UGM Kabinet / Miran Mišo Hochstätter
Miran Mišo Hochstätter / Nature Morte 1975
UGM Kabinet, Strossmayerjeva 6
8 May – 1 August 2021
opening: 8 May 2021, 11:00
curator: Breda Kolar Sluga, UGM director
Nature Morte is a series of collages created by Miran Mišo Hochstätter almost half a century ago. Tthe prophetic works are extremely important for the history of photography in Slovenia due to their technical execution and expressive power, but they can also be placed on a broader map of world events at that time. With them, the author "ranks among the first modern ecological activists" (Vasja Nagy).
In the UGM Kabinet we present three series: People and Trees are Dying Together, Nature Morte and It will Rain, the Planes are Flying Low, which were exhibited under the title of the exhibition Nature morte (May 20 – June 1, 1975) in the Salon Rotovž shortly after the photographer ended his studies in Munich. About the series, the photographer wrote on the leaflet: “I am not an expert on ecological issues, at first I even thought they were exaggerating a bit with these campaigns and talking about‘ protecting the natural environment ’, but now that I have encountered this problem so directly, I know that they're damn right! ”
"During the first months of my stay in the big city, I had very serious problems with the most important and thus self-evident function - BREATHING! I was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of the city waiting for the green light when nausea came over me and I started to feel dizzy - because I was short of OXYGEN! Many times I had nowhere to run from the noise and hustle and bustle of the roads, subways and railroads, department stores, or I was so damn sad when my classmate and I drove down the highway and saw forests of chimneys and tanks with clouds of smoke above them«- Munich, March 1974
The series was accompanied by a text by professor, supporter of the young generation of artists, academic painter Marjan Remec, who was also disturbed by ecological changes and human attitude towards the environment. Hochstätter's photographic series and Remec's text represent an early engagement in the field of ecology. Soon the topic got a central place at the triennial Ecology and Art. At its second edition, in 1984, the series was re-exhibited. Four decades later, the curator Vasja Nagy recognized the topicality of the series and in 2019 included it at the Maribor Photography Festival. Today, the series is part of the rich UGM Collection, and we sincerely thank the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia for its support in the purchase.
The exhibition is part of the accompanying program EKO 8, International Triennial Art and Environment / A Letter to the Future.
