Nevenka Šivavec with
Andrejo Džakušič
Discussion and exhibition

Discussion: Thursday, June 22 at 8 p.m.
Exhibition: Wednesday 23 – Thursday 24, from 10 a.m to 5 p.m.
(and by appointment)

SCCA Project Room, Metelkova 6, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Studio 6 (from 2004) is mostly focused on encouraging discussions and establishing constructive collaboration between diverse protagonists of the contemporary art world (artists, curators, critics, theorists), offers space for presentation of artistic actions and ensures their reflection.

The second event of this year's series brings the conversation between Nevenka Šivavec (Centre of Contemporary Art curator Celeia Celje) and artist Andreja Džakušič. Their collaboration began with the presentation of Andreja’s thesis in 1999 in the Gallery of Modern Art, Celje and has lasted continuously until today when it begins preparations for the exhibition of her work study and monograph publication, which will be released on this occasion (presumably 2012). The exhibition policy of the Gallery of Modern Art, Celje (now one of the exhibitions at the Centre of Contemporary Art Celje Celeia) actively includes the most prominent local artists, especially those who were originators of various artistic initiatives and collective activities, which include Andreja Džakušič. In addition, the major part of Andreja’s solo exhibitions and other projects are also set in the Gallery of Modern Art, Celje and the rest of the Centre of Contemporary Arts exhibition, Celeia Celje.

Andreja Džakušič (Celje, 1971) in her work she often uses performative strategies of feminist subversion, but she does it in a very sleek and non-conflicting way. The performative works derived from her everyday life situations - love relationships, family, household chores, motherhood, personal archives, grief ... She transforms emotions into live events "process" installations, photography and video. A variety of her per-formative works were created in the context of events FREE ENTRANCE and other collective actions of the Celje art scene, which she actively participated as one of the main organizers. In these works, by staging an intimate private iconography and rituals (family picnic in the park and other forms of entertainment and preparing food, washing feet of passers-by…) she has an indirect comment on the social problems and everyday environment in which she participates as a woman and artist. In this she often mixes the area of the real with different staging procedures, and changing roles of mimicry.

She will present the Album – artst book which was made especially for the occasion of Studio 6.

Nevenka Šivavec (1963)
Curator and editor. She received her degree in Comparative Literature and Art History at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. From 1989 she works as a curator at the Center for Cultural Programmes in Celje where she has organized and curated different exhibitions and exhibitional projects. She has also developed the international residential program Air Celeia. For many years she was co-editor of the magazine Art Words. In 2009 she finished the educationl program European Diploma in Cultural Project Managment (Fondation Hicter Brussels).

Andreja Džakušič (Celje, 1971)
1971 Born in Celje, Slovenia
1995/96 Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (Vysoka Škola Vytvarnih Umeni) in Bratislava, Slovakia
1997 Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana
1999 Postgraduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademia Sztuk Pieknich), Krakov, Poland
2002 MA degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana

Lives and works as a free-lance artist in Celje.

Selected solo and group exhibitions, actions, performances, installations:

