Alkatraz Gallery

“The premiere solo presentation of Caroline Sury in Slovenia brings a selection of the highly versatile creative output of this French artist: at Alkatraz Gallery, a selection of originals from her comics will be complemented by the author’s drawings, silkscreen prints and etchings, as well as illustrations and animations. The exhibition places special emphasis on Sury’s cutouts.

Sury draws on the tradition of Art Brut, her works being very straightforward, even wild, yet always highly intimate and personal, often dealing with autobiographical issues, and invariably so with infallible honesty. Even though critics describe her style as uninhibited, even aggressive and daunting, in terms of subject matter many of the emphases attest to the author’s introspective insightfulness as well as her emphatic sensibility in observing life and the society at large. Caroline Sury’s art is easily identifiable: her occasionally pronounced expressivity is often mixed with an artistic expression marked by palpably child-like naivety, teeming with playful and ironic elements. With the recent withdrawal of colour, the author’s increasingly refined forms have become markedly graphical and polished, yet still allowing enough room for sundry details. In her work, Sury often explores women’s issues and women’s eroticism. As the latter is one of the focuses of the exhibition, part of the gallery space will turn into a special ladies’ boudoir to display works dealing with eroticism.

Caroline Sury (1964, Laval) is a graphic artist, illustrator, comic artist and musician with a degree from L’école des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, who also works as editor and producer. Together with Pakito Bolino she was a long-standing editor of Le Dernier Cri, a Marseille-based underground publishing house specialised in various publications and prints from books to graphic art and posters. Sury lives and works in Marseille.” – galerijalkatraz.org

You are kindly invited to the exhibition opening of Voodoo Entartete Kunst by Caroline Sury, on 1 December, Friday at 8 pm at Alkatraz Gallery, Ljubljana.

On display: 1 December 2017 – 29 December 2017

The exhibition is a part of the traditional all-Metelkova benefit, surplus of which will be dedicated to the future work of Radio Študent!

This year, RS-benefit is thematic. The reason for choosing the theme is self-evident:  the 40th anniversary of punk in Slovenia, which is also the 40th anniversary of punk on Radio Študent.

There is a single entry fee (10 €) for the entire Metelkova mesto.

“At the first sight the works of Simon Kocjančič evoke an impression of being hermetic and enigmatic. The viewer quickly notices sparse groups of elements and colour planes. Prevailing are darker hues and undefined organic shapes, difficult to ascribe a meaning to. A talk with the painter does not make the reception any easier. Kocjančič stresses that his painting does not refer to any specific concept, and that his creating does not stem from a desire to communicate a certain message. However, this does not mean that the artist is oriented into a formalistic exploration of colours and shapes and that he is interested only in exploration of the elements of painter’s work. In his most recent works the author remained faithful to the painting process of nuancing of colour masses and planes, which, this time, do not allude to figures, but emphasize a twist into the development of an abstract form.” – galerijalkatraz.org

Simon Kocjančič (1979) graduated in 2007 at a College of Visual Art in Ljubljana. He is active in the fields of painting, drawing, graphic art, photography and art zines production. He has been exhibiting since 2006. In 2017 he participated in a group exhibition Off the hook at Neurotitan gallery in Berlin in colaboration with Dobra vaga gallery. The same year he participated in a group exhibition Zines! Contemporary Zine Production at the International Center of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana.

You are kindly invited to theexhibition opening of “Down & Behind” by Simon Kocjančič on 25 October, Wednesday at 8 pm at Alkatraz Gallery.

On display: 25 October 2017 – 22 November 2017

Experimental film about unwanted childlessness in a world where normative heterosexual relationships dictate who can become parents and in what way. When it comes to reproduction, our merciless bodies reduce us to merely a set sex or given gender. But the longing for children is not limited to our bodies, and the possibility of pregnancy can be gifted, shared and undertaken together.

The author on the project: “The darkness is about being able to focus on our bodies and our body parts, while providing the necessary intimacy required for the film. Nakedness without exhibitionism. Bodies without ownership. Body parts belonging to a large family body instead of individuals. The idea of filming loose body parts, both incoherent, disconnected from each other and intertwined, felt important for the film. Important for us. Important for the notion of the family. That there are many who belong in different ways. I knew early on that the film would be very dark, with inconsistent and moving light, and would by all means be filmed in Super 8. These three distinct starting points formed the basis of the film project in 2011.” – galerijalkatraz.org

Your are kindly invited to the opening of Spermwhore, a film installation by Anna Linder, on 8 October, Sunday at 7 pm at Alkatraz Gallery. The project is a part of 23rd International Festival Of Contemporary Art – City Of Women.

The opening talk will be held by Anna Linder and Jasmina Šepetavc.

On display: 8 October 2017 – 15 October 2017

“Since the very beginning, Boštjan Novak has been an active figure in the process of designing of the ACC Metelkova mesto, as we know it today. The synthesis of common and controversial principles of operation and creation, that is immanent to open spaces akin to Metelkova mesto, reflects in Boštjan Novak’s works. The artist attempts to harmonize the organic with the impulsiveness of the micro space of Metelkova; packed with contradictoriness and diverse creative energies as well as to structure an order in the creative chaos. His artworks and creative process possess an awareness of the importance to observe the world and its phenomena, translated into accordant visual language of fine art.” – Jadranka Plut

You are kindly invited to the opening of The Structure Of Proper Proportions retrospective exhibition by Boštjan Novak on 8 September, Friday at 8 pm at Alkatraz Gallery, Ljubljana. The exhibition is a part of the 24th Anniversary of ACC Metelkova.

On display: 8 September 2017 – 29 September 2017