Nataša Skušek & Lea Culetto: “spring cleaning”

Nataša Skušek and Lea Culetto are presenting their exhibition entitled Spring Cleaning at the Simulaker Gallery as part of the collaboration between LokalPatriot and the Cultural and Artistic Association Mreža (Network) – KUD Mreža, which operates within the AKC Metelkova mesto. The artists first connected in 2019 with the exhibition entitled indian summer as part of the Mentorship+ project, carried out by the Alkatraz Gallery. The project facilitates intergenerational partnerships between people who occupy different positions within the art system. The platform allows for equal collaboration on a non-hierarchical basis, a kind of mutual mentoring in which the approaches of the two participants converge dialogically through the interplay of their visions, perspectives, experiences and artistic approaches.

Already at the Alkatraz Gallery, their joint exhibition blurred the boundary between a solo exhibition of an artistic duo and a group exhibition, as some of the artworks had a single author, while others were co-authored. In Simulaker Gallery, too, there are notable similarities to the previous approach, reflecting the two artists' detailed, self-developed poetics, but also, despite this, their shared interest in related subjects, which allows them to work together in a highly coherent way. This is also one of the reasons for the new, this time co-produced, invitation to cooperation, which recognises and encourages their continued successful association.

The themes present in the artists' independent works are the objectification of women and the social imposition of generalised beliefs, desires and ambitions in a patriarchal context. In their previous joint exhibition, they thus appropriated the title phrase 'Indian summer', which refers to stereotypical female roles, and subverted its meaning, and the same applies to Spring Cleaning. This time, however, rather than the humorous and affirmative way in which they move in the direction of empowerment, there is a haunting moment, which they each achieve through their negation of the self-portrait. Lea Culetto makes her negative out of hairs that are no longer part of her body, while Nataša Skušek uses a collection of shopping lists and notes from her own daily life, and a photograph that reveals not her face, but only her hair and arms. Hair is the essential ingredient of Lea Culetto's Herbarium this time, transformed into decorative flowers using Victorian braiding techniques. Among them, the rose made from Nataša Skušek's hair stands out, evoking feelings of confusion and intangibility, and as such illustrating the essence of the complexity of their joint exhibition and the intertwined nature of their work.

The cleansing of space, the body and personal waste is carried out with the turn to spring, with budding and new growth. The viewer is surprised by live sprouting tomato seeds in the form of a series of prints by Nataša Skušek and the sprouting of reishi mushrooms from the cushioned stool we have occupied for too long on a patriarchal winter. Their joint work, a combined engaged contribution, covers the olfactory aspect. The essential oil of white sage is released from the misting jar into the space, symbolically cleansing it of sexist and hateful social, as well as internalized, personal, clutter.