1994 Action "Figurines in grass", Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia
1994 Group action "Susak", Island of Susak, Croatia
1996 Group exhibition at VŠVU, Bratislava, Slovakia
1997 Group exhibition "Border on the river", Bad Radkersburg, Austria
         Open air installation at the festival of Grenze im Fluss, Bad Radkersburg, Austria
1999 Group exhibition, ASP Krakov, Poland
1999 Open air installation "Nagib", Krakov, Poland
1999 Performance "Look into", Gallery of Modern Art, Celje, Slovenia
1999 Exhibition "Drawers of Memories...", Gallery of Modern Art, Celje, Slovenia
1999 Group exhibition "First International Biennial of Real Graphic", Komen, Slovenia
2000, 2002, 2003 Artists’ actions on the streets of Celje "Free entrance"
2002 Exhibition with Radivoj Mulič "A flat", in a series "Unusual pairs – Neobičajne dvojice", Gallery of Modern Art, Celje, Slovenia
2002 Exhibition "Drawers of Memories…" in IDCO Ljubljana, Slovenia
2003 6th International Art Meeting and exhibition, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
2003 Group exhibition "My little universe", Gallery of Contemporary Art, Celje, Slovenia
2003 Vstop prost – performance, city centre, Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2004 Belfast, Northern Ireland, artist in residence
2004 Belfast, Northern Ireland: "Community project" with LORAG, Belfast
2004 Belfast, Northern Ireland, performance: "Walking to the north, south, east and west of Belfast"
2005 Cork, Ireland, "Arts training"
2005 Majski salon, exhibition, Koper, Izola, Piran
2005 Territories, identities, net; Slovenian art 1995-2005, Modern gallery, Ljubljana
2005 FEEL LIKE HOME? – exhibition, Gallery of Modern Art,  Celje
2005 VSTOP PROST VI, action in a public space, Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2005 VSTOP PROST/ADMISSION FREE 1999-2005, exhibition, ZDSLU gallery, Ljubljana
2005-6. VSTOP PROST, intervention in a public space, exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2006 SELF-PORTRAIT, Art gallery, Maribor
2006 "Sweet, hardly still performance" Škuc gallery, Ljubljana
2006 SAVE AS / SHRANI KOT, Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2006-7. VSTOP PROST, intervention in a public space, exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2006 SELF-PORTRAIT, installation in a public space in Celje, community art with youth from Celje
2007 GARBAGE MEN, multimedia installation in a shop window, Stanetova street, cultural week, Celje
2007 Uročitev/Mesmerising, interior design, Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2007 VSTOP PROST 8, action in a public space and an exhibition in the Račka gallery, Celje
2007 PRAZNINE (EMPTY SPACES), permanent collection, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Celje
2007 TEAM BUILDING I., action, Kassel
2007 TEAM BUILDING II., action, Celjska koča
2007 TEAM BUILDING III., group performance, collaboration with LaVitrine, Pekarna Maribor
2007 group action and installation in Šptalska chapel, Celje
2008 Majski salon 2008, Gallery – Museum Lendava
2008 SELF-PORTRAIT, group exhibition, gallery Velenje
2008 9. VSTOP PROST, performance - action in a public space and an exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art, Celje
2008 DOCUMENT, transformation of a sacred space, ZDSLU gallery, Ljubljana
2008 DEVELOPMENT OF COMPASSION, performance and installation, ZDSLU gallery, Ljubljana
2008 PODOBE PROSTORA, performance and installation in Šptalska chapel, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Celje
2008 DEVELOPMENT OF COMPASSION, installation and video, Media Nox gallery, Maribor
2008 Art book presentations, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Celje
2009 Art book concourse winner for P74- P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. MUSEUM, Ljubljana
2009 Spiritual breads raffle, performance, Gallery for Contemporary Art, Celje
2009 Majski salon, Kranj
2009-10. VSTOP PROST, action in a public space in the centre of the city, Celje
2009 Prepovedana smrt / Forbidden Death, international exhibition, Gallery of Modern Art, Centre for Contemporary Art Celje
2009 Art book presentation and action, MGLC gallery, Ljubljana
2010 ART BOOK, multimedia installation, Hodnik gallery, Centre of Contemporary Art Celje
2010-11. VSTOP PROST, performance in the city centre, Celje

Statement
My contemporary practice derives from problems found in, or the mere state of the environment in which I live or am put into. My creation offers an answer / reflection / commentary on the state of reality of the considered social environment. I use various media for the implementation of my ideas, the ones that I consider to be accurate for a given situation. I don’t necessarily desire or need a gallery space for my practices – they can take place anywhere. I am consciously trying to work in a broader context, one that would be larger than the confined space of a gallery.

[Published June 18, 2010]