetry artists.

There is no permanent display but over 15 survey exhibitions have been prepared in the recent years. Some were dedicated also to the opuses of the individual artists such as Matjaž Hanžek, Nejč Slapar and Jaka Železnikar. In 2009, for example, the international group exhibition Poetry Posters addressed the obsoleteness of this medium since the digitalization. It featured also the very first poetry posters created in Slovenia in the 1970s by Miha Avanzo (in cooperation with Zdravko Papič and Lidija Starc) or famous poetry posters published by the Mladina Magazine (1982–84).

Images of Notations

The collection comprises the works of important Slovenian and foreign composers that have abandoned the traditional notation and invented their own systems of graphic notations, now understood as original works of fine art. It contains over 100 scores by 80 composers of experimental music including John Cage, Vinko Globokar, Charles Ives, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Ianis Xenakis. Works are executed in various techniques as drawing, collage, mixed media on paper, etc. Included in the collection there are also sound recordings of the compositions and concert videos.

As the collection cannot be permanently displayed the Gallery has prepared several thematic exhibitions in the last 15 years, showing the works also in other venues such as the Media Nox Gallery in Maribor.

See also

• Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana
• City Art Gallery Ljubljana

External links

• Bežigrajska galerija web page