[slovensko]

Vesna Bukovec, from the series There is no society without spectacle, OWS Protests, 2011

Likovni kritiki izbirajo / Art Critics Select, November 2011: Vesna Bukovec (solo exhibition)

2–18 November 2011
Cankarjev dom, Foyer I, Ljubljana, SI (free entrance)
Presentation: Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 1 pm

Curated by: Jernej Kožar

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Vesna Bukovec is presenting new drawing series There is no society without spectacle.

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How far is near

In the drawing Game Spectators we can see a crowd of people arranged in rows; men wearing T-shirts, women with bare shoulders, some wearing glasses, others are also wearing hats. Despite their close proximity to one another, they are lonely. Only here and there we see an odd couple, everyone else is either staring into different directions or taking photographs. Judging by their faces, most of the male attendants are perfectly content, for they are a part of a privileged group, interested in sports events. At the edges, the spectators are roughly cut off, a feature that magnifies the effect of breathless anticipation. The grandstands are heaving with people, so the event must be important. There is only one vacant place amongst them.

In today’s visual art we can observe a trend of returning to the starting point of visual creation – the drawing. To mention only the most prominent representatives of this tendency: Tracy Emin, Dan Perjovschi and David Shrigley. The drawing is, in comparison to other media, facing the world in a way that is friendlier to the observer. As it is considered as a classical visual art technique, it has the advantage that it can afford to be more radical with the message it is carrying.

In contrast with her previous works, Vesna Bukovec’s cycle of drawings There is no society without spectacle turns from the individual to the mass. She has exchanged her previously utilised continuous and smooth line of drawing without any illusionistic additions for a less fluent, sharper one. In her drawings, based on photographs found on the Internet, are protesters on Wall Street, spectators at Wimbledon, workers waiting to receive the news that they have lost their jobs, people queuing to buy an iPhone, rock concert visitors, praying children, people waiting to receive their food parcels. It was the most recent protests against banks in New York and elsewhere that encouraged Vesna Bukovec to think about the psychology of the crowd and the roles of individuals in it. She always uses a photograph for her intentionally schematic drawing, the message of which is by all means shocking and bites into the current reality. Any individual is but a part of the society and their behaviour is always submissive to the group. This is of course a completely normal occurrence, for a human is a social being, a socially defined animal. Subdued to these findings is the style of drawings that is close to the one we might recognise from a common user manual, or various warning signs, and is intentionally impersonal and conformed to the mass.

In these drawings, Vesna Bukovec summarises the current social affairs. She proves that social criticism is not completely void from the personal one. In the first three drawings we can see the luxury of today’s world and in the other three we see multitudes of those people who have not had the luck of being born into the world of wealth. One drawing is of a group of children with their hands pressed together on their chest, a gesture that suggests prayer. Despite the abundance and prosperity of the present era, people are increasingly unhappy nowadays – some of them for not having the latest iPhone, some for not being able to get a ticket for Wimbledon, others for not having food, and still others for not having a job. Part of the reason for all that is definitely religion, which has, in all its forms, supressed people and forced them to conform to the mass for thousands of years.

Text by Jernej Kožar

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About the artist

Vesna Bukovec (1977) graduated and completed her MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She works independently and in the art group KOLEKTIVA (with Metka Zupanič and Lada Cerar). Her artistic work finds its expression in a variety of media (video, photography, drawing, installation) and approaches (research, appropriation, participation, etc.).
She presented her work in several solo (Centre and Gallery P74, Ljubljana, 2003 and 2005; Simulaker Gallery, Novo mesto, 2006; Miklova hiša Gallery, Ribnica, 2009; KAPSULA, Ljubljana, 2010; A+A Gallery, Venice, EX-garage, Maribor, 2011) and group exhibitions (25th International Biennial of Graphic Arts, MGLC, Ljubljana, 2003; Territories, Identities, Networks: Slovenian Art 1995–2005, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, 2005; Kunsthaus, Graz, 2006; Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts, Slovenj Gradec, 2008; U3 – 6th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana; Where do we go from here?, Secession, Vienna; Minimal Differences, White Box, New York, 2010 etc.).

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Organized by: Slovensko društvo likovnih kritikov (Slovenian assoication of art critics) and Cankarjev dom
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Zavod Kolektiva

Vesna Bukovec, iz serije There is no society without spectacle, OWS Protests, 2011

Likovni kritiki izbirajo: Vesna Bukovec

2.–18. 11. 2011
Cankarjev dom, 1. predverje, Ljubljana (prost vstop)
Predstavitev: sreda, 2. 11. 2011 ob 13. uri

Izbor: Jernej Kožar

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Vesna Bukovec se predstavlja z novo serijo risb There is no society without spectacle (Ni družbe brez spektakla).

