Boris Beja: 100 = 10 (squared), lecture on the creative oeuvre of Stojan Batič

To mark the conclusion of the exhibition Batič and the Sea, commemorating the centenary of the birth of sculptor Stojan Batič, we invite you to join us on Tuesday, 16 September, at 5 pm at MGLC Švicarija for a lecture by artist and educator Boris Beja on Batič's creative oeuvre and legacy created for the Slovenian ships of the Splošna plovba shipping company, which is less known to the public.

Stojan Batič (1925–2015) left a significant mark on Slovenian post-war sculpture with his public monuments, park sculptures and intimate small-scale works. He developed his expression in a variety of sculptural materials: clay and stone, wood, glass and stainless steel. In clay and stone, he distinguished himself as an outstanding figurative artist and interpreter of Greek mythology. In wood, he was one of the first in Slovenia to emphasise assemblage and the use of readymades in sculpture, while in glass and stainless steel, he turned to the abstract interpretation of the explosion and post-war community. In his extensive oeuvre, he depicted subjects and themes such as community, mining life, the interpretation of the revolution and the National Liberation Struggle, music, theatre, history, Greek mythology, the mother-child relationship, dance and the human condition more broadly.

Stojan Batič also contributed his artworks to the décor of the ships Trbovlje (1960), Bela krajina (1961), Ljubljana (II) (1964), Ljutomer (1965), Kras (1967), Postojna (1967), Portorož (I) (1968) and Portorož (II) (1986). His sculptures and reliefs were mostly produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, through which Batič interpreted various stories and motifs related to the places after which the ships were named. Two of the artist's characteristic sculptural techniques come to the fore and are further developed formally in these works. These are perforated reliefs that were later enlarged and integrated into architecture as visual additions, as can be admired on the façade of the Cultural Centre in Velenje (The Muses of Art relief, 1960) and the façade of the Ravne Ironworks Institute in the Koroška region (1966). However, his distinctive treatment of relief surfaces composed of geometric planes that form a network, honeycomb or grid, which serves as the basis for his sculptural narrative, can also be seen in his ship décor.

The lecture was prepared in collaboration with and on the basis of interviews with Jerneja Batič and Duška Žitko (Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum, Piran).

Boris Beja studied at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering (NTF), University of Ljubljana. After graduating, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where he graduated from the Department of Sculpture. Alongside his art practice, he also works as an educator. Since 2022, he has been working at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Department of Textiles, Graphic Arts and Design, where he lectures on the first- and second-cycle study programmes of the University of Ljubljana. He exhibits in Slovenia and abroad.