Deadline: March 23, 2010

The World of Art enables paricipants to learn the knowledge, skills and methods needed to tackle the complex issues in the world of art.

The school is intended for all who are interested in working in the field of contemporary art, regardless of experience, age and education.

The annual school program is internal and for a selected group of participants who will be chosen by open call. The course has two semesters:

• the first semester (April–June 2010) will be dedicated to the acquisition of art –historical, theoretical and methodological skills
• the second semester (September 2010–May 2011) will be dedicated to critical and curatorial studies and practice.

The program includes lectures, seminars, workshops, research work, modules on the practical work of the curator, study excursions and practice in galleries. The process comprises the organisation of events, studio visits, meetings with curators, artists, theorists, and writers, and teamwork in conceptualisation and preparing an exhibition of contemporary art under the tutor’s leadership.

Fee: 400 euros (VAT included)

Send or bring your application form, CV, motivation letter and review of selected exhibitions of contemporary art (up to 40 lines) to SCCA-Ljubljana, Metelkova 6, SI 1000 Ljubljana, svetumetnosti@scca-ljubljana.si

The selection of participants will be in two stages. After the first selection, we will invite participants for an interview, to be held at the SCCA-Ljubljana on Thursday, April 1 and Friday April 2.

Performative reflection upon a queer art event

Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 7pm
Project Room SCCA, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana

Angela Harutyunyan’s talk is a performative reflection upon a queer art event. Entitled Coming to You Not to Be With You, it was organized in August 2008 in Yerevan, Armenia in the framework of Women-Oriented-Women’s network’s activities.

Through (un)constructing the specific spatial arrangements of the works within a given space, I will perform what I call a “topographical curating”. Through this (un)construction, I wish to claim an emancipatory potential in the coming together of an aesthetic community.

The talk will be accompanied with a presentation of visual materials, including video works. At the end of the talk, I will open up a discussion on whether it is possible to effectively articulate a politics of (mis)recognition through aesthetics without lapsing into the politics identity.

Queering Yerevan

Angela Harutyunyan has recently completed her PhD at the University of Manchester, UK. Currently she is Visiting Professor in Art History and Art Program Director at the American University in Cairo. She is the co-organizer of Summer Seminars’ Program for Contemporary Art Curators in Yerevan, Armenia and member of AICA -International Association of Art Critics. She has curated several solo and group exhibitions of contemporary Armenian art and has conducted numerous seminars, workshops and lectures as a visiting lecturer and curator in various international academic and artistic contexts. She teaches courses related to the history and theory of modern and contemporary art.

Saturday, November 14, 2009 (workshop)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 (discussion)
Project Room SCCA, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana

On Saturday, 14th November 2009, a group of students gathered in a Project room of SCCA and with their mentor Petja Grafenauer they tackled the problem of writing about the exhibition of contemporary art. The introductory presentation for the participants was followed by the visit to the exhibition Around the world of art in 4.380 days in the Alkatraz Gallery, where they met with curator Saša Nabergoj and assistant Sonja Zavrtanik. The curator presented the concept of the exhibition, a selection of works, the project itself, the World of art programme and some of her own experiences in setting up the exhibitions. The group then returned to the Project Room to hear the mentor’s lecture on the establishment of modern art in Slovenia, and she also touched the topics of modernism, art institutions and project events in our area. Students become acquainted with important literature and they concentrated on further reflection on the themes of contemporary Slovene art. After a general lecture they returned to the topics of the exhibition which was later evaluated at home by the students who also wrote a text. The best critique will be published in the magazine Artwords; Petja Grafenauer also reminded them to have in mind a particular circle of readers and the status of the magazine while writing the text. In the final part of the workshop the students developed an in-depth debate on various artistic works from the exhibition, which served as a preparation for their individual work. The students delivered their texts on 19th November; they met again on Tuesday, 24th November 2009 when the mentor talked about each of the contributions and pointed out the advantages and disadvantages and possible revisions of their texts. Editorial work was then undertaken by the students and they discussed all the texts. Since all the students had already been in contact with contemporary art and theory it was easier for them to evaluate and articulate their opinion. After the workshop Petja Grafenauer and Saša Nabergoj selected the critique by Lara Plavčak to be published in the next issue of Artwords. Lara Plavčak Call for application

October 30 - November 20, 2009
Opening on Friday, October 30, at 8 pm
Alkatraz Gallery, AKC Metelkova City

