XXIX. International Arts Colony

This year sees the twenty-ninth edition of the International Arts Colony, which will take place as part of the 74th Ljubljana Festival. As it has every year, the colony will bring together eight painters from different parts of the world, offering them the opportunity to meet, exchange views and experiences and create together. As such, it serves as a kind of bridge for visual artists, connecting different languages of artistic expression. Although multiculturalism may no longer be discussed as much as it once was, it remains of vital importance to culture and the arts. Art is founded precisely on connection and openness. Throughout history, the visible and inner message of art has been enriched and elevated above all through the interweaving of different cultures, since without them the body of art as a whole would be far less vibrant. It is hard to imagine what the world’s museums and galleries would look like if all works of art reflecting cultural diversity were removed from them. In art, multiculturality is a sine qua non, and without it there is no depth or true meaning.

When I hear people speak, for example, about the Polynesian islands in the context of visual art, I see Gauguin’s paintings of Tahiti – in other words I see them through the eyes of a Frenchman, not a Polynesian. I love Venice above all when the sun breaks through the mists rising from the lagoon. Yet in my view no Italian painter, not even a Venetian, has ever captured this scene as evocatively as J. M. W. Turner, an Englishman. When I look at his Venetian paintings, which are almost abstract, to me at least they convey a definite sapore di sale.

What does multiculturalism represent and what does it really mean? The often-heard phrase that people who live by a border carry borderlessness in their souls sounds very poetic. It sounds appealing, but in reality this coexistence is simply a process that must be constantly nurtured and, above all, accepted. This process is, of course, somewhat closer to you if you use the languages of two different cultures on a daily basis and have had friends from both or several cultures since childhood. Yet it is art which, through its exclusively aesthetic language, continually confronts us with countless stories we should all reflect on. We are living in a time of rising racism, which poisons everything from social networks to educational and public spaces and brings violence. I am convinced that only coexistence and culture in all its forms can prevent this civilisational collapse. It is art, in particular, that is a kind of humus from which the culture of multiculturalism springs. It is enough, for example, simply to observe the behaviour of people viewing works of art in a museum or gallery. They respond with deep engagement to the impulses that art evokes. In such a space there is no sense of intolerance, racism or chauvinism, even though the visitors belong to different races, cultures and nationalities.

For painters, multicultural encounters have always been very important. The Ljubljana Festival provides precisely this kind of experience each summer through the International Fine Arts Colony at Križanke. This year it will be held for the twenty-ninth time. It offers visual artists the opportunity to work in an environment full of intense creative activity, where all artistic disciplines intersect and where intercultural and interpersonal experiences come together in an atmosphere of synergy. Ljubljana is not just a green capital, it is a city that has for some time been intensively building up its cultural content and image through significant investments in culture. Organised by the Ljubljana Festival, the colony offers eight painters – from Slovenia and various other countries – the opportunity to spend a week as our guests, blending the world of musical impulses provided by the evening concerts with their own world of visual creation.

This year’s participants will include artists from Japan, Belgium, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Austria, along with three artists from Slovenia. Once again this year, we will be joined by the well-known multimedia artist Lado Jakša, who will be with us for the entire week. The colony concludes with the opening of an exhibition in the Knights’ Hall of the works produced over the course of the week. On this occasion Lado Jakša will offer a musical and visual presentation of his own vision of the participating artists’ work and creative process.

I wish the participants an enjoyable stay in Ljubljana and, above all, successful work.
Tomo Vran, selector