The Research and Exhibition Project Together
The Fullness of Emptiness, 9th National Thematic Exhibition of Amateur Fine Art Organised by the JSKD
National selector: Robert Lozar
Project coordination: Monika Ivančič Fajfar (JSKD)
Coming Full Circle
Artists: Agata Pavlovec, Žiga Kariž (SI), Zoran Kuzmanović (SRB)
Curators: Saša Nabergoj, Boštjan Soklič
Assistant to the curators: Lara Nagy
Castle Gallery
The Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony Through Time, An Archival-Documentary Exhibition
Curators: Saša Nabergoj, Boštjan Soklič
Assistant: Lara Nagy (Škofja Loka Museum)
Consultant: Janez Jocif (JSKD – Škofja Loka RO)
Round Tower
12 June 2024–3 Nov 2024
The research and exhibition project titled Together focuses on amateur culture – especially fine art – and its importance for professional culture and art, as well as society at large. The project has been organised by the Škofja Loka Museum in cooperation with the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia (JSKD) and comprises three exhibitions staged in two galleries (the Castle Gallery and the Round Tower), the accompanying programme and an online archive.
Since 2007, the JSKD has been organising biannual national thematic exhibitions, each of which is focused on a different theme and is staged in a different museum or gallery, thus stimulating amateur artistic creativity on a regular basis. In 2023, artworks on the topic “the fullness of emptiness” were submitted by 470 amateur artists from all over Slovenia and the regional selectors chose 254 of these for ten regional exhibitions. A total of 48 regional works were then chosen by the national selector Robert Lozar for the 9th national thematic exhibition The Fullness of Emptiness.
The Coming Full Circle exhibition features three established artists, namely Agata Pavlovec (Škofja Loka, Slovenia), Žiga Kariž (Ljubljana, Slovenia), and Zoran Kuzmanović (Smederevo, Serbia), each with two series of works. The one thing that all three artists have in common is that they attended the Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony as primary school pupils, which contributed significantly to their decision to pursue a professional artistic career.
The Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony is Slovenia’s largest painting colony aimed at young artists. As part of this day-long annual art colony, pupils of the upper grades of primary school have been creating works of art based on the scenes from the medieval old town of Škofja Loka for more than fifty years. For the past thirty years, the art colony has been organised by JSKD’s Škofja Loka Regional Office. Since early 1968, it has been attended by more than 13,000 young artists from Slovenia, as well as Serbia, Italy and Austria, and around 5,000 mentors/art teachers.
The exhibition The Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony Through Time features photographic and documentary materials, a selection of children’s artworks, as well as catalogues, newspaper publications and video interviews with the participating artists and organisers recorded especially for this exhibition.
The regional and national exhibitions and the accompanying activities organised by the JSKD educate numerous amateur artists and ensure their visibility. Similarly, the Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony has been encouraging creativity among primary school pupils for many years. Some of its participants will become artists the likes of those featured in the exhibition Coming Full Circle, all of them, however, will share the experience of realising that art is important and that it belongs at the heart of our lives and society.
Accompanying Programme
Wednesday, 12 Jun 2024 at 17:00
A discussion with Žiga Kariž (SIovenia), Agata Pavlovec (Slovenia) and Zoran Kuzmanović (Serbia) on the importance of cultural-artistic education through personal formative experience at The Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony in the 1980s
at 18:00 A guided tour of the exhibition Coming Full Circle – guided by the three featured artists.
Saturday, 21 Sept 2024 at 11:00
A guided tour of the exhibition The Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony Through Time – guided by Janez Jocif.
Friday, 27 Sept 2024 at 12:30
Award ceremony as part of the 2024 Youth Ivan Grohar Art Colony – awards presented to the young artists selected in 2023.
Round Tower at the Škofja Loka Castle
Wednesday, 2 Oct 2024 at 18:00
A guided tour of all three exhibitions – guided by Saša Nabergoj.
Castle Gallery, Round Tower at the Škofja Loka Castle