Artists:
Lada Cerar & Sašo Sedlaček, Alen Floričić, Marko A. Kovačič, Tanja Lažetić & Dejan Habicht, Ivan Marušić Klif

Curator: Saša Nabergoj
Assistant: Sonja Zavrtanik
Exhibition design and set-up: Damijan Kracina
Production: Zavod SCCA-Ljubljana
Coproduction: Galerija Alkatraz / KUD Mreža

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME
Marko A. Kovačič: Sub-auction
Tuesday, November 10, at 8 pm
Alkatraz Gallery, AKC Metelkova City, Ljubljana

Exhibition view

Sub-auction by Marko A. Kovačič

Sub-auction (Video essay)

Around the world of art in 4,380 days is not a retrospective exhibition and the selection of works was not based on a democratic principle – equal presentation of every year. The curator presented all the works featured in eleven end-of-year exhibitions of the course for curators in a physically inexistent collection of the World of Art, which was complemented each year by new works produced by new groups of students with a variety of affinities. All generations were shaped by the programme, its requirements and guidelines, which were determined by mentors, the context of the institution – Center for Contemporary Arts SCCA–Ljubljana – and the only constant member of the World of Art, Saša (Glavan) Nabergoj. The first year she worked as an assistant, while all the following years she was the head of school and sometimes a mentor, always involved in the content and organisation of the programme at all levels. The criteria for selecting five works from a total of eighty-one were diverse: the role of the work in the artist’s body of work, position in the wider context of the course, and, vitally, the context of the Alkatraz Gallery which has hosted the exhibition for two years now.

Considering the scope of the programme, the World of Art has few public events, as due to the nature of work key processes take place in small group of students, although the events themselves would undoubtedly prove interesting to the wider public. We therefore decided to very carefully research the extensive and very precious audio and visual archive which has been complied from the very beginning, but has always been somewhat neglected because of the chronic lack of staff, time and money, creatively and chaotically (dis)organised and not accessible enough to researchers and students. Around the world of art in 4,380 days will provide an introduction into the future study and archive platform of the World of Art. Alkatraz Gallery will present the first part of the properly archived events, actions, lectures and exhibitions. A compilation of video essays which have been created by seminar groups since 2004 will be on display for the first time. We should also highlight the greatest jewel of the World of Art: the fantastic cacophony jointly created by a number of individuals who have taught, collaborated, debated, found and shared ideas, and shaped the art scene through shaping themselves.

Lada Cerar & Sašo Sedlaček, Toilets / Made in India, 2004

Alen Floričić, Bez naslova (Untitled) no. 01/01, 2001

Marko A. Kovačič, Europe (Rubbish Bin of History), 1997

Tanja Lažetić & Dejan Habicht, Govedji gulaš / Beef goulash, 1997

Ivan Marušić Klif, Bez naslova (Untitled), 1993-1995

www.scca-ljubljana.si/press/razstava-su/

Saturday, November 14, 2009 (workshop)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 (discussion)
SCCA Project Room, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana

Application deadline: Monday, November 9, 2009

A work or a project of contemporary art is not bounded by a certain form, content or materials. As today, a work of art has not identifiable intrinsic properties and contemporary art is located in the hub of artistic, aesthetic, philosophical, sociological, political, media, science and many other discourses, those who would like to write about a project or an exhibition of contemporary art often find themselves in front of many seemingly insurmountable issues:

• How should I visit the exhibition?
• To what I have to pay attention?
• Where and how to get information that I need and how to use it?
• How to use this information?
• How should I start writing?
• Should I lean on the theory and in what manner should I use it?
• How to conceive a text?

A workshop will lead participants from preparations for the visit and tour of the exhibition to writing and complete extended professional texts on the exhibition. The best text will also be published in the professional press.

The workshop will be conducted in Slovene.

PROGRAM

Saturday, 14th November, 2009, 10:00-17:00

10:00-12:00
The first part of the workshop will start with the presentation of the participants. We will talk about their experiences with contemporary art and how these experiences could be used in writing the text.
The discussion will be followed by the lecture that will draw attention to the key elements of an exhibition which are to be taken under consideration before writing a professional text:

• its concept
• its intention
• the installation of an exhibition
• selection of artworks and other exhibited documents
• formal and contextual analysis of the exhibited works in conjunction with the exhibition
• broader social, political, cultural and institutional contextualization

12.00-12.30
Individual visits of the exhibition project
(Upon applying to the workshop, the participants will receive the materials about the exhibition and are expected to research them carefully before the beginning of the workshop).

