Notice of closure of MGLC and Švicarija
The International Centre of Graphic Arts and MGLC Švicarija will be closed to the public in line with the official guidelines of the National Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia (NIJZ) and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia in order to prevent the spreading of coronavirus (Covid-19). This provisional measure is being taken to ensure the health of visitors and museum workers. The forthcoming programme will be adapted to the situation and the recommendations of the NIJZ as they arrive.
You are welcome to drop by on the MGLC social media sites: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Photo: Katja Goljat. MGLC Archive.
New acquisitions
Jan Dibbets: Roodborst territorium/Sculptuur 1969
Collection of Art Publications,
inv. no. 4329
Robin Redbreast’s Territory is a book documenting an installation, which Jan Dibbets set up in an Amsterdam park in 1969. The artist observed and recorded the movements of the Robin Redbreast bird in nature with his camera. The book, published in 1970, is the artist’s only bookwork and is one of the more important works of the time.
While reading several books about the Robin Redbreast bird, the artist learnt about its habits and decided to expand its territory by placing poles on which the bird would perch, thus establishing new boundaries. In this way, the bird participated in the artist’s work.
The left side of the slim volume features photographs and topographic studies besides the artist’s handwritten notes in three languages (English, French and German) on the right.
Jan Dibbets abandoned painting in 1967 and began to create ephemeral installations in nature, which he then also photographed. The act is not an end in itself for the artist: he is most interested in maintaining the meaning of the work as he believes that in the end, it is not the reality of the installation that matters, but the idea that inspired it.
Dibbets’ idea was to use his new understanding of the habits of the Robin Redbreast bird for the concept of drawing in space and the desire to visualise ecosystems. He realised that he could not share his idea with others until he discovered the artist’s book format, which he recognised as the right means for spreading his idea. In this sense, the book is not merely a form of documenting the installation but its physical conclusion.
A. L. Steiner: STOP
Collection of Art Publications,
inv. no. 1235
STOP, a bookwork by photographer A. L. Steiner, is a poetic visual document of the paper industry. The book is divided into three chapters. It begins with a silent lament carved into a tree trunk: Help me! This is followed by the photographs – “portraits” of isolated trees in the landscape, further followed by documentation of their fate. From page to page, we observe how trees are felled, stacked, loaded and eventually left in giant factories. The book concludes with an inventory of disposable paper products: paper rolls, cardboard boxes, newspapers, paper cups, paper bags and, self-critically, the pages of the book itself. STOP draws attention to the physical history of the paper bound into each copy of the book and points to the viewer’s involvement in the consumer production process. The awareness of this complicity, which does usually not come to the fore during reading, is the subtext of the book. Steiner’s perspective is broad and introspective. The sharp, yet lyrical images in the book draw attention to the mass destruction of the environment in order to sustain our consumer culture.
The book was published in 2003 by Onestar Press in Paris, limited to an edition of 250 copies. It has 186 unpaginated pages printed in black and white offset. It is glue-bound and comes in a colour paperback cover.
Roni Horn: You are the Weather
Collection of Art Publications,
inv. no. 1894
American artist Roni Horn has been travelling to Iceland regularly for many years, where she stays for extended periods of time. This is where the ideas for her installations and books with drawings and photographs are born.
You are the Weather is an extremely beautiful artist's book, which is minimalist and complex at the same time. It confronts us with the mysterious surface of the face of one woman. The book is an intimate and erotic artwork without ever being sexual or explicit. The book cannot be viewed in the usual passive way. We find ourselves in front of the open face of an unknown woman while experiencing her beauty, depth and mystery. The woman's face anchors our gaze but does not return it. So before us, we have an artist's book that is as challenging and enigmatic as it is beautiful and intimate.
Roni Horn about the book: “... it concentrates exclusively on this one woman, on close-ups of her face. I photograph this woman, Margrét, in the water. This was very important, as water is a true key phenomenon in Iceland. It was quite an easy relation. I did not say anything about what she had to do. She simply got into the water and I began to take photographs. In sunlight or under a stormy, cloudy sky – the water surrounded her, her hair was sometimes wet and sometimes tousled by the wind. You can not look at this woman in the traditional manner of nude photography. You look at a woman, who is also looking at you. Through her relation to the water, the light, the wind and the weather, she takes on these different personalities.”
Kitch'n Megazine
All creatives, artists and other enthusiasts in isolation – let’s get together and cook something up!
MGLC extends an invitation to create a collective document of the time and the unexpected situation that has shocked and shaken the world over. Let’s stay at home and devote our time, which suddenly seems to be overly plentiful, to the pleasurable sides of life. Get a piece of paper ready and use the power of the recipe that you have been keeping under wraps for so long – paint, write, glue, cut, roll, rub off, fix the texture … All contributions sent in will be printed and compiled into a booklet – a zine, received by every single participant.
Learn more about our campaign!
