City Art Gallery Ljubljana

This Municipal Gallery is a fine art exhibition space in the old centre of Ljubljana that operates continuously for almost 50 years. It has a broad exhibition programme and organises presentations of Slovene artists abroad. The City Art Museum Ljubljana – known also as the City Gallery Ljubljana or in Slovene language as Mestna galerija (used in this article) – consists of two spaces: Mestna galerija 1 and Mestna galerija 2. The space was years directed by Aleksander Bassin, the recent director is Blaž Peršin, the artistic director Alenka Gregorič, before the artistic director of the Škuc Gallery.

History and locations

The Mestna galerija is the ancestor of the old building of the Jakopič Pavilion (the first Ljubljana exhibition space built in 1908 by the painter Rihard Jakopič). After its demolishing in 1961 the house at Mestni trg 5 was chosen for the new venue for exhibition activities and the management of such. In November 1962, the Jakopič Pavilion was re-named into the Mestna galerija . In 1990 and 1991, the Ljubljana Cultural Community financed a thorough renovation of the building. In addition to modernized exhibition rooms and offices in the converted loft, the gallery also now featured a cafe on the ground floor.

In 1996 the Mestna galerija opened the new premise the Mestna galerija 2 to feature its collection. Soon this venue become the programme addition to the Mestna galerija 1 featuring the newest production of Slovene and international artists. Since 1996 the Mestna galerija administrated also the Bežigrajska galerija (established in 1976) and since 2002 the new venue also on the north-bound artery: the Bežigrajska galerija 2.

Since the City Museum of Ljubljana and the City Art Museum Ljubljana merged into a new public institute City Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana in 2009, the Mestna galerija 1 and 2 administratively operates under the umbrella institute as two of eight autonomous unites specialised or having connections with the contemporary art and culture. There are plans to close the premise of Mestna galerija 2 at the end of 2010 after the new space in the complex of Tobacco factory will open for the presentation the Tobacco Museum Collection including for presentations of actual contemporary art projects of national and international dimensions. Additionally this is going to be the first space for the residency for international artists and curators in Ljubljana.

Programme and mission

Both venues of Mestna galerija are recently focused on the production and presentation of exhibitions of modern and temporary incoming contemporary art positions. The Mestna galerija also provides a public service with exhibitions of modern and contemporary visual art in Slovenia and abroad. A special exhibition programme is dedicated to occasional overseas tours, organised for the most part on a reciprocal basis or upon invitation from foreign museums and galleries.

The Mestna galerija Ljubljana also promotes the visual arts by producing publications and prints and organising seminars, lectures, art workshops, fairs, shows and cultural events compatible with its main activities.

Mestna galerija 1

Staging approximately 8 exhibitions annual, the Mestna galerija 1 featured beside solo exhibitions of Slovene artists (special attention receive artist from Ljubljana) also to complex group exhibitions linking national and international artist positions and statements. This activity become stronger since the new artist director Alenka Gregorič was appointed. Such project are usually curated by her, often in cooperations with other national and international colleagues. Opening complex but focused topics of contemporary arts such projects mirrors the most vital themes of the field as it was recently in the discursive project Communication networks curated by Alenka Gregorič and Bojana Piškur, the senior curator of the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition featured almost 30 more and less established international authors and artistic groups as Ernesto Neto and Erzen Shkololli, including two Slovene artists Apolonija Šušteršič and Vesna Bukovec. Beside the exhibition the presentations and discussions were staged with the aim to develop and bring the topic of the project closer to the public, namely the missions of a progressive art institution today, where authors of the project see the need for the creation of new communication networks, both within its local environment and in a broader sphere, with other networks in what is called transversal linkage. The active participants were also guests from many international institution as the Israeli Centre for Digital Art from Holon (Eyal Danon), ICA from Sofia (Iara Boubnova), Open Space from Vienna (Gülşen Bal), Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade (Zoran Erić), Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (Ana Janevski) and others.

Another project marking the new period of the Mestna galerija was in January 2010 featured exhibition Sweet nowhere curated by Alenka Gregorič and presenting the production of 13 mostly in Ljubljana based artists or art tandems and collectives, which are dealing with the city of Ljubljana from different points of view (architectural, social ...) and in different media (photography, music, video, film ...). Also this exhibition was companied by the guided tour of the exhibition together with a number of artists. The show featured also the work of Matej Andraž Vogrinčič, Vuk Ćosić & Matej Andraž Vogrinčič, Tadej Pogačar & P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Institute, Vadim Fiškin and others.

Solo exhibition programme was in last years focused on the older generation of Slovene artists as Zdenko Huzjan, Zmago Jeraj, Boris Gaberščik, under the new artistic director the stage of mestna galerija 1 is dedicated also to younger generation as Uršula Berlot. On the end of 2010 the exhibition of young artists receiving national and international awards from the region of Balkans as a group show is staged.

Mestna galerija 2

Established to house and to present the collection of Mestna galerija (more: the following chapter), the Mestna galerija 2 soon after its establishment become the prolongation for the realisation of the programme of Mestna galerija 1. It is focused on a bit less established, but indeed important and interesting (inter)national artists that often bring the novelties to the progressive development of the art system. Beside the middle and older generation of Slovene artists (Nikolaj Beer, Herman Gvadrijančič, Franc Mesarič or Herman Pivk among others) it featured already under the director Alexander Bassin young promising Slovene artists as BridA in 2007. Recently the space features further solo exhibitions of young established artists as Miha Štrukelj or Arjan Pregl, who recently exhibited the new series of humorous drawings and video projections entitled 299 kosmatih in bobu Bob. The changes of the new leadership in the programme is to notice also in the Mestna galerija 2.

The space serves further also for solo exhibitions of foreign artists. In 2005 the gallery featured A Print Retrospective 1962 - 2003 of Bridget Riley presented over 40 screen prints, selected by the artist, with the aim of offering a rare opportunity to examine the preoccupations and development of Riley's involvement with this medium over the last four decades. The Mestan galerija 2 is often showing also artists from the Balkan region as it was the solo exhibition of Macedonian artist Vana Urošević 2009 or Croatian tapestry artist Jagoda Buić in 2007. In 2009 the Montenegro artist as Draško Dragaš, Nikola Simanić in Olivija Ivanović were presented there.

Also Mestna galerija 2 stages also group exhibitions. In 2009 the largest project of Mestna galerija produced with other Slovene partners last years was staged beside the Mestna galerija 1 also in the Mestna galerija 2. As the first project of this kind in Slovenia, the exhibition of drawings entitled Drawing in Slovenia II. 1940 - 2009 presented 137 artists and their 310 works. Arranged chronologically presented all the major artists and their drawings in various techniques. The exhibition intended to confirm the creative power of Slovenian artist and revealed the continuity and development of drawing as an independent means of artistic expression.

City Art Gallery Ljubljana

Contents

History and locations

Programme and mission

Mestna galerija 1

Mestna galerija 2

Collection

See also

Operated by

Financed by