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<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif">Aksioma
– Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, kindly invite you
to the exhibition opening:<br>
<br>
<b>Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša</b><br>
<i><b>Auction</b></i><br>
<i>Solo Show</i><br>
Curated by Domenico Quaranta<br>
<a href="http://www.aksioma.org/i.love.germany">www.aksioma.org/i.love.germany</a><br>
<br>
<b>Aksioma | Project Space</b><br>
Komenskega 18, Ljubljana<br>
23 October - 15 November 2013<br>
<br>
<b>Exhibition opening: Wednesday, 23 October 2013 at 7 pm</b></span><br>
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new roman,serif"><br>
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Everybody has at least one of them. The “I
heart” t-shirts made their appearance as a
nice tourist’s gimmick that was saying at
least two things: that you love a given city
or country, and that you have been there. I
Love New York. I Love Paris. I Love Ibiza. I
Love UK. Then, they went viral and different
variations started to appear. I Love Jesus.
I Love Pasta. Finally, we entered the age of
customization, and variations started to
become even more interesting. I Love Me. I
Love Bacon. I Love Brutus. I Love One
Direction. I Love Your Mum. I Love Ass. I
Love Mafia, even. We can love anything and
still be socially accepted, because we are
expressing it in a funny way.<br>
<br>
Janez Janša loves Germany. So much that, to
find his favorite t-shirt, he traveled
through Germany, from Berlin to Köln,
finally finding one – pardon, three of them
– in the backroom of a tourist shop in
Frankfurt. Germany is the most powerful and
influential country in the EU. Germany is
the country of the Bund, the 10-year bond
used as a benchmark to calculate the
stability of another country economy and to
rate it. Germany is a country that attracts
immigrants from all over the world,
including young people looking for jobs, low
rents, a good quality of life and the
possibility of having children and feeding
them. <br>
<br>
So, Janez Janša loves Germany, and he has
all the reasons to love it. He shows off
this love proudly, wearing his brand new
t-shirt wherever he may go, and taking
pictures. Look, how happy he looks in his
new t-shirt: in Ljubljana, where he lives;
in Athens, where he spent his summer
holidays; in London, where he went to
work...<br>
<br>
In <i>Auction</i>, Janez Janša, Janez Janša
and Janez Janša present some works from the
new series <i>I Love Germany</i>, showing
how even abused significants such as the “I
Love” trend may take an unsuspected,
powerful meaning when juxtaposed and remixed
with other significants, and how a similarly
abused gesture (the tourist portrait) can
become a strong political gesture.<br>
<br>
In these simple, effective images, three
significants are at play with each other:
the “abused” significant of the “I Love”
t-shirt, applied to a subject (Germany) that
is, more often than not, the object of an
unspoken, discreet love; the “hijacked”
significant of the name Janez Janša,
belonging to the leader of the Slovene
National Party as well as to the three
artists in the show; and the plain
significant of the background, from time to
time related to politics and history (like
the monument to Edvard Kardelj in Republic
Square, Ljubljana), and to local and global
economics (the Greek soldier and the “I Love
Sales” sign). Using the oblique strategies
(neither critical nor affirmative) that
became part of their signature style, Janez
Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša ask us
some uncomfortable questions: how do you
position yourself as an active subject in
the globalized world? How do you conceal
tradition and consumerism, being a global
tourist and a victim of the financial
crisis? And finally: what do you love?<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Janez Janša</b> works at the intersection
of classic visual media, conceptual
practices and new media. In 2003, he
represented Slovenia at the 50th Venice
Biennial; he has exhibited his work in New
York, Sao Paulo, London, Berlin, Rome,
Madrid, Prague, Budapest, Ljubljana,
Belgrade, Tirana and elsewhere.<br>
<br>
<b>Janez Janša</b> is author, performer and
director of interdisciplinary performances
including <i>Miss Mobile</i>, <i>We are
all Marlene Dietrich FOR</i> (<i>Mi vsi
smo Marlene Dietrich FOR</i>) and <i>Pupilija,
papa Pupilo and the Pupilceks</i> (<i>Pupilija,
papa Pupilo pa Pupilčki</i>). He regularly
presents his work at European festivals of
contemporary performing arts and in the USA.
He is the director of Maska, Institute for
Publishing, Production and Education,
Ljubljana.<br>
<br>
<b>Janez Janša</b> is an experienced
newmedia artist, renowned at home as well as
abroad, whose much-discussed art projects
have been presented, inter alia, at
Manifesta 4, Ars Electronica, ZKM, ISEA,
ARCO, Kiasma, MNAC, MMOMA, MMSU and MSUM..
He is the recipient of the ARCO/Beep 2007
award for digital art.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Production: </b>Aksioma – Institute for
Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2013<br>
<a href="http://www.aksioma.org">www.aksioma.org</a><br>
<br>
Artistic Director: Janez Janša<br>
Producer: Marcela Okretič<br>
Executive Producer: Sonja Grdina<br>
Public Relations: Mojca Zupanič<br>
Technician: Valter Udovičić<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>The exhibition is part of the program of
the 1:1 Stopover on view at the Museum of
Contemporary Art Metelkova, Maistrova 3,
Ljubljana, organized by MSUM in
co-production with Maska.</i><br>
<i><br>
<b>The programme of Aksioma Institute is
supported by the Ministry of Culture of
the Republic of Slovenia and the
Municipality of Ljubljana.</b><br>
Sponsor: Datacenter d.o.o.</i><br>
</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-family:times new
roman,serif">Contact:<br>
Marcela Okretič, 041 250 830, <a
href="mailto:aksioma4@siol.net">aksioma4@siol.net</a><br>
<b>Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art,
Ljubljana</b><br>
Neubergerjeva 25, SI-1000 Ljubljana,
Slovenia<br>
<a href="http://www.aksioma.org">www.aksioma.org</a></span><br>
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