CORK 2005: Eye Try

Eye Try exhibition in the European Cultural Capital Kibla presented a selection of cultural projects exhibited in KiBela gallery between the years 2002 and 2004 in Cork Vision Centre from the 5th of April until the 28th of April 2005.

You can find out more about the presentation of Slovenian artists in European Cultural Capital on: cork2005.kibla.org and http://www.corkvisioncentre.com/corkvisioncentre/Main/Exh2005-Apr-Slovenia.htm

For the first time in history Slovenia was invited to participate in the European Cultural Capital programme as an EU member. European Cultural Capital project was established by the Board of Ministers on the initiative from Meline Mercouri on June the 13th 1985. It was designed to »contribute to the connection of European nations«. It is one of the oldest programmes and it celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2005. This was the first official collaboration with Slovenia since it became an EU member in 2004.

EYE TRY EXHIBITION

The selection of artistic works by Slovenian artists reflects the variety of ideas and visions that co-exist in contemporary art (which today is very heterogeneous). Eye Try unites various artistic approaches of Slovenian artists and groups, from classical (paintings, sculpture) to modern, highly sophisticated technologies.
The following artists presented themselves in Ireland:

MARKO ČRTANEC
Marko Črtanec, born 1953 in Ljubljana, where he lives and works today. Continuing a family tradition, he has been designing and working wood for more than fifteen years.

BOŠTJAN NOVAK
Boštjan Novak (1966, Ljubljana), 1992 completed studies at The Academy of Fine Art in Ljubljana. Lives and works in Ljubljana.

IGOR ŠTROMAJER
Igor Stromajer (1967, Maribor) is an intimate mobile communicator, multimedia communication artist; he works as the institution The INTIMA Virtual Base, founded 1994 in Ljubljana. INTIMA is a noncommercial art label. Awards: Extension festival, Hamburg, Germany, 1997; for the project "0.HTML"; Trash ART festival, Moscow, Russia, 1999; for the project "ZVRST 3"; COMTECart 99 festival, Dresden, Germany, 1999; for the project "b.ALT.ica"

MATJAŽ KRIVIC
Matjaž Krivic (1972, Ljubljana) The author has won recognition with numerous outstanding photos, which have appeared in all important printed media in Slovenia; he works for the French photo agency Sipa Press and for the Norwegian agency Millimeter Design. He has been awarded twice by The Royal Geografic Society, having been named as photographer of the year (2002 and 2003).

son:DA
son:DA (Horvat Miha, 1976, Maribor and Metka Golec, 1972, Maribor) working together since 2000 with different media, different approach and different message.

MAGDALENA PEDERIN
Magdalena Pederin (1968, Split, Hrvaška) completed studies at the Academy of Fine arts in Zagreb. In her work she explores exclusively urban connotations of electronic arts.

ŽIGA KORITNIK
Žiga Koritnik (1964, Ljubljana) is a free-lance photographer, TV and film cameraman. He is a member of The Jazz Journalists Association.

ANDREJ BRUMEN-ČOP
Andrej Brumen-Čop (1967, Maribor). Studies at the Academy for Fine Arts completed 1994. 1997 recieved a stipendium on the Academy for Fine Arts in Prague, 2000 in New York. He is an author of numerous writings and interviews about fine arts.

MARKO JAKŠE
Marko Jakše (1959, Ljubljana) graduated on the Academy for Fine Arts in Ljubljana at Metka Krašovec. Since then he's living and working as an free lance artist. He exhibited his paintings on many solo and group shows at home and abroad and for his work he got several domestic and international acclaims and prizes.

NATALIJA ŠERUGA
Natalija Šeruga (1971, Maribor) completed studies at The Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 1999. She lives and works in Radenci.

URŠULA BERLOT
Uršula Berlot (1973, Ljubljana) Academy of Fine Arts Ljubljana (1994-1998). Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, 2000: DNSAP (Diplome d`Arts Plastiques), where she continued to study painting and multimedia; completed studies at The Academy of Fine Arts Ljubljana (2002).

The paintings span from plastic representation to subtle organic abstract forms (Uršula Berlot, Natalija Šeruga, Marko Jakše, Andrej Brumen Čop). The material sculptural element ranges from simple classical statues on bases to enigmatic spacial installations (Boštjan Novak, Marko Črtanec and Magdalena Pederin). Classical intertwines with contemporary, individual with collective, unconciousness with conciousness, separate with social, local with global, urban with nomadic and the spectacular with the intimate (son:DA, Intima, Matjaž Krivic and Žiga Koritnik.) Every choice is based on one common denominator: artistic visualisation, a try by the eye. Yes, just as you would cover one eye and try to gaze longer and differently in one eye blink.

THE OPENING PERFORMANCE 5th of April 2005

On Tuesday the 5th of April at 6pm a festive opening of the Eye Try exhibition with the musical-scenic performance of DJ Jure Avguštiner and VJ Miha Horvat will take place.
Eye Try exhibition was officially opened by John Kennedy, director of the Cork 2005 programme, European Cultural Capital. Slovenian ambassador in Ireland also attended the opening.