| Škuc Gallery | |
| Project |
Why MSE - projects? |
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| In the period when Manifesta 3 will take place
in Ljubljana, the Škuc Gallery will present a consecutive project,
entitled MSE-projects (Middle-South-East Projects). MSE-projects is an
initiative which supports exchange and co-operation between the Škuc
Gallery and partners from Budapest (Barnabás Bencsik, Trafó Galéria,
and János Szoboszlai, Institute of Contemporary Art – Dunaújváros),
Graz (Margarethe Makovec & Anton Lederer, <rotor> association
for contemporary art Graz), Sarajevo (Lejla Hodžić, Soros Centre for
Contemporary Arts – Sarajevo), Zagreb (Ana Dević & Nataša Ilić,
curator duo) and Bologna (Gino Gianuizzi, Galleria Neon). MSE-projects
include: - MSE-meetings (the first took place in Ljubljana from 25 to 27 February 2000), which are intended for exchange of information and experiences. - MSE-events, lectures and debates in which the partners and their guests will introduce themselves and present their activities, infrastructure, cultural policy, social context and other initiatives in the partner cities or regional centres. They will take place from 23 to 25 June 2000. - MSE-exhibitions, which will be prepared by our partners. These are not only reflections of the art scenes of individual cities, but represent the exhibition guidelines in the respective art spaces and the concepts of artists, or curators. The exhibitions will take place from June to October 2000, and will continue also in the year 2001. Each of these centres represents its "Midst"; they source from their own self-understanding and self-image, while from the Ljubljana geographical standpoint they represent the Southern and Eastern art scenes from the neighbourhood. With this project, the Škuc Gallery wishes to establish a platform for self-representation of mainly long-term partners from the surrounding regions. The additional goal of the project is to form a basis for discussion and co-operation, which would encourage a better flow of information and a wider exchange in exhibition practise and theory. The current "cultural exchange" between Ljubljana and the surrounding art centres is still very limited, and therefore MSE-projects represents an initiative for expansion in this field also beyond the circle of MSE-partners. Besides, MSE-projects also aims to provide a basis for the exchange between individuals and art spaces in the region even after the conclusion of MSE-projects. We believe that "MSE-region" – which is culturally and artistically very heterogeneous, with very different infrastructures and cultural conditions – has certain advantages, maybe in the form of the possibility for a more critical and reflective understanding of art (or models of representation) and the given society. In this sense, "MSE-region" is meant as a dynamic and centrifugal "mental region" incessantly (re)moving and altering its boundaries and centres. To sum up, at the first glance it seems as if we were left with just a couple of sounding words on network co-operation, which could be a perfect fit for the "associating" spirit of numerous European foundations and organisations. And some people may view MSE-projects as a slightly distorted Ljubljana initiative for the "stability pact" in the South-East. First, the nature of MSE-projects is pragmatic. It uses the given "opportunity", it takes advantage of, and enrich, such a "large" event as is Manifesta 3. During Manifesta 3, MSE-projects provides for a greater notability of the "peripheral art" and enables – even if only in the light of the short-term "event culture" – a direct contact between MSE-partners and the international audience. Manifesta 3 proclaimed networking as an important basis of its operation (especially on the local and regional levels), while MSE-projects speaks about the fact that regional networks based on "cautious", informal and long-term co-operation, already exist in the field of contemporary art – the connections should only be strengthened. Second, MSE-projects aims to draw attention to possible (regional) developments of the contemporary art system, which currently can only be partly matched by individual media and small-size centres. These are often burdened with various concepts of "national culture" and with the lack of expert staff that could ensure competitive and more research-oriented working relations. This most certainly holds true for the small town of Ljubljana, where the size itself dictates the expansion towards outside. |
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Gregor Podnar |
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