[spectre] Solo show by Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša at Aksioma Project Space

[Aksioma]

Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, kindly invite you 
to the exhibition opening:

*Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša*
/*Auction*/
/Solo Show/
Curated by Domenico Quaranta
www.aksioma.org/i.love.germany <http://www.aksioma.org/i.love.germany>

*Aksioma | Project Space*
Komenskega 18, Ljubljana
23 October - 15 November 2013

*Exhibition opening: Wednesday, 23 October 2013 at 7 pm*


Everybody has at least one of them. The “I heart” t-shirts made their 
appearance as a nice tourist’s gimmick that was saying at least two 
things: that you love a given city or country, and that you have been 
there. I Love New York. I Love Paris. I Love Ibiza. I Love UK. Then, 
they went viral and different variations started to appear. I Love 
Jesus. I Love Pasta. Finally, we entered the age of customization, and 
variations started to become even more interesting. I Love Me. I Love 
Bacon. I Love Brutus. I Love One Direction. I Love Your Mum. I Love Ass. 
I Love Mafia, even. We can love anything and still be socially accepted, 
because we are expressing it in a funny way.

Janez Janša loves Germany. So much that, to find his favorite t-shirt, 
he traveled through Germany, from Berlin to Köln, finally finding one – 
pardon, three of them – in the backroom of a tourist shop in Frankfurt. 
Germany is the most powerful and influential country in the EU. Germany 
is the country of the Bund, the 10-year bond used as a benchmark to 
calculate the stability of another country economy and to rate it. 
Germany is a country that attracts immigrants from all over the world, 
including young people looking for jobs, low rents, a good quality of 
life and the possibility of having children and feeding them.

So, Janez Janša loves Germany, and he has all the reasons to love it. He 
shows off this love proudly, wearing his brand new t-shirt wherever he 
may go, and taking pictures. Look, how happy he looks in his new 
t-shirt: in Ljubljana, where he lives; in Athens, where he spent his 
summer holidays; in London, where he went to work...

In /Auction/, Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša present some 
works from the new series /I Love Germany/, showing how even abused 
significants such as the “I Love” trend may take an unsuspected, 
powerful meaning when juxtaposed and remixed with other significants, 
and how a similarly abused gesture (the tourist portrait) can become a 
strong political gesture.

In these simple, effective images, three significants are at play with 
each other: the “abused” significant of the “I Love” t-shirt, applied to 
a subject (Germany) that is, more often than not, the object of an 
unspoken, discreet love; the “hijacked” significant of the name Janez 
Janša, belonging to the leader of the Slovene National Party as well as 
to the three artists in the show; and the plain significant of the 
background, from time to time related to politics and history (like the 
monument to Edvard Kardelj in Republic Square, Ljubljana), and to local 
and global economics (the Greek soldier and the “I Love Sales” sign). 
Using the oblique strategies (neither critical nor affirmative) that 
became part of their signature style, Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez 
Janša ask us some uncomfortable questions: how do you position yourself 
as an active subject in the globalized world? How do you conceal 
tradition and consumerism, being a global tourist and a victim of the 
financial crisis? And finally: what do you love?


*Janez Janša* works at the intersection of classic visual media, 
conceptual practices and new media. In 2003, he represented Slovenia at 
the 50th Venice Biennial; he has exhibited his work in New York, Sao 
Paulo, London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Prague, Budapest, Ljubljana, 
Belgrade, Tirana and elsewhere.

*Janez Janša* is author, performer and director of interdisciplinary 
performances including /Miss Mobile/, /We are all Marlene Dietrich FOR/ 
(/Mi vsi smo Marlene Dietrich FOR/) and /Pupilija, papa Pupilo and the 
Pupilceks/ (/Pupilija, papa Pupilo pa Pupilc(ki/). He regularly presents 
his work at European festivals of contemporary performing arts and in 
the USA. He is the director of Maska, Institute for Publishing, 
Production and Education, Ljubljana.

*Janez Janša* is an experienced newmedia artist, renowned at home as 
well as abroad, whose much-discussed art projects have been presented, 
inter alia, at Manifesta 4, Ars Electronica, ZKM, ISEA, ARCO, Kiasma, 
MNAC, MMOMA, MMSU and MSUM.. He is the recipient of the ARCO/Beep 2007 
award for digital art.


*Production: *Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2013
www.aksioma.org <http://www.aksioma.org>

Artistic Director: Janez Janša
Producer: Marcela Okretic(
Executive Producer: Sonja Grdina
Public Relations: Mojca Zupanic(
Technician: Valter Udovic(ic'


/The exhibition is part of the program of the 1:1 Stopover on view at 
the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Maistrova 3, Ljubljana, 
organized by MSUM in co-production with Maska./
/
*The programme of Aksioma Institute is supported by the Ministry of 
Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana.*
Sponsor: Datacenter d.o.o./


Contact:
Marcela Okretic(, 041 250 830, aksioma4 at siol.net <mailto:aksioma4 at siol.net>
*Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana*
Neubergerjeva 25, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
www.aksioma.org <http://www.aksioma.org>

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