Kapelica Gallery

Installation BrainTV by Maja Smrekar at Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana.

Managed by the K6/4 Institute and housed in a former chapel on Kersnikova 4 in Ljubljana, the Kapelica Gallery is not only a space of interactions and experiments with new paradigms in contemporary art, but also one of the central platforms of contemporary art research in Slovenia. The gallery was established in 1995 by the Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana and has been since led by the architect and curator Jurij Krpan.

The gallery's programme focuses on the art production that has been scarce or completely absent in other Slovene galleries and is divided into four main thematic groups: installations and ad hoc projects, technology through art, science through art, and corporeality through art. The ongoing series of the performances and workshops, Bitshift, focuses on sound. Since the presentation at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz as the Featured Art Scene in 2008, the Kapelica Gallery has been promoting the so called "contemporary investigative arts".

Programme

Since its inception the Kapelica Gallery's programme has been conceived by Jurij Krpan, assisted by art historian and curator Sandra Sajovic. Some of the international artists who have been presented at the gallery are: Survival Research Laboratories, Stelarc, Marcel Li, Chico Mc Murphy, Franco B., Orlan, Ron Athey, etc. Jurij Krpan frequently works with the following local artists: Marko Peljhan, Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec, Marko Batista, Sašo Sedlaček, Sanela Jahić, Žiga Kariž, Janez Janša, Stefan Doepner, Borut Savski, Polona Tratnik, Ive Tabar, and Eclipse.

Apart from its regular programme, the Kapelica Gallery also produces new media events in different venues. In 2009, for example, it co-produced the concert of the Japanese group Maywa Denki in the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture and conceived the Arzenal Depo 2K9. Contemporary Investigative Art 80 Years after Delak exhibition in the Viba Film Studio.

International collaboration

The Kapelica Gallery has established links with numerous galleries and initiatives abroad (including the UK's Live Art Development Agency), working with many guest curators, artists and theoreticians of contemporary artistic practice. The gallery programme has been presented at various symposia and conferences round the world, in the framework of numerous international festivals including the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF), the International Festival of Computer Arts (IFCA), Sarajevo Winter, and the Salon of Young Artists in Zagreb.

Curatorial projects

Jurij Krpan curated the Slovene pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2003. The gallery team also acts as a consulting body for international selectors at the International Association for the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean. In 2006 Krpan curated the U3 Triennial of Contemporary Slovene Arts at the Museum of Modern Art and since that year the Kapelica Gallery team also runs the programme of the LJU Cosinus BRX Gallery in the European Commission building in Brussels, featuring works of art based on topical issues in the intersection between science and technology. Sandra Sajovic has been collaborating with the Zagreb based Device_art Festival and in 2010 co-curated the Device_art 3.010 Croatia_Slovenia_Japan exhibition in Tokyo.

Exhibition space

dimensions: 128m² (19.8m x 6.5m x 3.75m H), incorporating c 35 linear metres of wall space
installation system: hammer-and-nail installation, free-standing exhibition screens – space usually adapted to the needs of specific projects
lighting: halogen spots, movable stage lights controlled by light mixing desk
technical equipment: remote controlled folding screen and 3 self-standing screens of various dimensions, 1 VCR, 2 video projectors (800, 2100 lumens), 1 slide projector, hi-fi stereo with 8 loudspeakers equally displaced around space, audio mixing desk, MAC and PC with Internet access, DVD recorder, DV camera, 3 video wall TV cubes, technician available
climate control: none
availability: renting the space is possible (by appointment)