Screening at Open studio: Neža Knez
Wednesday, 24 February 2021, 20.00
Galerija Miroslav Kraljević, Šubićeva 29, Zagreb
Between 25 January and 26 February Neža Knez is a guest artist at the Open Studio of the Miroslav Kraljević Gallery in Zagreb. As part of her presentation she also presents various Slovenian artists to the Zagreb audience. On a screening night she will present video and film works from the exhibition 3+3=6. Three women artists, three art practices, six decades curated by Barbara Borčić and Peter Cerovšek and organized by SCCA-Ljubljana / DIVA Station.
The exhibition in Ljubljana included video works and films by three women artists: Ana Nuša Dragan, Zemira Alajbegović and Ema Kugler who were/are active in the field of action/performance, film and video art in Slovenia. The beginnings of their activities date back to different periods of the 20th century: the 1960s (Dragan), the 1980s (Alajbegović) and the 1990s (Kugler). They have always worked in collaboration with numerous artists and in tune with the challenges of time, either in the frame of socialist system or the one of liberal capitalism. The specific conditions of production have thus largely defined their artistic practices, ranging from Conceptual and Alternative to Post-Modern Art. Film / video was the central means of expression for them, and the basis for it was often live action, either happening and event or performance. Their characteristic narration oscillates from documentary to performative and poetics.
The exhibition is a part of the European project Not Yet Written Stories – Women Artists’ Archives Online (2020–2022), which focuses on women artists who have often been overlooked in the history of contemporary art and will create, through research, archives of artists available in a common online repository.
Ana Nuša Dragan (1943 – 2011) graduated from the Sociology and Psychology departments of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. She specialised in television and video media at the British Film Institute in London in 1972, and received a scholarship from the French government in Paris in 1984. Between 1967 and 1988, she worked in short film and video art together with Srečo Dragan. Since 1988, she had been creating in the domain of video art and TV documentaries on her own. She worked as the Head of the Media Education at the Educational Technology Department in the National Education Institute.
Zemira Alajbegović (1958) graduated from Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. From 1982 to 1988, she was a member of the FV (112/15), multimedia and theatre group and of FV Disco club that worked on the Ljubljana subculture scene and this was where and when she also started to work in video. In the 1980s, she co-founded the video production FV Video and FV Label, the first independent music and video publishing house in Yugoslavia. From 1983 to 1989, she was a member of the Borghesia group (multi-media performances, video clips). In collaboration with Neven Korda, she was the author of numerous video films, music videos and dance videos. In recent years, she has directed documentaries and TV shows on art and culture. Since 2011, she has been working as a journalist and editor in the cultural sector of Radio Television Slovenia.
Ema Kugler (1955) graduated at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana. In 1980s, she worked at alternative Radio Student in Ljubljana and collaborated in numerous multimedia projects and alternative fashion shows. Her field of interest covers different media: performance, installation, film, video, and theatre costume design. She works as a freelance director, screenwriter, scenographer, costume designer, editor, and a multidisciplinary artist with unique artistic expression. She is the author of five feature films, numerous video and short films, performances, and art installations.
Neža Knez was born in Ljubljana in 1990. In 2014 she graduated in Sculpture at Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where continues master’s program under the mentorship of professor Jože Barši. For her thesis, she received the highest recognition Summa Cum Laude (2017). She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad and has received several awards, including the award from Ministry of Culture, Mobility Grant (I – Portunus, Goethe Institut)Ljubljana City, UL ALUO Recognition and UL ALUO Award for exceptional student achievements, the award for an innovative approach to graphic arts, the Prešeren Student Award of the University of Ljubljana and the OHO Group Award. She was the recipient of a two-year residency for young artists at the Švicarija Creative Centre and participant of WHW Academy in Zagreb. She lives and work between Ljubljana and Zagreb.
Neža Knez at DIVA Station
Interview with Neža Knez at Kulturpunkt.hr (in Croatian)
Photo: Neža Knez
Production: SCCA-Ljubljana/DIVA Station in cooperation with Neža Knez and Galerija Miroslava Kraljevića