12.30-14.00
Guided tour of the exhibition project, interviews with exhibiting artists and review of the materials generated at the exhibition.

14.00-16.00
Lunch break

16.00-18.00
In the second part of the workshop we will highlight the key points of the exhibition content and will start to prepare for writing the text. Afterwards the participants will write their texts at home.

Thursday, 19th November, 12:00
The participants send their texts to the mentor who goes through them, make corrections and give an opinion about each text. Later, the final texts are distributed among all the participants. They carefully read them and make comments.

Tuesday, 24th November, 10:00-14:00
The participants, together with the mentor, discuss each of the completed texts and choose the best one. In the following week the author of the chosen text prepares it for publishing in the specialized magazine.

Mentor of the workshop is Petja Grafenauer.

APPLICATION AND INFORMATION

The price for the workshop is 10 EUR for individuals and 30 EUR for representatives of the institutions.

Application deadline: Monday, November 9, 2009

Attach to the registration:

• a short biography
• a short text about why you wish to participate

The registration form should be sent to the address svetumetnosti@scca-ljubljana.si or brought personally to the address SCCA-Ljubljana, Metelkova 6, 1000 Ljubljana by November 9, 2009 (office hours: 11.00-15.00).

CONTACT
SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana
Metelkova 6, 1000 Ljubljana
Contact persons: Sonja Zavrtanik
tel.: 041 367 425, fax: (01) 430 06 29
e-mail: svetumetnosti@scca-ljubljana.si

September 16 and 17, 2009
Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway

SCCA-Ljubljana, Center for Contemporary Arts is hosted by Bergen National Academy of the Arts to present its programs as a support system for contemporary arts, culture and civic society in Slovenia and internationally.

Barbara Borčić, director and consultant of World of Art educational program, will participate at the symposium on curatorial practices with a lecture about educational curatorial programs and their importance as a part of support system for contemporary arts. The lecture will reflect different aspects of curating and also the education in the field of contemporary art in Slovenia and on the international scene. It will be based on the research concerning the positions of the curators that have lectured/led workshops in frame of SCCA-Ljubljana since 1993. The presentation of juxtapositions of different understandings, visions, achievements and interpretations of curatorial practices in a wider context from the sixties to today will put a special emphasis on the World of Art, School for Contemporary Art that has been operating in frame of SCCA-Ljubljana from 1997.

Marianne Hultman, director of Oslo Fine Art Society, entitled her lecture What did I learn in school? Experiences from CuratorLab and its value in the profession as a curator.

Sarat Maharaj, professor of Visual Art and Knowledge Systems at Lund University, will give some thoughts on curating and education.

The lectures will be followed by group discussions. After the symposium the participants will take part at the Bergen International Biennial Conference 2009 (September 17-20) to discuss the status of the biennial as an exhibition type, and to initiate debate on the plans for a biennial in Bergen.

Towards Collaborative Curating

27 July-2 August, 2009
Yerevan, Armenia

The 4th edition of the Summer Seminars’ Program for Contemporary Art Curators is organised by NAAC - National Association of Art Critics, (Yerevan, Armenia), continual partner of Word of Art, School of Contemporary Arts organised by SCCA-Ljubljana.

The 4th edition entitled Towards Collaborative Curating: Contemporary Art in the Age of the Global Art Market brings together art curators, theorists and academics, who are involved in the ongoing theoretical and practical issues of researching and finding adequate methods and modules for curatorial education and practice. The week-long seminars are comprised of lectures, round-table discussions and public presentations.

Is it still possible to break away from the cycle of reproducing the already existing and inherently hierarchical systems of representation? How do individual curatorial practices reaffirm or subvert the ways in which the global art market functions? Can curating function outside of market conditions? Is it possible to come up with common theories for contemporary curatorial education across heterogeneous contexts, or is curating only a context- specific and context-sensitive practice? What are the main problems facing the curatorial education today? Is it possible to prepare curators who are able to address ever- changing art practices? What role do theories of curating play in practice? 

These are some of the questions we would like to discuss within the framework of AICA-Armenia’s annual curatorial program, focusing on the intersection of curatorial education, theories and practices. 

This years edition will be hosting: Arpi Adamyan, Mher Azatyan, Viviana Chechia, Lusine Davidyan, Clémentine Deliss, Mel Jordan & Andy Hewitt (Free Art Collective), Marianna Hovhannisian, Eva Khachatryan, Grigor Khachatryan, Malcolm Miles, Nat Muller, Aras Ozgun, Lali Parteneva, Joanna Sokolowska, Marko Stamenković, Sara Stenczer.

