A Planning Summit for Lost Highway Expedition
May 30th – 31st, 2006

Hosted by Moderna galerija, Ljubljana and Galerija Škuc, Ljubljana

Funded by Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trust for Mutual Understanding

Lost Highway Expeditions [LHE] is a planned massive movement of individuals that will plot a route through Ljubljana, Zagreb, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Skopje, Prishtina, Tirana, Podgorica and Sarajevo from July 30 to August 24, 2006. For individual presentations and collective dialogues on the concept and possible programs for the expedition, representatives from participating organizations of Lost Highway Expedition will gather in Ljubljana for a two-day long summit. To date, participating organizations in Lost Highway Expedition are Galerija Škuc (Ljubljana), Tovarna Rog (Ljubljana), Platforma 9,81 (Zagreb), Kuda (Novi Sad), Prelom kolektiv and SMS (Belgrade), Press to Exit (Skopje), Exit ICA Gallery (Prishtina), PROJEKTOR (Podgorica) and Pro.ba (Sarajevo). Representatives from participating exhibition spaces joining the conference are Moderna galerija (Ljubljana), Galerija Škuc (Ljubljana) and Württembergischer Kunstverein (Stuttgart), as well as key members of Centrala Foundation for Future Cities (Rotterdam) and School of Missing Studies (Belgrade/New York/Rotterdam).

As a self-organized exchange of knowledge and resources, Lost Highway Expedition [LHE] is a temporary society that will navigate the new and dynamic territorialities of the Western Balkans. At each city along the route, Lost Highway Expedition will interact with projects and issues that local organizations and groups find important for the future of their own contexts. The exact programs and events will emerge from the interactive collaborations between all participants and organizations, before and during the expedition. The project does not have pre-determined goals and will be guided by the self-generating actions of the expedition itself. However, the following questions can be the starting points for further explorations.

 How can BORDERS [political and cultural] become a creative space in which differences are both fundamental and irrelevant?

 Will the future SOCIETY continues to be ruled by a vertical [central] AUTHORITY or by horizontal [network] INITIATIVEs?

 What future spatial instruments are emerging from the new architectural and urban LANDSCAPES of the Western Balkans?

 How can the assumed dichotomy between NOMADIC and SEDENTARY societies become a constructive parallax?

 What is the Western Balkan and what is Europe, or do they even EXIST?

Because LHE is a fragmented, non-hierarchical, center-less, informal, bottom-up, self-generating, de-centralized, network-based open-source society, you can invite other people, groups, or organizations to join in. Everyone is expected to self-organize, support, and realize their journey. You do not have to travel or stay together, and you can enter and exit the expedition for any length of time and at any point. You are free to veer away from the planned route, and to explore and collaborate with other cities, towns and regions that are between the nine cities.

From the invitation to participate in the LHE

Lost Highway Expedition [LHE] is the opening event of Europe Lost and Found [ELF], an interdisciplinary and cross-national research project that likes to imagine economic, political, and cultural geographies for a future Europe. It will unfold with mass expeditions, first across the Western Balkans, then through continental and Mediterranean Europe, in order to make a comparative exploration of Europe’s cultures and ethnicities, its hybrid landscapes and parallel economies. Through analysis and visual documentation of urban and cultural landscapes, dynamic and SMS-based mappings, interdisciplinary research projects, discussion forums, a pan-European cultural contest, as well as independent studies, the project will seek innovative phenomena and positive signs of co-existence for the future.
www.europelostandfound.net

PROGRAMME
The conference will be held in English language.

Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Location: Moderna galerija, Tomšičeva 14  and Tovarna Rog, Trubarjeva 72

10:00   Welcome by Zdenka Badovinac [director of Moderna galerija—Ljubljana

10:10  An Introduction by Helena Drnovšek Zorko [Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Ljubljana]

10:20  How the project began by Marjetica Potrč [Centrala - Ljubljana] and Kyong Park[Centrala – New York/Berlin]

10:30  Azra Aksamija [Centrala—Boston/Sarajevo] and Ivan Kučina        
          [Centrala + SMS—Belgrade]

10:40  Ana Džokić [Centrala + SMS—Rotterdam/Belgrade] and Srdjan Jovanović Weiss [Centrala + SMS—New York/Belgrade]

10:50  Katherine Carl [Centrala + SMS—New York/Belgrade] and Marc Neelen
[Centrala + SMS—Rotterdam]

11:00  - 11:30              Dialogue + Break

11:30   Asja Hafner [Pro.ba —Sarajevo]

