EXIT STATION

30 November 2012 > 02 December 2012 You are kindly invited to the opening of the exhibition Exit station in Berlin on Friday 30th November at 7 pm at Kolonie Wedding's InteriorDAsein, rosalux and n gallery. Participating artists: Edvin Dobrilovič, Boštjan Drinovec, Tomaž Furlan, Neven Korda, Damijan Kracina & Vladimir Leben (sound by Sašo Kalan), Miha Perne and Matej Stupica. Curator of the exhibition is Jadranka Plut; assistant: Sebastian Krawczyk.

Alkatraz Gallery is kindly inviting you to the opening of the exhibition EXIT STATION at

- rosalux, Wriezener Str.12, Berlin, Germany

- n, Biesentaler Str. 5, Berlin, Germany

- InteriorDAsein, Steegerstraße 2, Berlin, Germany

The exhibition entitled Exit Station is a somewhat condensed representation of the project A Mid-Stop carried out in September 2012 at the 19^th anniversary of the Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova City. The project was created in collaboration with the team of the World of Art (SCCA-Ljubljana, Centre for Contemporary Arts), Akatraz Gallery as well as artists and craftsmen of the Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova City. Set as an exhibit & research project, oriented into the exploration of the history of the Metelkova visual scene, the exit bears a symbolic meaning of the opening/revelation of the Metelkova-like living being, including artistic creation of a variety of approaches through heterogenic expressions.

„The artists of Metelkova City belong to different generations, distinctly heterogeneous in their practices, their means of expression vary right from their outset, some of them are more inclined to fine arts, others to contemporary practice, some of them to spatial design, and others to what we could call craft. That’s why it is difficult to define the visual production uniformly, but Metelkova City dictates specific operational conditions of production that in one way or another affect the actual artistic practice of each individual artist. A contributing factor to the above fact is the situation itself, since the studios (even though they are - for a long period of time - obtained through public tenders and not by squatting) still require a skilful hand and personal engagement of the artist for renovation and to set up a work environment fit for use. It is exactly the ability, engagement, and willingness to co-operate that are crucial for the formation of the community of Metelkova City where individuals with practical and conceptual skills contribute their own share also outside their studio.“ (Saša Nabergoj)

The exhibition Exit Station is opening up opportunities for an active establishment of the relation between an artist and a gallery space, offering an interpretation of the construction of a social system of individuals within the community, creating relations among the participants. Positions being formed at the micro-macro level create an apparent equality and a possibility of free participation of a subject within the group formed. The exhibition does not focus on one single pole of questions and finding their answers, but is seemingly even exceptionally diverse; simultaneously posing at the first glance unrelated questions to indicate their ultimate intrinsic and complex intertwinement, determined by the very nature of the system, at the same time assuming the characteristics of an extremely speculative structure.

More at: www.koloniewedding.de

Production: KUD Mreža / Galerija Alkatraz
Co-production: Strip Core / Forum Ljubljana (Damijan Kracina & Vladimir Leben, 2πr), Kolonie Wedding
The project is supported by: the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia, and City Council Ljubljana, Department for Culture.
Special thanks to Jovan Balov, SCCA, Centre for Contemporary Arts  – Ljubljana

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EDVIN DOBRILOVIČ was born on 13 June, 1971 in Koper, Slovenia. After finishing Graphical Design at the High School for Design and Photography in Ljubljana, he enrolled in 1992 on Art Pedagogy at Faculty of Education (University of Ljubljana). In 1993 he started to study painting at Academy of Fine Arts and Design. His professors were Metka Kraševec and Bojan Gorenc. Lives in Bohinjska Bela and works in Metelkova City in Ljubljana.

BOŠTJAN DRINOVEC
The sculptural world of Boštjan Drinovec extends between the well considered connection of the contents and form. The content of the sculptural designing is directly linked to the procedure of the sculpture’s creation, as the author, during the very process of creation keeps constantly upgrading the technique and methods applied while working on a respective work of art. The authorial style of Drinovec pertains to the technology of a modified view on the world, this time in the local Alkatraz Gallery in the exhibition entitled The Cacophonic Generator, once again more mobile than static image representing the world and the accompanying reflection on wider socio-critical views on the Creation. The sculptural work The Cacophonic Generator is a sculpture machine, a device assembled of a steel construction and audio-mechanical part. The working of The Cacophonic Generator, the intertwining of irregular as well as anomalous rhythms with orderly rhythms can be regarded as a sculptural simulation of the human system, functioning orderly at its lower levels (in compliance with the law, rules, tradition,...), and chaotic operation prevailing at higher levels. (Jadranka Plut)
»The question arises whether this is music or sounds, an instrument or a generator of random choice. The irregular and unpredictable rhythm is a result of irregular electrical connections of the pendulum’s copper electrodes. When the connection is established it switches on the electromagnet moving the mechanisms of the pendulum or sticks hitting the drum membranes. A retro principle in the era of digitalization. The visually clear principle, employing the principles and knowledge from the era of Nikola Tesla, opposing the digital of the contemporariness which conceals the inner processes from the user.« (Boštjan Drinovec)
Boštjan Drinovec (born 1973) creates »intro muras« of the Autonomous Cultural Centre of Metelkova City (Avtonomnega kulturnega centra Metelkova mesto). He attained his M.Sc. degree at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2001. Since 2008, after being appointed an assistant professor he has taught sculpturing at the department for design. http://www2.arnes.si/~bdrino/