More information and program

15-16 May, 2009

The workshop by Branko Dimitrijević started with a lecture that introduced a key term - the interpretation of a work of art. The curator and writer Branko Dimitrijević showed the participants that also art, that is taking its shape since the sixties and is provisionally called "contemporary" and which tends to champion (real) experience over interpretation, needs interpretation in order to be better understood by ourselves (namely by those participating in the world of art) and by the wider public. After the morning lecture a lively debate between the participants, stimulated by watching several videos by different artists, followed. The participants tried to interpret the videos with the help of the mentor and with the newly acquired knowledge. On Saturday morning the participants Špela Petrič and Dare Pejić presented two art works to their mentor which they later tried to interpret in the form of a newspaper criticism. For the analysis Špela Petrič selected the work Microvenus by Joe Davis. Dare Pejić was thinking about the question of collective authorship using the examples of Atlas group and Irwin. Saturday afternoon was dedicated to close reading of the written assignments and their analysis. Petja Grafenauer More

Thursday, May 14, 2009, 8 p.m.
Project Room SCCA, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana

Serbian pavilion at the 53rd Biennale di Venezia wishes to become a space of dialogue between two so far unrelated art projects. Although they are artists of different generations, attitudes and philosophies, Zoran Todorović (Belgrade, 1965) and Katarina Zdjelar (Belgrade, 1979), share a common point in arguing that an artist is a free mediator within the space of social interaction, and that artistic subjectivity emerges only if situated in the frictions of a world constructed from social matter. They share determination to locate what is identified as contemporary art in the web consisting of social structures and individual resistances, yet they are taking this shared determination in different directions.

Dimitrijević’s lecture will present this year’s project for the Biennale and discuss it in the context of previous Serbian presentations in Venice.

Branislav Dimitrijević (Belgrade, 1967) is lecturer in art history, writer and curator. He is Senior Lecturer at the School for Art and Design (VSLPUb) in Belgrade and Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade. He graduated from University of Belgrade (BA in Art History) and University of Kent (MA in History and Theory of Art). He has been working on a PhD thesis on Consumer Culture in Socialist Yugoslavia at the University of Arts in Belgrade. With Branislava Andjelkovic and Branimir Stojanovic he co-founded and coordinated School for History and Theory of Images, an independent educational project in Belgrade. He has been publishing essays on contemporary art and theory of art, film and visual culture.

April 10-13, 2009
Project Room SCCA, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana

On Friday, the 10th of April, the four-day workshop led by Suzana Milevska and titled Curator as a Translator of Theory into Practice began. Despite several applications only two participants were actually present at the workshop which turned out to be an advantage. Michele Drascek and Metka Kralj have succeeded to conceptualize and execute a whole curatorial project in the span of four days due to their close cooperation and extreme engagement. The workshop was based on the importance of contemporary curatorial practices with theoretical discourses. The term "translation" (rather than "application") stands for the awareness of the confinements appearing when theoretical concepts are used as justification for curatorial choices of models, strategies and attitudes, rather than as starting points for self-assessment and for pondering of our art and curatorial choices. Friday and Saturday mornings were focused on lectures, close reading and analysis of several theoretical texts. Special attention was given to reading of Alain Badiou’s Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art. The analysis of an art work by Badiou offered the participants a structure that they could use for the element of the project that they were to realize in the next few days. On Saturday afternoon, the participants already conceptualized a project that they executed on Sunday and Monday. It was based on their common knowledge of pedagogy and on exploration of participatoriness in the realms of contemporary art. They succeeded to transfer the theoretical knowledge gained during the course of the workshop into practice. On Sunday the participants have, partly in the offices of the SCCA and partly in a private apartment, filmed video interviews with six participants that were invited to participate in the "workshop within a workshop". They asked them three questions: Does art offer truths? Is there a difference between male and female art? Have you ever participated in an artistic event? On Monday the workshop moved to the offices of "Art center za kreativnost mladih in otrok" in Vila Čira Čara on Komenskega 9 Street, to be able to edit the recorded material there as they encountered some difficulties in using "video editing" in at the SCCA. The video was later presented to five of the present participants and to the workshop mentor Suzana Milevska who commented on each statement and in the end the participants drew a diagram of the process. The created video documents will be available in the archive SCCA-Ljubljana from May 2009 onwards. Petja Grafenauer Call for application (program)