Small but dangers
4 January – 22 January 2013
P74 Gallery, Trg Prekomorskih brigad 1, Ljubljana
Opening on Friday, 4 January at 7 p.m.
Curated by: Tadej Pogačar
It’s a peculiar feeling – as if we were to find ourselves in the middle of a narration which constantly evades us and leaves us tentative and confused. The objects, structures, drawings are real and authentic, but we are unable to relate to them. Their meaning is blocked, ambiguous. Everything is at hand, but we are unable to (entirely) understand anything. In this solo exhibition SBD presents the processes of collecting, organising, and representation. In the installation we follow a mix of paradoxes and the rational, typical for their creation. The common thread remains the creation of a game without rules, full of unexpected twists and absurd turns. Absence is the second important constant in their work. Whether it is absence as fundamental status; or absence as an empty place, as erasure, negation or rejection. At the same time emptiness plays an important role in the spatial layout, since it is an element of connection, thus creating a rhythmic structure among the works, the groups of works, the space, and the spectator.
For the first time, SBD will exhibit new artist books, which they call “Performance books”. These one-of-a-kind works are created by an act of destruction, that is, by tearing out the pages. Thus we see only the last few, remaining sheets or just a cover with unrelated prints, sketches, notes, photographs. The series “Natura morta” is comprised of a collection (of obscure, fluid) everyday objects such as a box for diapositives, a hunting target, an envelope, a glass jar with ashes, a stand for a hunting trophy, etc. as well as their display in the space. SBD emphasise that the installation “Natura morta” is not a finished whole. The objects can be laid out in a different order and thus reveal other semantic connections and accents. With the arbitrariness of the arrangement SBD expose the crisis of (fixed) meaning, or rather, the instability of its (definitive) sense.
SBD’s solo exhibition titled Small but Dangers is their second solo presentation in P74 Center and Gallery. In addition to the SBD’s interesting procedures and features, which the two artists have successfully brought to the national art scene, the exhibition marks an important step forward in the group’s creation. Along with visual art works the exhibition includes a photographic project which arose in collaboration with photographer Matija Brumen.
SBD are Mateja Rojc and Simon Hudolin-Salči. Both artists are graduates from Arthouse – College for Visual Arts in Ljubljana (2005 and 2004 respectively). Simon Hudolin-Salči also completed further studies in the Visual Art Education programme at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, in 2008.
Nominated for the OHO Group Award in 2008, SBD have presented their in Slovenia and abroad, including solo exhibitions and performances in Solkan, Deskle and Ljubljana and group exhibitions in New York, Vienna, Venice, Ljubljana, Celje, Lendava, Škofja Loka, Nova Gorica, Cerkno – among them a very successful presentation at U3 – the 6th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia in the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (2010). SBD have also created many audio-visual performances and scenography for animations and music videos.
The programme of the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Institute is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia and by the Municipality of Ljubljana, Department for Culture.