TOMAŽ FURLAN, born 3 February, 1978 in Kranj. After finishing secondary school I studied sculpture at Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. I’m mostly interested in video and performance but I do not to exclude any art technique which has the possibility to carry the message. I live in and work in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Project Wear was presented on solo and group exhibition in Slovenia and abroad. Such as: solo exhibitions in Gallery P74 and Alkatraz Gallery (Slovenia) and group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad such as: Book of artist in Slovenia 1966–2010, Kresija Gallery; Videospotting and Videodokument in Gallery 3,14, Bergen Norway 2008; Parallel Worlds, AKC Metelkova Mesto, 2009; Limited acces II, Parkingallery in collaboration with Azad Gallery, Tehran 2009; In the loop: Contemporary EU Video Art, Washington USA (2010); Word for Word, Without Words, City Art Museum, Ljubljana 2010; Manifesta 9, Genk Belgium 2012. For my work I was awarded with Group OHO award for young artists.

DAMIJAN KRACINA & VLADIMIR LEBEN
Just as with the project Galapagos, Damijan Kracina and Vladimir Leben have joined their imaginative tendencies and created a wholly new habitat, which this time in not related to a remote island reserve, but to a world of dark depths. This environment is disclosed in a darkened circular panorama where only a flickering light that moves along the edges of the panorama reveals for short moments the recreated flora and fauna. It is the same principle as with the first cave explorers discovering the cave paintings with the light of a torch, or with the batiskaf with its beams of light from its headlights in the deep depths of the sea. The visitor enters the center of the circle, dimmed in a cave-like darkness, while only a weak flicker of moving light, his only guide in the darkness, enables him to perceive the recreated world around him. There is only one safety caveat the visitor needs to take into account while entering and leaving the installation, which is, just as with spelunking: ‘Watch your head!’ (Jani Pirnat)

Sound design: Sašo Kalan
2piar at Lighting Guerilla

Damijan Kracina was born in 1970 in Kobarid, Slovenia. Study of sculpture and a postgraduate study of video and the new media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana.
He was the founding member of the Provokart art group, which performed several public art events and projects. He was founder and art director of ARTileria Kluže (1997−2000). He was artist in residency in: Werkstadt Graz, Graz Austria (1998), Studio of Ministry of Culture of RS in New York, USA (2000), Tamarid Institute Albuquerque, New Mexico USA (2002), SFAI Santa Fe, NM, USA (2004). Active memeber of Domestic Research Society, www.kracina.com, www.galapagos.si

Vladimir Leben was born in Celje in Slovenia on 1st January 1971. He attended High School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana. He continued studies of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. His first solo exhibition was in 1991. Since that time he has presented his work with eleven solo exhibitions and has participated in many group exhibitions at home and abroad. In year 2001 he becomes member of ‘Too modern art’ movement. That very same year in September the group presents publicly for the first time in Alkatraz Gallery in Ljubljana. In year 2004 Museum of too Modern Art opens its door in Spodnji Hotič near Litija. Between years 2003 and 2006 he takes an active part as an assistant director and animator in creating of animated film ‘Bizgeci’. He lives and works in Ljubljana. Museum of too Modern Art

MIHA PERNE born April 22, 1978 in Ljubljana. After finishing photography at High School for Design and Photography in Ljubljana he studied one year art history at Faculty of Arts at University of Ljubljana. In 1998 he started to study painting at Academy of Fine Arts and Design (Ljubljana) and graduated in 2004. With Leon Zuodar he founded art tandem BELI SLADOLED in 2005. Works in the filed of painting, graphic and strip. Lives and works in Ljubljana.

NEVEN KORDA is an artist acting in the field of performative and projected arts. He researches, practices and records pure art. His video practice is therefore the research of video and not genres or topics the video conveys. His visualist is Barbat Kanak. Korda creates artificial situations requiring interaction of the body, voice, sound, and video live, as well as computer intervention. He is a director and author of theatrical pieces, authorial films, documentaries and video clips, while he simultaneously acts as a mentor and performer of workshops applicable video. He is active in the field of archiving and preservation of video recordings. In the 80s he was engaged in the Ljubljana alternative scene as a co-founder and head of the theatre group FV 112/15, also a co-founder of alternative video production FV Video as well as a member of the group Borghesia, in charge of the visual part. In the 90's he worked as a video editor, author of TV images, a director and executor of projects and television programmes. (http://www.korda-art.si)

MATEJ STUPICA (1987) has completed his studies of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. He creates in various fields of visual art, ranging from comics, illustration, and painting to installation. His artist book Hedgehogs was chosen in a tender of the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Institute, “Artist Book 2005” and was exhibited at the 27^th International Biennial of Graphics. He publishes his illustrations in Objective, a supplement of Dnevnik newspaper. In 2008, at the 8^th Slovenian Biennial of Illustration, he won the Hinko Smrekar prize for newspaper illustration. In 2009 he received a prize of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design for special artistic achievements in 2007/2008. In 2011 he received a student Prešern award for painting. In 2011 he also studied painting at AAAD in Prague. The works, exhibited at the exhibition Escape from Alkatraz, represent his diploma works at ALUO with prof. Žiga Kariž and co-mentor prof. Borut Vogelnik.