Exhibiting Visual Art in Slovenia, a seminar on the development of visual arts infrastructure in Slovenia

The seminar examines the historical development of Slovenia's extensive visual arts infrastructure, its sociopolitical context, and its specificities. Focusing on examples of the Museum of Modern Art and MGLC – International Centre of Graphic Arts, both based in Ljubljana, it examines the legacy of Socialist Yugoslavia and subsequent developments on this legacy.

The seminar includes lectures by Beti Žerovc and Zdenka Badovinac, and a guided tour by Božidar Zrinski and Dušan Dovč through MGLC and Švicarija Art Centre.

Beti Žerovc will present the development of the visual arts infrastructure in Slovenia, from its more concrete beginnings with the first purpose-built exhibition venue, the Jakopič Pavilion (1909), through to the 1980s. Her presentation will draw on findings from the extensive research project, Exhibiting of Art and Architecture Between Artistic and Ideological Concepts: Case Study of Slovenia, 1947–1979, which she led.

Beti Žerovc is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her areas of research are visual art and the art system since the mid-19th century, with a focus on their role in society. She is the author of several books, including When Attitudes Become the Norm: The Contemporary Curator and Institutional Art (2015, reprinted in 2018), and co-editor of the Shaping Revolutionary Memory: The Production of Monuments in Socialist Yugoslavia (2023) and awarded catalogue On the Brink: The Visual Arts in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–1941) (2019).

Zdenka Badovinac will focus on the period from the 1980s onwards. Drawing on the development of the Ljubljana’s Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova – institutions she played a key role in shaping – she will trace the continuities and ruptures within the legacy of modern art and its museum infrastructure.

Zdenka Badovinac is a curator and former Director of the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (1993–2020; since 2011 extended to include Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova), and former Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2022–23). Since 2023 she has worked as an independent curator and art writer. She initiated the first Eastern European art collection Arteast 2000+ and curated numerous exhibitions of international relevance. Her recent books are Unannounced Voices: Curatorial Practice and Changing Institutions (2022) and Comradeship: Curating, Art, and Politics in Post-Socialist Europe (2019). She is a founding member of the museum confederation L'Internationale and former President of CIMAM (2010–13). In 2020 Badovinac received the Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory.

Božidar Zrinski and Dušan Dovč will conclude the seminar with a brief guided tour of MGLC and Švicarija Art Centre, offering insight into the socio-political context of their establishment and the factors that have shaped their development. MGLC is a museum with a forty-year history, whose origins are closely linked to the International Biennial of Graphic Arts, established in 1955. Since 2017, MGLC has also run an artist residency programme at Švicarija.

Božidar Zrinski is a curator and Museum Advisor at MGLC, where he has been responsible for the MGLC Collection since 2025. He has curated numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been involved – as a curator, coordinator, and artistic director – in several editions of the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts. His work focuses on contemporary graphic art, particularly by Slovenian artists. 

Dušan Dovč is a coordinator at MGLC, where he is responsible for coordinating the MGLC Švicarija Creative and Residency Centre. As a curator, he explores visual art in relation to literature, as well as artistic practices beyond institutions and established creative centres.

The event – held in English – is part of the Igor Zabel Award 2026 programme and is organized by the Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory, MGLC, and the ERSTE Foundation.

The award honors outstanding achievements in the visual arts in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It has been conferred biennially since 2008 in cooperation with the initiator of the award, ERSTE Foundation (Vienna), and the Igor Zabel Association (Ljubljana).