Contemporary Ceramic Art from the National Museum of Slovenia
Loft Gallery, 26. 6. – 28. 2. 2025
Curators: dr. Zora Žbontar (National Museum of Slovenia), dr. Simona Žvanut (Škofja Loka Museum)
The new exhibition space of the Škofja Loka Museum presents a selection of thirty-six artworks from the collection of the International Ceramics Triennial UNICUM, which has been organised by the National Museum of Slovenia since 2009. UNICUM is Slovenia’s major international exhibition of contemporary ceramic art, featuring renowned artists, curators and other experts in the field of contemporary art from all over the world. This is the first time the exhibited artworks are on view to the public since the UNICUM triennial exhibitions. Many of them have received awards and distinctions awarded by the UNICUM triennial’s international juries.
The selection of works was based on the aim to present an extremely vast array of explorations of the artistic, technological and conceptual possibilities ceramic offers as a material for creation in the field of contemporary art. Some artists focus in particular on the development of distinctive technological and aesthetic solutions, while others deal with the current sociopolitical issues or thematise the ever-present intimate questions of human existence. The one thing that the formally and conceptually very different works of art have in common is their perfect execution and an innovative search for new expressive possibilities of ceramic art.
The exhibition also aims to draw attention to the Škofja Loka Museum’s historical and archaeological permanent collections, which contain numerous ceramic objects, including Škofja Loka’s famous painted burgher ceramics dating back to the 16th and the first half of the 17th centuries. A tour of the museum collections and the exhibition of contemporary ceramic art will provide visitors with an insight into the close connection between man and ceramics, which goes back to prehistoric times.
Artists: Arina Ailincai (Romania), Ivan Albreht (Serbia, USA), Leah Anderson (Switzerland, USA), Claudia Biehne (Germany), Gratia Brown (USA), Patrick Crulis (France), Dragica Čadež (Slovenia), Matthew Dercole (USA), Rhiannon Ewing-James (Ireland, Great Britain), Lea Georg (Switzerland), Tatjana Gomboc Jerman (Slovenia), Martin Harman (Great Britain), Jon Hatfull (Great Britain, Slovenia), Alejandra Jones (Argentina), Barbara Jurkovšek (Slovenia), Satoshi Kino (Japan), Ines Kovačič (Slovenia), Barbara Kuijken (Belgium, USA), Wing Kwan Tam (Hong Kong, China), Kim Logue (New Zealand), Weronika Lucińska (Poland), Chi Man Chan (South Korea, China), Lee Middleman (USA), M. Dogan Özgüdogdu (Turkey), Daniela Polz (Germany), Karin Putsch-Grassi (Germany, Italy), Liza Riddle (USA), Nataša Sedej (Slovenia), Debra Sloan (Canada), Jessica Smith (USA), Vera Stanković (Slovenia), Thomas Stollar (USA, Great Britain), Yi-Li Yeh (Taiwan), Sita Wong (Hong Kong, China), Dani Žbontar (Slovenia), Michał Żesławski (Poland)