Slovenia and Non-Aligned Pop

The catalogue was published alongside the exhibition Slovenia and Non-Aligned Pop. Dr. Petja Grafenauer's doctoral research provided a comprehensive starting point. In the continuation, we researched the gallery and museum depots from the coastal region all the way to Prekmurje, at which we were aided by our colleagues from the galleries and museum network. We compounded a selection of artist names that reflect the fruitful Slovene creativity. We confirmed the importance of the galleries within the museum network, for without them the image of the period would be bleak. We also addressed artists directly, and they generously offered us their works and memories of times bygone.

In the 1960s and 70s the situation in Slovenia differed greatly from that in America. Not only did we no longer dream about capitalism, the self-governing socialism was based on shared ownership. Slovenia is too small for Warholian fame, but the power of propaganda was known in Yugoslavia. POP in Slovene visual art was not a state export, it was not even a formal movement, for it was wrapped in silence and has remained almost entirely invisible until today.

But we did have POP!

The comprehensive research carried out by Petja Grafenauer is complemented by firsthand experience. In an interview conducted by the curator Jure Kirbiš, Aleksander Bassin, an art critic and promoter of 'expressive figural art', presents the time and the first exhibitions. The more recent Facebook note by dr. Tomaž Brejc provides his personal feelings connected to the size and speed of the world in the past and today.

Petja Grafenauer and Vasja Cenčič, the authors of the exhibition, decided to divide the artworks into 9 themes: GOODS, FASHION AND EROTICISM, DEATH, ECOLOGY and numerous movements in EXPANDED AWARENESS, SUBJECT, LANDSCAPE and REAL SOCIALISM.

Texts: Matej Bor, Marko Brecelj, Tomaž Brejc, Vasja Cenčič, Biserka Debeljak, Tone Fornezzi Tof, Petja Grafenauer, Dušan Jovanović, Jure Kirbiš, Breda Kolar Sluga, Iztok Lipužič, Miha Mazzini, Frane Miličinski – Ježek, Bogdan Novak, Skupina 443, Tomaž Šalamun, Rudi Šeligo, Ivan Volarič Feo, Franci Zagoričnik, Ifigenija Zagoričnik Simonović
Editors: Petja Grafenauer
Year: 2017
Pages: 172 + 40 (booklet of literary fragments)
Design: Vasja Cenčič

This publication is now available on AbeBooks.com online store.