MGLC Švicarija Doors Open Day

On the occasion of the Doors Open Day and the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the operation and management of MGLC Švicarija by the International Centre of Graphic Arts you are welcome to view the permanent and current exhibition programme at Švicarija and to visit the studios of the artists working here. The exhibitions will be available to view from 10.00 to 18.00 and the artists' studios will be open to visitors from 12.00 to 18.00.

Studios Doors Open Day

From 12.00 to 18.00

Public guided tours: at 12.00 and 16.00

MGLC Švicarija already took on the role of a production space in the past decades. In addition to international residency programmes, the Švicarija gallery currently offers a temporary working space to 13 Slovenian artists: Lea Culetto and Janja Kosi (art residency for young artists), Anja Jerčič Jakob, Damijan Kracina, Tanja Lažetić, Miran Mohar, Silvan Omerzu, Tanja Pak, Silvester Plotajs Sicoe, Marija Mojca Pungerčar, Ana Sluga, Zora Stančič and Miha Štrukelj. The artists in residence will present their current production and a programme especially put together for the day.

Lea Culetto: Moving Out

Accumulated things in search of a new home, from 12.00 to 14.30 and from 16.00 to 18.00

After 707 days of living and working in the studio, the artist is 21 days away from moving out. So it is time for things to find a new home. Visitors can choose from a selection of prepared items (from clothes to flower pots) and take them away instead of a donation (depending on their means and preferences, or not).

Anja Jerčič Jakob: Community, art and nature and the project work of Anja Jerčič Jakob as a space for spreading the applicative aspect of art and cultural heritage

Lecture by izr. prof. mag. Anja Jerčič Jakob, akad. slik (UL PEF) and dr. Mateja Golež (Institute of Construction of Slovenia), from 13.00 to 13.45.

Anja Jerčič Jakob (painter, illustrator and educator) is concerned with nature in her work, both in terms of theme and content. In her mentoring and project work, she expands the applied aspect of art and explores the possibilities of cross-curricular integration of art with other subject areas, with a focus on cultural heritage. The studio at Švicarija is often a space where her project activities can take place. On this occasion, a lecture will be given on the parallels between creative work in painting and illustration, teaching and project work.

Janja Kosi: House

Paper model-making workshop

Visitors to the studio will gain an insight into the making of the upcoming exhibition, which will be on display at Švicarija from 28. 6. to 13. 8. 2023. The exhibition is thematically linked to the history and architecture of Švicarija. Visitors will make their own miniature paper models based on the architectural elements of the building.

Tanja Lažetić Unknown Victims

Presentation of the artist's work in progress and artist’s book

A work about femicide is currently being created in the artist's studio. Unknown Victims is the title of a more extensive series of printed plates to be presented at the gallery in autumn, but you can already get a glimpse of what the work will look like now. The plates were also used by the artist for the exhibition Table for Two at the National Museum of Slovenia. Since the Studios Doors Open Day will take place only a few days before the opening of this exhibition, and the book to be published for the occasion is already with the artist, it will be possible to flick through it as a preview in her studio.

Tanja Pak: Interconnective (with Michael Rogers and Inguna Audere)

Interactive installation as performance at 12.30, part of the public guided tour.

The studio will be open until 14.30.

Inguna Audere (Riga, Latvia), Michael Rogers (Rochester, USA) and Tanja Pak will present an interactive installation at 12.30, inviting visitors to participate in the creation of a composition.

Inguna Audere is Professor at the Art Academy of Latvia in Riga. Michael Rogers is Professor Emeritus, who taught on the Studio Arts Glass Program at the Rochester Institute of Technology for seventeen years and was head of the Glass Program at Aichi University of Education during his eleven years in Japan. Both are also practising artists; Michael Rogers has a studio in upstate New York and Inguna Audere in Riga. Together they founded the IRMA Collaborative, a non-profit organisation in Riga that works on curatorial, educational and creative projects. Tanja Pak is Full Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, where she teaches on the Unique Design, Glass and Ceramics mode of study. She focuses on the design of applied products in glass as well as artistic sculptural installations.

Ana Sluga: Discussion on the role of visual art and the artist in the socio-political periods of the last thirty years

Talk, at 15.00

In the talk, the artist will address themes that accompany the social and political context of art in the Slovenian cultural arena over the last thirty years. The talk will be accompanied by a presentation of the artist's series of paintings DDR Frau (Wireless Calls) and an outline of her current production in the context of today's times.

Zora Stančič: Life in the Tower of Švicarija

Exhibition

The exhibition by Zora Stančič entitled Life in the Tower (Pentagonal Tower at Ljubljana Castle, 19. 1.–4. 5. 2023) was set up in a specific space for which the installation was also planned and created. On the Doors Open Day at MGLC Švicarija, the artist will be installing a similar installation in her studio, as she is interested in seeing how the works function in a completely different setting.

Marija Mojca Pungerčar: Sketches for theatre costumes

Exhibition, from 12.00 to 18.00

Visual artist Marija Mojca Pungerčar also created 25 costume designs for theatre performances at various theatres between 1984 and 2014. She mostly collaborated with the Ana Monro Theatre, and in recent years with Andrej Rozman Roza (Rozinteater), for whom she created costume designs for the shows Rupert Marovt, The Visit, How Oscar Became a Detective, Sermon for the Scornful, Ludo ... In 1986, in the artistic group Lines of Force, she co-created the costume design for the cult performance The Baptism under Triglav (Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre), but she also produced the costume design for the dance performance Emofad (Ficho Ballet) and many others. In the one-day exhibition in the studio, the artist will unveil her sketches for the costumes, thus publicly presenting this part of her versatile and rich creativity.

Exhibition programme

The Shadow Is Seen by My Eyes, the Light Is Seen Only by My Heart

Permanent exhibition, from 10 am to 6 pm

A permanent exhibition about the history of Švicarija, which has always known how to surprise, connect and boldly reshape its purpose. Many individuals have taken diligent care that the light in it has never been completely extinguished. The unique past of Švicarija, which was granted the status of a cultural monument of local importance in 2013, is summed up by the guiding principle of community, art and nature, which will continue to illuminate its work also in the future.

The Stojan Batič Memorial Studio

Permanent display, from 10 am to 6 pm

The memorial studio of Stojan Batič (1925–2015) can be viewed on the ground floor of MGLC Švicarija, which is a reconstruction of the sculptor's studio on Svetčeva Street in the Rožna dolina district of Ljubljana. The current reconstruction of the space revives the atmosphere and set-up of this very sculptor's studio. It allows us to get to know the sculptor's oeuvre, both the drafts for his famous monumental works and the small sculptures to which Stojan Batič devoted much attention.

Batičeria

The Stojan Batič Memorial Studio as interpreted by the students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology in Ljubljana, from 10 am to 6 pm.

As a museum set-up, the Stojan Batič Memorial Studio at MGLC Švicarija offers an insight into the artist's oeuvre and is also a space that stimulates creativity. Students from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering in Ljubljana explored which artistic elements and themes in Batič's works speak to them personally. The exhibition shows a selection of the completed student projects.