JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 PROGRAM
Permanent display of the Herman Pečarič Collection at the Piran Gallery for the Slovenian Cultural Holiday
The new programme year of the Piran Coastal Galleries begins at the Herman Pečarič Gallery in Piran, which has recently been renovated. The restoration of the gallery’s façade and interiors, begun in early September 2025, was made possible by the Municipality of Piran with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, in cooperation with the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (ZVKDS) in Piran, and carried out by GNOM d.o.o..
The exhibition of works from the Herman Pečarič Collection will be set up on the ground floor and first floor of the gallery, enabling a broader presentation of the collection that the artist donated to the Municipality of Piran and is managed by the Piran Coastal Galleries.
With the opening of the exhibition on Friday, 6 February 2026 at 5 p.m., we will be celebrating the Slovenian Cultural Holiday. A few days later, on Thursday, 12 February at 6 p.m., a special event will be held at the gallery: Piran native Daniela Paliaga Janković, who has long been dedicated to studying the cultural heritage of her city, will present the history of the restored building that has housed the gallery since 1998. On this occasion, the Coastal Galleries of Piran will publish a booklet containing her essay and iconographic materials.
“The new interventions of 2025, commissioned by the Municipality of Piran, highlight every detail of the floral style of its original construction, revealing its authentic exterior expression and, after more than a century, the care for detail and its beauty. It is a well-deserved tribute to a history that is both surprising and emblematic, and which deserves to be told and shared.” (DPJ)
Celebrating Prešeren with the PCG: A Glimpse into the World of Kosovel – The Cloak of Imagination
We will also celebrate the cultural holiday with young audiences. As is tradition, this year again we are organising the event “Celebrating Prešeren with the CGP” together with primary schools across Slovenia. As 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of poet Srečko Kosovel, curator-educator Ana Papež has designed the project around this theme. Although Kosovel created only for a few years due to his premature death, he left behind a substantial literary opus that significantly influenced 20th-century Slovenian literature. His texts, permeated with expressionist and constructivist elements, reflect strong social critique, visionary thinking and profound humanistic messages that remain extraordinarily relevant today.
For the Slovenian Cultural Holiday, we are preparing an exhibition of illustrations and prints entitled A Glimpse into the World of Kosovel – The Cloak of Imagination, on view at the Meduza Gallery in Koper from 6 to 28 February 2026. Pupils drew inspiration for their works from any poem of their choice from Kosovel’s poetry collections.
Exhibition – Piran Coastal Galleries: 50 Years of Contemporary Art, at the Civic Gallery of Piran
The Piran Coastal Galleries celebrate the 50th anniversary of their activity with an exhibition of documentary materials that takes visitors on a journey through half a century of work in the field of contemporary art at the local, national and international level. The exhibition comprises promotional, documentary, bibliographic and other archival materials: posters, exhibition catalogues, leaflets, invitations, publications and printed matter.
Collateral Programme
The activity of the most important exhibition institution on the southern coast, which today fully embodies its role as a regional museum of fine arts, has been and continues to be rich above all thanks to the individuals who shaped it over five decades. On the occasion of the exhibition, we therefore wish to invite to the gallery speakers who, in various ways, contributed to the development of the Coastal Galleries of Piran, or who, as part of the professional public and other interested audiences, followed this evolution. Above all, we aim to encourage reflection on the meaning of contemporary art yesterday and today.
Open and dynamic conversations will form the living core of the exhibition: our intent is to revive memories and share anecdotes related to the local context and beyond. Most importantly, we want to give space to contemporary art, which for half a century at the Piran Coastal Galleries has held up an uncompromising mirror to society, raising awareness and alerting us to the changes in contemporary life, art and the world.
The conversations will be recorded with the aim of creating a moving archive of memories intended for both the local community and broader audiences for study and research purposes. The programme will also include specialist guided tours of the exhibition and educational workshops for children.
The January specialist guided tour with curator Dr. Tina Jazbec will take place on Thursday, 22 January at 5 p.m.; the next will take place during the cultural holiday, on Saturday, 7 February at 11 a.m.
On Tuesday, 10 February at 5 p.m., the first meeting will be held with guests Marjanca Lenassi and Natalija Planinc. The meeting is organised by curator Tina Jazbec; the moderator will be Mara Ambrožič Verderber, Director of the Piran Coastal Galleries.
During the school holidays, on Friday, 20 February at 10 a.m., an educational workshop for children will take place at the Civic Gallery, organised by curator-educator Ana Papež.
Start of Filming of Jasmina Cibic’s New Cinematic Work
Filming of Short Circuit (The Blackout), the latest film by artist Jasmina Cibic, is scheduled to begin in February 2026 at the Doblar Hydroelectric Power Station on the Soča River. The film will premiere at the Civic Gallery of Piran during the artist’s first retrospective – she is a multiple award-winner – planned for November 2026. In several scenes, the film’s scenography will be enriched by works from the collections of the Coastal Galleries of Piran as well as by moulds and other objects from the Restoration Centre in Ljubljana.
The film, based on archival materials and official sources, addresses in a satirical and engaging way the relationship between aesthetics, politics and cultural sovereignty in the cross-border Adriatic area (1920–today). It is a historical work of powerful impact, permeated by a strong pacifist note yet also critical. Filming will take place in Slovenia and Italy.
The project is being developed in collaboration with Projekt Atol, Weddington Studios, Sharjah Biennial Foundation, Open Society Foundations, GO! 2025 – European Capital of Culture, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, as well as with the participation and co-production of the Coastal Galleries of Piran.
Jasmina Cibic was recently awarded the National Prešeren Fund Prize, which will be presented on 7 February 2026 at Cankarjev dom. The Coastal Galleries of Piran warmly congratulate the artist.
Guided Tour of Florian Cziesla’s Exhibition at the Meduza Gallery in Koper
On the occasion of the closing of the photographic exhibition The Change of the Sea, on view at the Meduza Gallery in Koper until Saturday, 24 January 2026, a guided tour will be organised on Friday, 23 January at 4 p.m. with the author, Mag. Florian Cziesla – photographer, cultural studies researcher and translator – and with the exhibition curator Mag. Matic Bukovec.
Spekula 2025: Matrix – Alienated Thought at the Loggia Gallery in Koper
Matrix – Alienated Thought is the title of the seventh edition of the artistic event Spekula. In a time when the specificity of media messages, their platforms and content generators intertwine with the thoughts of smaller or larger groups of users, readers and mediators, individual thought is exposed to the algorithmic platforms of artificial intelligence and therefore to distorted truths. As a counterpoint to this generated reality and unreality, the exhibition Matrix – Alienated Thought proposes a real and concrete experience of the ideas and reflections of authors Andrej Savski, Zora Stančič, Črtomir Frelih and Mojca Smerdu. The exhibition, organised in collaboration with UP PEF VUO, is on view at the Loggia Gallery in Koper until the end of February 2026.
You are cordially invited to our exhibitions and events; on 8 February admission is free.
