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Unfamiliar Area | Nina Baznik: Unfamiliar Area

19 May 2021 > 19 June 2021 Kindly invited to the mini online exhibition "Unfamiliar Area" by Nina Baznik.



This year, we are starting with a new programme unit titled Unfamiliar Area, which was inspired by Nina Baznik's project. During the heyday of corona crisis last year, she prepared a set of drawings, illustrations, and a comic. In them, she visually explores continuously functioning mechanisms of the human brain, which (can) affect (an individual's) behaviour and emotions, that science has only begun to learn about. However, she focused on the understanding of the (psychological) pain that can arise from the undiscovered world of the subconscious.

The title image of her project shall assume the role of the unit logo. The image reminds us about an unfamiliar area in which we found ourselves during the pandemic that evokes the feelings of discomfort, being lost, isolation, despair, and fear. In the centre of the black and white illustration, in the middle of an undefined empty space, is a creature that looks like a sympathetic apparition, a ghost. The position of the eyes reflects confusion and uncertainty, the lines along the head an overload. In the middle of the body, concentric isolines draw a deep bright opening. At various depths, it contains spherical thorny objects. Although they resemble a stylized corona virus, they can also illustrate concentrated distresses of the creature. A human hand, reaching into the illustration from outside, trying to catch one of the objects, gives the impression that the movement will lead to pain. Deeper down, we can see also a smaller figure of a depicted ghost, rotating towards the centre of the opening as if towards a drain, dangerously close to another prickly object.

With its numerous elements, the image is open to different interpretations. Still, a common emotional denominator of the scene is certainly anxiety, a sense of danger, and an atmosphere reminiscent of a nightmare. The image can be understood as a symbolic depiction of a rapidly changing reality, which otherwise reveals the fact that we still remain in uncertainty, as we do not know what the future holds after corona crisis. We experience similar discomfort in contact with mechanisms that affect our well-being on a daily basis, without really being aware of how they work.

In addition, we can draw parallels with the feelings encountered by young artists, who are only beginning their journey in the world of art, in search of confirmation and recognition. This path might be frightening and stressful, even more so in the current time when the possibilities of presentation, relaxed socialising and networking are limited.

Thus, the unit is intended for the presentation of artists who are just beginning to search for their position in the art world. Their mini exhibitions shall take place on a monthly basis, online only. One work with a curatorial description and curriculum vitae shall be presented. They shall receive a small fee for the exhibition. Nina Baznik, the author of the umbrella image of the unit, shall start the project as a curator and selector. Her image is an insightful illustration of confusion and despair of the current situation, although it can be read also more broadly. You can expect a variety of approaches and responses to contemporariness, but certainly works of art evoking discomfort, with a frightening undertone.

Ana Grobler, Sebastian Krawczyk.


 

Nina Baznik (1994, Ljubljana) graduated from the Academy for Fine Arts and Design in 2017. In 2018, she exhibited at the video festival Natures (Narave). In the same year, she won the scholarship of the International Festival of Computer Art (MFRU), and exhibited at the group exhibition Sweet Colours (Sladke barve), as a part of the Lighting Guerilla Laboratory, under the mentorship of the Austrian collective MO:YA Visuals and Sašo Sedlaček. In 2019, she participated in the student's exhibition Glasno-žitje in the Small Gallery of the Bank of Slovenia (Mala galerija Banke Slovenija), which took place on 100th anniversary of the University of Ljubljana. In 2020, together with a computer programmer, Žiga Trontelj, she exhibited in the gallery Tir, Nova Gorica. They exhibited an interactive project entitled Particles (Delci). Moreover, in 2020, she contributed an animation entitled To Mimic (Oponašati) to an independent TV station PVTV (art collective PVTV) in the ArtStab segment.

https://ninas-blank-site-e54dab.webflow.io/



 

 



 



 

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Other Unfamiliar Area exhibitions

Tim Kropivšek: Nano Fauna

Domen Dimovski: The Road to Justice

Fart Attack: Blue Bib

Daša Vinšek and Karin Vrbek: The Transient

Nuka Horvat: Trans Threatened

Miha Majes: Dark Fantasy

Ognjen Odalović: Dystopia

Zala Klančnik: =

Maša Knapič: ft.props

Lucija Klauž: Dodge, Lag and Delay

Lara Žagar and Oskar Kandare: The Hole

Pika Terpin: Cancer

Svitlana Ryabishchuk: Palianytsia

Amadeja Keršič: How Is It To Be a Clown

Žiga Gojević: "Can You Hear the Bells"

Hana Zadnikar: Object Subject

Lučka Centa: Skin We Are Born Into

Tamara Mihalič: In Spasm

Claudi Sovrè: Inner Saboteur ('Don't Call the Devil!')

Beti Frim: Trashies

Vid Koprivšek: Cosmetic Piracy

e________: Bloody Quilt, War and Death

Hana Besjedica & Hana Jelovšek: Contemporary Woman

Tian Breznik, Ana Meisel: Blink

Marija Klun: Deterioration of Form

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Proof-reading (Slovene language): Neja Berlič
Translation (to English language): Ana Makuc
Financial support: Ministry for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City Council Ljubljana - Department for Culture

Nina Baznik, Unfamiliar Area, digital illustration, 2021 Nina Baznik, The Flower, digitalna ilustracija, 4000 x 4000 dpi, Unfamiliar Area series, 2021