A plus A

The A plus A, Slovenian Exhibition Centre in Venice is a non-profit exhibition space established in 1997, as a centre for the promotion of contemporary Slovene and international art. Up to 2014 it served as a site of the Slovene Pavillion for both the Venice Art Biennial and the Venice Architecture Biennial. Since 2014 the Slovene artists have been presented at Arsenale, while A plus A Gallery continues with its support and promotional activities.

The gallery operates year-round to host temporary solo and group exhibitions of mostly Slovene artists. It has established a network of contacts between civic and foreign institutions and organises round tables, performances and video projections, thus offering a panoramic view of today's artistic expression and a point of meeting, exchange and critical dialogue.

Background

The A+A Gallery first opened its doors in 1992 in Madrid, inside a space divided by a corridor (hence the name A plus A) restored by architect Boris Podrecca. After five years of activities co-ordinated by Lidija Šircelj, the gallery moved to Venice, near Palazzo Grassi.

Up to 2014 the gallery was the site of the Slovene Pavillion for both the Venice Art Biennial and the Venice Architecture Biennial. The gallery was managed by Obalne galerije - Coastal Galleries. In 2014 the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia decided to rent a biennial exhibition space in Arsenale.

Venice Art Biennial participation

In 2015 JAŠA presents UTTER / The violent necessity for the embodied presence of hope, curated by Michele Drascek and Aurora Fonda.

Jasmina Cibic's project entitled For our Economy and Culture, curated by Tevž Logar and produced by the City Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana in cooperation with the Škuc Gallery, was selected to represent Slovenia at the 55th Venice Biennial in 2013. The exhibition is accompanied by the conference.

Sculptor Mirko Bratuša represented Slovenia at the 54th Venice Biennial in 2011 with the project dubbed Hot Emotion Heaters. At the A+A Gallery the two-metre-high clay figures called Hypocrites (previouosly shown at the Božidar Jakac Gallery, Kostanjevica na Krki) were exhibited in the lower gallery grounds, while new, smaller statues were displayed in the upper room, and linked to the Venice environment and the biennial's concept ILLUMInazioni.

At the 53rd Venice Art Biennial in 2009, Miha Štrukelj's project x=0 / y=0: Interferences in Process. He examined the issue of perception in five equal segments: notes on a board, drawings, works on tracing paper, Lego-pictures and paintings as the final segment. This work was further based on researching the mechanism of perception, which Štrukelj analyses with the aid of traditional representational media – painting and drawing – but so as to include critical examination of the act of perception and the act of painting as committed existential acts of the contemporary subject.

At the 52nd Venice Art Biennial in 2007 Tobias Putrih featured in two-parts the project Venetian, Atmospheric. The first part of the installation, exhibited inside the gallery, included several maquettes, drawings, photographs, and sculptures which explored and questioned the relationship between architectural space and the scale models which precede it. The second, main part of the project was set up in a garden on the Island of San Servolo and consisted of a full-scale pavillion, a movie theatre.

Ten years after Russian-born artist Vadim Fiškin represented Russia in 1995 at the Venice Biennial, Fiškin's project Another Speedy Day was presented in the Slovene Pavillion at the 51st edition of the biennial. After forging professional and personal bonds in Slovenia he has become considered as a Slovene artist whose presence in Ljubljana contributes significantly to expanding the field of contemporary art in Slovenia.

Venice Architecture Biennial presentations

In 2014 the project The Problem of Space Travel - Supre: Architecture by the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies (KSEVT), in 2012 the 100 YC (Maribor - 100 Year City) and in 2010 the All Shades of Green project by Studio AKKA and Studiobotas were presented at the Venice Bienniale of Architecture, supported by the Ministry of Culture at A plus A Gallery in Venice.

In 2008 the project Ljubljana – Venice: Urgent Need for New Urban Policy presented an architectural and urban comparison of the two cities, Ljubljana and Venice. On the 2006 Architecture Biennial Slovene participation was designed as a cabinet of ambient environments and icons entitled Formula New Ljubljana created by the SADAR + VUGA Architects in A+A Gallery and other locations in Venice.

Some other exhibitions

In 2008 A plus A gallery presented the exhibition The Partisans in Print: Slovenian Partisan Press & Graphic Art since 1941, curated by Donovan Pavlinec, featuring previously unpublished material in Italy: Slovene Partisan press, incisions, xylography, wartime banknotes and bills of exchange with reproductions of the patriotic activists designed by Slovenian artists and architects. Organised in co-operation with the International Centre of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, in collaboration with the Slovenia's National Museum of Contemporary History, the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue offered a rare opportunity for scholars and members of the public to peruse visual testimony of social and political engagement at a critical moment in history.

In 2006 the show KID DOG by a group of Slovene graphic designers and illustrators (Miha Grobler, Matej Koren, Marjan Kos, Gregor Žakelj). Solo or tandem presentations of the recent dates: Majda Skrinar, Vojko Tominc, Cveto Marsič, Zoran Mušič, Damijan Kracina and Vladimir Leben, Tomo Podgornik and Emerik Bernard, Polonca Lovšin and Tomaž Tomažin, Huiqin Wang, Zora Stančič, etc.

External links

A plus A Slovenian Exhibition Space website (in English, Italian and Slovenian)

Information on JAŠA's project at the Venice Art Biennale 2015 on the producer's website

Information on Jasmina Cibic's exhibition at the Venice Art Biennale 2013 on the producer's website

Gallery

Miha Štrukelj's project x=0 / y=0 Interference in Process at the Venice Biennial 2009, produced by the ŠKUC Gallery