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Kako daleč je blizu

Na risbi Game Spectators vidimo množico ljudi razporejeno v ravne vrste. Moški so v majicah s kratkimi rokavi, ženske z golimi rameni, nekateri nosijo očala drugi tudi kape. Čeprav so stisnjeni tesno drug ob drugega, so osamljeni, le tu in tam kak par, vsi ostali zrejo vsak v svojo smer ali pa fotografirajo. Po obrazih sodeč je večina moških članov te druščine povsem zadovoljna, saj so del privilegirane skupine, ki jo zanimajo športne prireditve. Po robovih so gledalci grobo odrezani, kar povečuje učinek napetega pričakovanja. Tribune so nabito polne, torej gre za pomemben dogodek, med njimi je le en prazen prostor.

Danes lahko v likovni umetnosti opazujemo trend vračanja k izhodiščem likovnega ustvarjanja, k risbi. Omenimo le najvidnejše predstavnike te smeri: Tracy Emin, Dan Perjovischi in David Shrigley. Risba se v primerjavi z drugimi mediji sooča s svetom na gledalcu prijaznejši način. Njena prednost je v tem, da velja za klasično likovno tehniko in je lahko zato v svojem sporočilu bolj radikalna.

Vesna Bukovec se je v ciklusu risb z naslovom Ni družbe brez spektakla (There is no society without spectacle) v nasprotju s prejšnjimi deli obrnila od posameznika k množici. Neprekinjeno in gladko linijo brez iluzionističnih dodatkov, s katero je risala prej, je zamenjala manj tekoča, bolj ostra. Na risbah povzetih po fotografijah najdenih na spletu so protestniki na Wall streetu, gledalci v Wimbledonu, delavci, ki čakajo na novico, da so ostali brez službe, čakajoči na iphone, obiskovalci rock koncerta, otroci, ki molijo, ljudje, ki čakajo na pakete s hrano. Prav najnovejši protesti proti bankam v New Yorku in drugod so Vesno Bukovec spodbudili k razmišljanju o psihologiji množice in vlogi posameznika v njej. Fotografija je vedno osnova za njeno namenoma shematično risbo, katere sporočilo je vsekakor pretresljivo in se zajeda v aktualno resničnost. Posameznik je samo del družbe in njegovo obnašanje je vedno podrejeno skupini. Kar pa je seveda povsem normalno, saj je človek družbeno bitje, socialno določena žival. Tem ugotovitvam se podreja tudi slog risb, ki je blizu tistemu, kot ga poznamo iz običajnih navodil za uporabo ali raznih opozorilnih znakov in je namenoma brezoseben, podrejen množici.

V teh risbah Vesna Bukovec povzema aktualno družbeno dogajanje. Dokazuje, da družbena kritičnost ni povsem razvodenela v osebni. Na treh risbah vidimo preobilje današnjega sveta in na drugih treh množico tistih, ki niso imeli sreče, da bi se rodili v svet bogatih. Na eni pa je skupina otrok z rokami sklenjenimi na prsih, v čemer lahko prepoznamo gesto molitve. Danes so ljudje, kljub obilju vse bolj nesrečni, nekateri zato, ker nimajo najnovejših iphonov, nekateri zato, ker ne morejo do vstopnice za Wimbledon, eni zato, ker nimajo hrane in drugi zato, ker nimajo službe. Vzrok temu je gotovo tudi religija, ki v vseh svojih oblikah že tisočletja zatira ljudi in jih sili v podrejanje množici.

Jernej Kožar

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O umetnici

Vesna Bukovec (1977) je diplomirala in magistrirala iz kiparstva na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje v Ljubljani. Deluje kot samostojna avtorica in v okviru umetniške skupine KOLEKTIVA (z Metko Zupanič in Lado Cerar). Ustvarja v različnih medijih (video, fotografija, risba, instalacija) in pri tem uporablja različne postopke (raziskava, apropriacija, participacija idr.).
Predstavila se je na vrsti samostojnih (Center in Galerija P74, 2003 in 2005; Galerija Simulaker, 2006, Galerija Miklova hiša, 2009; Kulturni inkubator, KAPSULA, 2010; Galerija A+A, EX-garaža, 2011) in skupinskih razstav (25. mednarodni grafični bienale, MGLC, Ljubljana, 2003; Teritoriji, identitete, mreže: slovenska umetnost 1995-2005, Moderna galerija, 2005; Kunsthaus, Gradec, 2006; Koroška galerija likovnih umetnosti Slovenj Gradec, 2008; U3 – 6. trienale sodobne umetnosti v Sloveniji, Moderna galerija; Where do we go from here?, Secession, Dunaj; Minimal Differences, White Box, New York, 2010 idr.).

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Projekt Likovni kritiki izbirajo organizira Slovensko društvo likovnih kritikov v sodelovanju s Cankarjevim domom.
Koproducent razstave Vesne Bukovec je Zavod Kolektiva.

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Cankarjev dom, I. predverje
Odprto vsak dan od 10. do 19. ure,
ob nedeljah od 10. do 14. ure.
Ob ponedeljkih in praznikih zaprto.

Fotografije s predstavitve / Photos of the presentation