11:45   Srdjan Jovanović Weiss [Kuda—Novi Sad]

12:00  Erzen Shkololli [EXIT ICA Gallery—Prishtina]

12:15  - 12:45              Dialogue

15:00 Marko Sančanin [Platforma 9.81—Zagreb]

15:15  Dušan Grlja [Prelom kolektiv—Belgrade]

15:30 Jane Calovski [Press to Exit—Skopje]

15:45  - 16:15              Dialogue + Break

16:15  Borislav Vukičević [PROJEKTOR—Podgorica]

16:30  Stefano Romano—not present, only his presentation [1.60 insurgent space —Tirana]

17:30  Meeting with TEMP group in Tovarna Rog, Trubarjeva 72, Ljubljana
           Guiding tour, presentation and dialogue

19:30                       Improvised dinner at Tovarna Rog

Domestic Research Society presents:

Folk Museum of Nani Poljanec

Cabinet (courtyard of Škuc Gallery), Stari trg 21, Ljubljana
11 — 25 May 2006

Domestic Research Society records, collects, researches and presents domestic phenomena. In 2005 we made The Cabinet, a modular display laboratory, which echoes the cabinet of curiosities. The Cabinet presents productions of society's members, as well as collectors and their curious private collections. We are interested in personal mythologies, interpretations and systems of belief, which the collectors draw from their collections.

The first exhibition of a private collection in the Cabinet presents Folk Museum of Nani Poljanec.

Nani Poljanec comes from Rogaška Slatina. He is a photographer, poet, actor, collector of antiques, chef, fashion designer, cultural event manager, journalist, 'ethno pomp artist', and a self-proclaimed 'folk creator'.
The public knows him from the Hri-bar TV show, where he plays Don Corleone. Poljanec has carried out several acclaimed public actions. In the 'Christ at Thirty-Three' project he hung from a helicopter, tied with a rope, and then descended on Mount Boč from the skies. As Tito the Headbanger among his pioneers he accepted the baton in the Relay of Youth on 25 May and visited Tito's home town of Kumrovec. As a zealous advocate of folk traditions he has, among other things, organised traditional Slovenian folk festivities of slaughtering a pig with the former culture minister and with the blessing of the Ministry of Culture.

Nani Poljanec does not think of himself as an artist. He sees his projects as exams, which are part of his 'postgraduatish' studies at a public university, the university of his life's work. He will finish his 'folk creation' in 2069, when he, as a 101-year-old, intends to end his life and become a doctor of folk creativity.
The Folk Museum of Nani Poljanec is in a way a psycho-social portrait of the author, which presents his passions, his history, life, and creative work. It is a special place located at the Poljanec home in Rogaška Slatina, and full of nostalgia. It is there that Nani often goes to find peace and inspiration. He has established a museum in honour of himself and all people who are a part of his life.
The collection comprises thirty-six smaller individual collections, including the Vali monkey stickers, celebrity autographs, ancient laminated photographs, tin boxes for biscuits, radio receivers, installations, paintings and objects from his folk performances, and a curious collection of hair kept for the time, when people will be cloned from a hair cell. His current passion is collecting old watches.

Also part of collection are individual interesting items such as official certificate commemorating the first ever train journey from Belgrade to Bar signed by Tito, Jovanka, and others; Nani's death mask for 2069, an old watch which has 1052 stakeholders, a bell jar with Nani's soul and his collection of poems, published in two copies (one kept by the library and the other by the author).

Nani Poljanec will set up his Folk Museum in the Cabinet premises as he sees fit. The surroundings, music, and presence of the author in the museum together are bound to create a comprehensive work of art, which the author has fostered all his life.

The opening of the Folk Museum of Nani Poljanec will take place in the Cabinet of Domestic Research Society on 11 May 2006 at 6 pm.
Buffet with delicacies from the Obsotelje region, 'jerpice', pumpkin oil and 'Corleone Brajdovec' will be served.
The exhibition is curated by Jani Pirnat.
More information on the project available at http://www.ddr.si.

The premises of the Cabinet of Domestic Research Society are in the abandoned courtyard behind the Škuc Gallery Stari trg 21 in Ljubljana.
You can visit the Cabinet every day from 11 to 25 May between 4 and 7 pm or by appointment. Please call +386 (0)1 251 65 40 or +386 (0)41 922 782, or e-mail to info@ddr.si.

We look forward to seeing you at the exhibition.

Ljubljana, 8 May 2006 Domestic Research Society