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Mi Ne Gremo Nikamor / we are here to stay

The romanticization of “good old times” is ritualized by people in the same way as the idealization of “bright future”. Nostalgia and utopia collide in the chaos of the present moment in which we live, where the dispersion of innumerable perspectives, truths and identities reveals itself in a lack of trust in the common and public. How do we then think or even live the utopian moment in the present and the future? Traces and evidence of life are discarded at the dump of some dystopian re-use centre. While individuals look for the worlds through which we give meaning to our existence in particular ways. The exhibition deploys an archive of personal objects from everyday life and creates intimate environments of personal monuments, which reflect the broader social context. The dialogue between the private and the public has shrunk to the bureaucratic apparatus, which is able to think only itself. It really is complex. We really want to do the “right thing”. We really do not want to “screw things up”. It’s really complicated.

In cooperation with the Slovenian Society of Art Critics and curator Meta Kordiš we (Photonic Wall /  Katja Goljat & Andrej Firm) continued our work with liquid emulsion. The exhibited photographs show a series of repetitive motifs on various materials: wood, plasterboard, stone, porcelain and glass. We are exploring the range of material experimentation and photographic-lab process. The formal visual appearance of the selected motif thus itself is deformed by the reaction of the emulsion on the material and texture of the material. Although the motif of the tandem in this series is of secondary importance, because it wants the viewers to concentrate on the shape, texture and effect of the photographic process rather than content, it is nevertheless chosen deliberately. Therefore, the motif is a little puzzling, nostalgic and mysterious, which attracts the viewers attention.

Exhibition place : Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana

Selection: Meta Kordiš

Authors: Photonic Wall ( Katja Goljat & Andrej Firm)

Acknowledgments: Ivana Petan, Matjaž Rušt

Photo: Matjaž Rušt