Murska Sobota Gallery
History
The fine art exhibiting activities began in Murska Sobota already in 1965, with the opening of the exhibition pavilion of architect Franc Novak, forerunner of today's Murska Sobota gallery. Early exhibitions of regional art activities were dominated by the work of artists from the immediate area, but the programme was later expanded to include exhibitions of work from the rest of Slovenia and from abroad.
The pavilion became the first host of the Pannonian International Art Exhibition, for the first time organised in 1967 and entitled The Pannonian Landscape and People. It presented works by artists from Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia. Until 1971 Murska Sobota was the principal organiser of this exhibition, but it later continued in Hungary (at the Savaria Museum, Szombathely in 1973) and Austria (at the Landesgalerie Schloss Esterhazy, Eisenstadt in 1975). The exhibition is now a triennial event in which Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia participate.
In 1973 the pavilion also launched the first Yugoslav Biennial of Small Sculptures, which in 1999 developed into the European Triennial of Small Sculpture, Murska Sobota.
Between 1965 and 1992 were visual arts activites in Murska Sobota managed under different regional structures: before 1971 the exhibition pavilion operated within the Murska Sobota Regional Museum, and was then taken over by the Workers' University of Murska Sobota until 1978, when it was merged with Murska Sobota Regional and Study Library, Murska Sobota Regional Museum and the Park Cinema to form the Miško Kranjec Cultural Centre (as the centre, one of the first in Slovenia, was called until 1983).
In 1980 the exhibition pavilion moved into a purpose-built gallery space in Kocljeva ulica, and in 1992 Municipality of Murska Sobota established an independent public cultural institution under the current name Murska Sobota Gallery.
Exhibition programme
The programme is based on solo exhibitions of regional and national authors, but it opens their exhibiting platform to international artists usually invited for European Triennial of Small Sculpture, Murska Sobota. Exhibitions are curated by house and sometimes by freelance curators.
In the year 2009 Jure Mikuž curated the exhibition of painter Gustav Gnamuš, Nadja Gnamuš curated the exhibition of paintings and drawings of Marjan Gumilar, which was to be seen in all three exhibiting areas, in main and small gallery and on the balcony and where the painter focused on the organism, the structural body processes, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. Andrej Medved was in the summer of 2009 curating new images of Robert Černelič, inspired by a camera shot. Robert Inhof, director of the Gallery, curated graphic exhibition of Vesna Drnovšek, who represent an innocent moment of beeing enabled to experience real happiness in the neurotic world, where human beeings are treated as objects rather than subjects. In 2009 there was featured Jožef Muhovič, Janez Marenčič, Anton Buzeti with his Erotic Caricatures. The gallery prepared the and memorial exhibition to honour Ladislav Danč (1932-1979), who belongs to the second generation of academically educated artists from the region Prekmurje.
Art historian and a currator of the Regional Museum of Murska Sobota Dr. Janez Balažic featured in the beginning of 2009 the exhibition Works of Art from Prekmurje with the aim to present the main milestones of art history from romanticism to modernism in the region Prekmurje. In summer 2009 there was on the view the exhibition of non-academic painters of Prekmurje, selected by academic painters Ignac Meden, the curator of the Gallery Murska Sobota Irma Brodnjak and Dubravko Baumgartner, showing 51 works representing different painting techniques and motives, which were created by 39 artists. 2009 the Gallery co-operate with local astronomical association KMICA and prepared in the International year of astronomy the exhibition From the Earth to the Space.
European Triennial of Small Sculpture, Murska Sobota
Regional and national frames of the programme of Murska Soboota Gallery exceed in a year of European Triennial of Small Sculpture, Murska Sobota. The Triennial of 2007 was entitled Joke, Satire, Irony and Serious Meaning and curated by Thomas Deecke with help of colleagues Tatjana Antošina (Moscow), Katia Baudin-Reneau (Strassbourg), Bruno Corá (Firence/La Spezia, Andreas Hapkemeyer (Bolzano), Ulrich Loock/Ricardo Nicolau (Porto), Franc Obal (Murska Sobota), David Thorp (London) and Margit Zuckriegl (Salzburg.
Participating artists of the the 2007/2008 biennial, lasting about 5 months: Saădane Afif (France), Tatjana Antošina (Russia), Mirko Bratuša (Slovenia), Doug Fishbone (Great Britain), Lutz Fritsch (Germany), Dieter Froelich (Germany), Neil Hamon (Great Britain), Dirk Dietrich Hennig (Germany), James Ireland (Great Britain), Juneau Projects (Great Britain), Ian Kiaer (Great Britain), Hubert Kostner (Italy), Marko A. Kovačič (Slovenia), Volker März (Germany), Eva Marisaldi (Italy), Isa Melsheimer (Germany), Mathieu Mercier (France), Jonathan Monk (Great Britain), Peter Niemann (Germany), Boštjan Novak (Slovenia), Rodrigo Oliveira (Portugal), Renato Ranaldi (Italy), Giovanni Rizzoli (Italy), Franck Scurti (France), Julie Six (France), Andreas Slominski (Germany), Rostan Tavasiev (Russia), Christian Tinkhauser-Thurner (Austria), Baltazar Torres (Portugal), Gerold Tusch (Austria) and Veronika Veit (Germany).
Permanent Collection
Today the permanent collection of Murska Sobota Gallery comprises more than 550 art works by Slovene artists (mainly from the local milieu) plus donations and purchases from past Biennials of Small Sculptures. Since the gallery's premises are intended for temporary exhibitions and there is not enough space for the permanent collection to be presented, the gallery exhibit selected works periodically, but almoste as a rule there is one exhibition term per year dedicated to collection art works, presented by different curated combinations.
In 2005, the gallery presented paintings, in 2006 sculptures, in 2008 they exhibited works on paper (drawings, graphics and artistic photography), including the newest acquisitions of the year by following artists: Mirko Rajnar, Bogić Risimović Risim, Anton Cetin, Franc Mesarič, Sandi Červek, Tatiana Antošina (Russia), Peter Niemann (Germany), Julie Six (France), Christian Tinkhauser-Thurner (Österreich), Gerlod Tusch (Österreich), Martina Bohar, Dare Birsa, Ferenc Kiraly, Dubravko Baumgartner, Žarko Vrezec.
In 2009 the collection was enriched again by acquisitions of mostly regional and national artists like Natalija Šeruga, Martina Bohar, Žarko Vrezec, Zdenko Huzjan, Drago Tršar, Robert Černelč and Vesna Drnovšek. The only foreign artist was Russian Tatiana Antošina.
Educational programmes
The pedagogical programme focuses on pre-school children and primary school pupils with the course The First Time in the Gallery. Its main aim is to introduce children to art in a relaxed and entertaining manner. The Explore the Current Exhibition and Getting Familiar with World Famous Art Work activites are addressed to the primary and secondary school students. The Art Workshops linked to the current exhibition have been also organised.
The gallery offers also Public Expert Guidance and lectures of classic history of art and problem-oriented classes, usually held by the curators of the Murska Sobota Gallery, occasionally also by invited guest lecturers.