28. 11. 2025–8. 1. 2026 Hub

Hub
UGM Kabinet, Strossmayerjeva ulica 6
28 November 2025–8 January 2026
opening: Friday, 28 November 2025, 19:00

curator: Vid Koprivšek

artists: Maks Bricelj, Samra Buljić, Vid Koprivšek, Matej Mihevc and Lara Žagar

The exhibition presents a new body of work by five younger-generation Slovenian artists. In recent articulations of their practices, they have worked within the contexts of site-specific art, spatial intervention, digital expansion, simulation, and other forms of virtuality. The conceptual framework of the exhibition centres on the question of how transposing these practices into the seemingly neutral gallery space shapes the conditions of their reception and experience. The curator assumes a dual role in the project – not as an external mediator, but as an active participant in the artistic process. Thus, the exhibition is not conceived as a selection of pre-existing or commissioned works, but as a structuring of initial relations and conditions.

The focus is on the emergence of artworks – not in terms of modernist concepts of authorship or contemporary artistic critiques of production conditions, but in how works respond to their material and medial circumstances. When placed in the gallery space, these conditions are nullified or neutralised; in response, the works begin to react to even the slightest deviations in the perception of the gallery’s neutrality. The rationale for such a “transposition” is evident in the very characteristics of the selected practices, which operate in an almost biological state. They are defined by notions such as infection, evolution, permeability, emergence, succession, and mimicry. Like a jolt, every deviation from the ideal model triggers activity: the works probe the ground beneath them, determine trajectories of movement, shield themselves from the exterior, demarcate their space, and saturate the surrounding atmosphere.

The collective conception of the exhibition is therefore presented not as a social ecosystem but as a material one – as a “field of material agency”. Curation becomes an experiment in a Petri dish: the establishment of conditions and parameters that enable further development.

Maks Bricelj (1991) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2016, where he completed his master's degree in sculpture in 2021. Together with Ema Maznik Antić, he presented his work at the exhibition Hi-Res Prints for Burial T-shirts at Aksioma (2023), in solo exhibitions Gel Chambers at R Space (2022) and In a State of Malfunction at Kino Šiška (2019), and in group exhibitions Adaptation (Plaza Protocol, 2023), Plaza Protocol – Deposit at the Small Gallery of the Bank of Slovenia (2022), Terminal Drift at MoTA LAB (2022), Open Call at Galerija Škuc (2017), Community Kit at Projektni prostor MAO (2017), and elsewhere.

Samra Buljić (1999) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. She has shown her work in several group exhibitions: Parkplac in the Little Gallery of the Bank of Slovenia (2024), Adaptation as part of Plaza Protocol Platform (2023), Terminal Drift in MoTA LAB (2022). Her solo exhibition was presented as part of the project Das Garage, No. 2: Vortexing (2024).

Vid Koprivšek (1998) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, where he is currently completing his master’s degree in video and new media. His first solo exhibition, Swarm Entry, was shown as part of the U30+ initiative at the Aksioma Project Space in Ljubljana. Together with Matej Mihevc, he has realised the project Polymer Ooze at DobraVaga Gallery and presented his work in several group exhibitions, including the EKO 9 Triennial of Art and Environment: Eyes in the Stone (Maribor Art Gallery, 2024), Terminal Drift (MoTA LAB, 2022) and No White Canvas (Little Gallery of the Bank of Slovenia, 2020).

Matej Mihevc (1995) dedicates his artistic practice to researching the influence of new technologies on cultural production. He is currently studying for a master’s degree in video and new media at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. He has presented his work in the solo exhibitions Tensor Edge Recon (2023, osmo/za), Deconstructed Club (2023, MoTA Lab), Polymer Ooze (2022, DobraVaga, with Vid Koprivšek), @flat_gaze (2021, osmo/za), and Cambrian Interfaces (2021, Media Nox, with Farah Sara Kurnik).

Lara Žagar (1993) is a visual artist living and working in Ljubljana. She graduated from the Department of Fashion Design at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, and is currently completing her master's studies at the Department of Video and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. She has exhibited in group exhibitions such as Plaza Protocol (Mala galerija of the Bank of Slovenia), Odboj (Photon), Ponjava (2022–2024, various locations), Navidezni teren (Kino Šiška, as part of the Shaping the Future project and the International Festival of Generative Arts Adela; mentored by Maja Burja), the 10th IZIS Festival: Cevi (Libertas), and at the Alkatraz Gallery as part of a series of online exhibitions. Re-terraforming, her ongoing project, was exhibited at the Biennial of Kinetic Ceramics at the Layer House and at the Graphic Biennial at MGLC. She held her first solo exhibition at Vent Space Gallery in Estonia. She received a student award at the MRFU festival.