Škuc Gallery, 18 March - 25 April

On Thursday, 18 March at 8 p.m., Gallery Škuc is opening a group exhibition by three Croatian artists, Sanja Iveković, Kristina Leko and Tomo Savić-Gecan, curated by Ana Dević. Blind Date belongs in a series of exhibitions at the Škuc Gallery, curated by guest curators. The exhibition, which is the first independent project by Ana Dević, offers an interesting thematic insight into Croatian contemporary art. The theme of the exhibition is "space" presented by the curator in its "mental and physical dimensions" as an important aspect of the work of participating artists and critically assessed in terms of contemporary Croatian art and its recent history. Sanja Iveković (b. 1949, Zagreb) is one of the central representatives of the former Yugoslav and Croatian art scene. Since the 1970s one of the main themes of her multi-media works has been a critical attitude towards the existing social issues of the society. This time, she has invited two organisations for the protection of battered women to participate in her project: Društvo SOS of Ljubljana and Autonomna ženska kuća of Zagreb. Kristina Leko (b. 1966, Zagreb) enters into similar "social spaces". With her project entitled When Exchange Tends to Its Maximum, Then It Approximates Zero, she explores sexual identities and inter-personal relationships and connects them with her personal experiences. The work by Tomo Savić-Gecan (b. 1967, Zagreb) is focused on the perception of the visitor in the gallery environment. His Ljubljana project (No title) illustrates the "real gallery space in its virtual dimension conditioned by the interactive contribution of the visitor (to the Internet: http://blind.date.ljudmila.org)". In a text which is presented at the exhibition, Ana Dević writes: "Space is not only a place where things are located, but also that very phenomenon which enables the establishing of different relations, relationships and communication. The category of space cannot be defined without relations and the establishing of corresponding relationships between what is found or created in space. As a dynamic, co-dependant sphere, in the projects by these three artists, space always brings us back to the process of communication. The openness to coincidence and the insecure result of this communication represent both a challenge and a risk, because without co-operation and interaction between participants, a work in space does no exist, and vice versa." Kindly invited!

For additional information, contact Gregor Podnar and Anja Golec. The project is sponsored by: City of Ljubljana - Department of Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Cultural Link Project OSI-Slovenia, OSI-Croatia, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia, PCX Computers, Ljudmila (OSI Slovenia), APEXchanges-Amsterdam, ELIAS-Alarm Systems, Exportdrvo-Croatia, Items-Croatia. Acknowledgements to Društvo SOS - hotline for battered women and children, Ljubljana; Autonomna ženska kuća, Zagreb and all who boldly participated in various ways.