curator: Petja Grafenauer, PhD.
co-curator and exhibition design: Vasja Cenčič
Slovenia has its very own pop art! The exhibition ‘Slovenia and Non-Aligned Pop’ presents art created in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia in the 1960s and 70s. The artworks exhibited share an interest in the various forms of a new figural art as well as in confronting the penetration of consumer culture into everyday life.
Slovenia and Non-Aligned Pop is primarily focused on artwork, but it also incorporates other cultural products of the time. During two years of research we have gathered together exhibits from literature, television, music, newspaper, design, film and advertising with the aim of showing the artworks within a wider cultural context.
Comprised of nine sections dictated by the assembled material, the exhibition conveys the interests of different artists working towards the end of the 1960s, a time when the annual individual spending saw an increase of 20 percent, car ownership became affordable for the masses, new household appliances were introduced, and new self-service shops were opened. The artworks in the exhibition come from a period when television, magazines, photographs and links to Western European countries were gaining in importance and popularity. During this period rock and roll music emerged, the first night clubs were opened, living communes appeared and the Ljubljana Radio Študent was founded. This was also the time of the first student demonstrations, a time when people were becoming aware of ecological issues, healthy lifestyles, practising yoga and experimenting with the limits of consciousness and all of these interests are reflected in the works on display.
List of artists:
Marjan Amalietti, John Berger, Franc Berčič Berko, Janez Bernik, Avgust Černigoj, Bogdan Čobal, Grupa DHLM, Kostja Gatnik, Gustav Gnamuš, Tomaž Gorjup, Herman Gvardjančič, Štefan Hauko, Boštjan Hladnik, Stane Jagodič, Rihard Jakopič, Tone Kralj, Matija Jama, Andrej Jemec, Zmago Jeraj, Boris Jesih, Grupa Junij, Bogoslav Kalaš, Metka Krašovec, Stane Kregar, Naško Križnar, Janez Logar, Lojze Logar, Adriana Maraž, Janez Marinšek, Franc Mesarič, Ivo Mršnik, Miki Muster, Franc Novinc, OHO, Marija (Miša) Pengov, Slavko Pengov, Jože Pogačnik, Marko Pogačnik, Vladimir Potočnik, Marij Pregelj, Marjan Remec, Mako Sajko, Duba Sambolec, Matjaž Schmidt, Hinko Smrekar, Jože Spacal, Lojze Spacal, Koni Steinbacher, Tinca Stegovec, Gabrijel Stupica, Branko Suhy, Marko Šuštaršič, Milena Usenik, Peter Vernik, avtorska ionizacija: Marko Brecelj