A Decade of Comics: Comics in Slovenia 2006–2016

You are cordially invited to the exhibition opening which will take place on Friday, 10 March 2017 at 7:00 PM.

The exhibition entitled A Decade of Comics: Comics in Slovenia 2006-2016 is the third in a series of retrospective overview exhibitions with which the Centre for Contemporary Art Celje aims to present Slovenian comics created over a ten-year period. This time Stripburger magazine joined in the effort of conceiving and producing this exhibition. In addition, the exhibition catalog features an insight into the general developments in the comics scene by Bojan Albahari, while Gašper Rus contributed – in his own words – an extremely subjective overview of the creativity of individual Slovene comics artists.

The past decade was undoubtedly fruitful in terms of comics. This was not limited merely to the plethora of comics publications, for comics were often mentioned in different media. A few good years thus gave the impression that comics had finally found their place in daily newspapers and that a bright future lay ahead. The economic crisis combined with the greed of media owners or just plain ambitions of the decision-makers quickly uprooted comics from their place of origin after this short spurt of growth. Still, the determination and persistence of the various actors on the comics scene allowed for numerous new comics projects. Some civil servants and publishers have to a certain extent recognized the comics’ literary and visual value, but what really convinced them was its didactic and educational capacity. The art of comics as a means of passing on knowledge has become a tool in numerous cultural institutions and is included in various comprehensive art exhibitions. There is a rise in new (types of) collaborations (writer & artist tandems) between artists who are trying to tackle new topics and increasingly more ambitious projects. Young and fresh new artists are emerging from anonymity, new comics characters are being born, while the ‘forces of continuity’ are ensuring that some of the actors and phenomena in the scene remain or even evolve.

The exhibition includes comics for children and youth and comics with a strong educational note that weren’t present in the previous editions of the series, while the majority of the exhibition is composed of original comics for adults. Apart from individual original pages from selected comics, we also exhibited a few excerpts from the creative process, which show how comics could not avoid the impact of new technologies. In addition to this, there are also some other exhibits from the previous comics exhibitions. The exhibition exposes comics that were published as collections or independent book publications, and that have left a mark on the domestic daily publications. Individual sections of the exhibition present different novelties in the content of comics, new collaboration methods and affiliation with other artistic fields and the ‘new’ roles of comics.

And if you hear anyone complaining that nothing is happening in this country as regards comics, shamelessly confront them with this exceptional comics production in Slovenia.

Participating artists:
Kaja Avberšek, Primož Bertoncelj, Suzi Bricelj, Matej de Cecco, Marko Derganc, Domen Finžgar, Miha Ha, dr. Horowitz, Saša Kerkoš, Jakob Klemenčič, Marko Kociper, Matej Kocjan – Koco, Tanja Komadina, David Krančan, Primož Krašna, Matej Lavrenčič, Tomaž Lavrič, Izar Lunaček, Marjan Manček, Martin Ramoveš, Gašper Rus, Jelka Godec Schmidt, Matjaž Schmidt, Iztok Sitar, Zoran Smiljanić, Damijan Sovec, Damijan Stepančič, Matej Stupica, Andrej Štular

The exhibition will be accompanied by a published catalogue.

Production: Zavod Celeia Celje – Center of Contemporary Art and Stripburger / Forum Ljubljana
Supported by Ministry of Culture RS, Municipality of Celje