Thursday, 7 March 2024, at 7 pm

Alkatraz Gallery, Masarykova 24, 1000 Ljubljana

Exhibition opening

Slovene

Free entry, collection of voluntary contributions

The exhibition will be open until 27 March (Monday – Friday: 11 am – 7 pm)

Sara Skenderija: ZOMI

In her creative practice, Sara Skenderija works with various media within the fields of painting, sculpture and installation, which she skilfully connects each time into a rounded whole.

The exhibition entitled ZOMI, presented in the Alkatraz Gallery, is a partial transfer of the exhibition Zoma X, which was created in collaboration with the Tkalka Gallery in Maribor in 2023. In the present exhibition, the author established a whole, which consists of some already existing works from her past exhibitions, reworked and new works.

The work of art as an organism is a concept that reflects the dynamic nature of artistic displays. Just like the living organism, the exhibition also leaves traces of its life in layers of somatic experiences that are a reflection of the encounter between the viewers and the artworks. The transparency and tactility of the media in harmony with the transience of the placement blur the boundary between object and subject. Such experiences are not only visual, but also activate the other senses.

By consciously refusing to explain and interpret the works, the artist frees the viewer from a pre-programmed experience and rigid frames about the meaning and purpose of the works, by means of which she creates space for ambiguity and multiple interpretations as well as encourages curiosity and imagination.  She places the emphasis on the relations that are established at various levels between the artworks and the viewers as well as between the mutual presence of viewers. Moreover, the artist is interested in her own attitude towards creative process and created works that are changing during a certain time frame. The structures of the variety of feelings and perceptions of the presented works are interwoven with the establishment of such relations.

Sequentiality is an important aspect in the author’s work, as by repetitions of a certain motif, she gives it weight and highlights its importance. By mobilising parts of a previously exhibited organism, by means of repetition, upgrade and change of works, the artist establishes new relationships between the objects and potentially present subjects.

Sara Skenderija’s artworks are anything but lovely and adorable, which could otherwise be associated with pink shades and the softness of materials and shapes. The dichotomy of sharpness and softness highlights their viscerality and tactility. The choice and treatment of materials in a specific way emphasises the rawness and organicity of shapes. The selected shades of pink are not burdened by heteronormative connotations, but are rather characterised by the organic and primal. It is this appearance of Skenderija’s work that further encourages the relationship between object and subject, as it creates an impression of something that is alive and growing, rather than static and anachronistic. The latter enables the viewer a greater sense of immersion into the environment of the exhibition space.

In addition, in her creative process, the artist thinks through the concept of empowering naivety as potentiality that gives rise to sincere curiosity and desire to explore out of unencumberedness. In the exhibition, the author returns to her childhood and wonders about the value of upbringing versus the value of nature, showing us the grotesqueness of girlhood through art, whereby the beautiful and pleasant coincide with the uneasiness. Through her works, she shows such corporeality that rejects the strict canon of binary gender and stresses the similarity in seemingly different organisms.

Anja Seničar

Sara Skenderija (1998) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, with the thesis entitled Mimetic Perplexion in 2022, where she is currently continuing her master’s studies. She works in the fields of painting and installation. In her artistic practice, she is interested, among other things, in enigma, the logic of sequential order and somatic experience, which she explores through an experimental approach to media. So far, she has presented herself at several solo and group exhibitions, including the solo exhibition Zoma X in the Tkalka gallery (2023), the group exhibition The Eternally Unwritten Letter in the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Celje (2023), the solo exhibition Faktotum MXM:06 in Dobra Vaga Gallery (2022), and at the group exhibition Layers and Objects in the Knifer gallery in Osijek (2022).

The works were created within the framework of studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design Ljubljana.

Info

Organization: 25th International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns

Coproduction/co-organisation: Alkatraz Gallery,Tkalka Gallery

Design of the poster and graphic design: Ariane Podlesny

Contacts for media and press: Saša Nemec, rdece.zore@gmail.com

Curated by: Anja Seničar

Translation (to English): Ana Makuc

Proof-reading (in Slovene): Sonja Benčina

Financial support: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana

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