LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD

Žiga Kariž & Alen Ožbolt

September 6– October 2, 2005


You are kindly invited to attend the opening of the exhibition on 
Tuesday, September 6th at 8 p.m. at Galerija Škuc

The opening will be accompanied by sound event It's so simple and that's 
the way I like it performed by Primož Cucnik in collaboration with Žiga 
Kariž.


In the exhibition bearing the title Love is a Battlefield, the works of Žiga Kariž and 
Alen Ožbolt, two Slovene artists belonging to different generations, will be 
presented in the Škuc Gallery.

The works of Žiga Kariž – who belongs to the younger generation of artists very 
much in the forefront of the Slovene contemporary art scene (let’s only 
remember his showcase as part of the Slovene Pavilion at the 2003 Venice 
Biennale, his presence in all theme-based shows and overviews within the 
boundaries of his home country, and numerous exhibitions abroad, like for 
example, the Limerick Biennale of 2003, or the 2005 Prague Biennale) – clearly 
demonstrate Kariž’s constant questioning and enquiry on the big names of the 
previous century, from the visual arts to architecture. 

His co-dependence on his home production and points of departure that have 
accompanied him throughout his phase of searching for his own self, are 
nevertheless anchored also in the works of Alen Ožbolt – a member of the VSSD 
group (Veš slikar svoj dolg, or in English, Painter You Know Your Debt) between 
1986 and 1995, whose work was featured in the Slovene Pavilion at the 1995 
Venice Biennale, has exhibited widely at home as well as abroad, and works also 
with original text and criticism tied chiefly to the art system and its functioning.

The conglomerate of two creative individuals will not only make for an 
(over)saturation of the space, but also a story of two conceptually strong 
individuals, who will, with the help of stories from past moments, create a 
common story of today’s time. The artists have based their concept for the 
exhibition on combining their fields of interest, merging them into some kind of 
saturated mass. The point of departure for both artists is the phenomenon of time 
and its (fast) gone transience, and a critical stance or commentary on the course 
of individual and common history.

Ožbolt will, by presenting small forms – here we are of course talking about small 
in the physical sense – copy, or reinterpret the forms of his own history and 
create new images with which he will materialise his personal position towards 
transient matter, objects, goods.
Without a sense of nostalgia he will place past/collapsing images in time, where 
the moment is worth less and less, and where it is no longer possible to follow 
time, since Ožbolt perceives the images, or better forms, that have come into 
existence in a certain instant as live organisms, or as the author himself explains:
“Life forms of inorganic matter. Elementary formative operations. Hidden forms, 
hidden life. Microbes, “extremophiles”, cellular forms, extreme forms need almost 
nothing in order to exist, a little more than nothing. They harm no-one and 
nothing. Hidden forms, Invisible borders. Border forms. Corner forms. And Double 
forms of winning over difference. These forms need a very, VERY small, 
extremely small living space and matter; people do not belong here.” In this way, 
Ožbolt wishes to establish a relation with Kariž’s approach towards images and 
historical events, which mostly lead (on) to an absurd consumption of the past.

In the project, Kariž will go beyond his working concept, which has up till now 
been presented mostly in the painting medium. The artist will present two 
installations. The first, Video Club (after Rodchenko), which was presented as 
part of the 7 Sins exhibition at the Ljubljana Museum of Modern Art in a more 
modest version and is based on combining two key works by Aleksander 
Rodchenko from the 20s of the 20th century (the triptych Pure Red Colour, Pure 
Blue Colour, Pure Yellow Colour and Workers’ Club) with a collection of pirate 
videos and film posters of cheap action movies from the 70s and 80s of the 20th 
century. The second installation entitled It's so simple and that's the way I 
like it, will be based on the principle of scenography, therefore a space made up 
of two walls and a floor. The plan of the “room”, which will be saturated with 
visual images (originals, copies, copies of copies) and audio recordings (which 
artist conceived together with Primož Cucnik), will thus become a platform 
serving as an illusionary account of reality – on the other hand, however, also 
wishing to establish a dialogue with the works that are to be found in gallery 
spaces.

Exhibitions in tandem are not rare despite the fact that this kind of presentation 
carries within itself a particular challenge – a co-dependence of the artists’ work, 
reciprocity or elimination, love or hate… The intertwining of different works, 
different approaches, and different responses towards that which has already 
passed, will bring a playful story of two artists who will present the world of the 
past in the present moment through uniquely intervolving individual stories.


Curated by: Alenka Gregoric



Special Thanks to: 

Žiga Kariž: Boštjan Drinovec, Mike Kelly, Andrej Kariž, Blaž Križnik, Paul 
McCarthy, Modern Gallery Ljubljana, Franci Zavrl

Alen Ožbolt: Branko Filipic, Mike Kelly, Paul McCarthy, Mir+an, Ta-ta-ta, Franci 
Zavrl



Exhibition supported by: 
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana City Council – 
Department for Culture, Ljubljanski potniški promet, RPS, Mizarstvo Mlakar.



For further information contact Alenka Gregoric, artistic director of Škuc Gallery 
on +386 1 251 65 40, galerija.skuc@guest.arnes.si