Iztok Klančar: Stories

The artist Iztok Klančar works with experimental film and photography and presents his work in the form of performance lectures, storytelling, installations and film projections. His artistic practice is characterised by storytelling through visual language to shed light on the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community. He creates his works together with the people who shape the queer scene and who occupy a central place Klančar’s works. His works portray individuals and the impressions of their life and fate, or speak to his own feelings related to gender and sexual identity.

At the Račka Gallery, he presents his first solo exhibition, which is the artist’s unique homage to his community. Using a cinematic setting for his works that are accompanied by Lifecutter’s soundtracks, he immerses the viewer in the imaginary world of queer heroes within ecosexual and audio-visual landscapes. The central part of the exhibition features Klančar’s latest work, Zgodbe (Stories, 2023), created specifically for the Račka Gallery. The artist, in a striking audio-visual piece, uses poetic narration to evoke a particularly intense sense of anxiety, while also creating a permeable and liberating atmosphere that delves into the question of mental health. The viewer observes the protagonists subtly journeying through landscapes that reflect their psychological states. These are enactments of performative rituals as a means of confronting distress and as survival strategies that alleviate inner turmoil and lead to the development of psychological resilience to societal phenomena. The artist emphasises that he understands the recording process, which he based on intensive collaboration with individuals, as a way of strengthening the bond with the community to which he belongs. In an earlier work entitled Dnevnik (Journal, 2013 –), an extensive photographic series, he records his own search for a sense of belonging, the process of liberation from the sexual normativity and the creation of his own way of being. The artists sees his visual diary as a therapeutic tool for self-reflection and exploration, as well as a way of being with others, as a unique way of connecting and creating an intimate environment with people he with whom he shares similar feelings. The exhibition closes with the music video entitled Adonia (2021 – 2023), made in collaboration with the drag performer Belle Dommage. The video is an ecosexual fairy tale, inspired by the performance at the launch of Collection No. 13 by the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The work addresses gender fluidity and shows how a lost princess wakes up in a magical forest, and with the help of other magical characters, transitions unhindered between multiple identities.

Klančar’s solo exhibition at Račka raises questions of vulnerability and exposure, highlighting the necessity of occupying and creating a shared queer space where care and mutual attentiveness is at the forefront.

Iztok Klančar (1980) graduated in Art History at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana and in Photography at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. For several years, he taught at the art schools in Utrecht (HKU) and in The Hague (KABK). He has presented his work at numerous international exhibitions and film festivals; he lives and works in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Zavod Celeia Celje – Center for Contemporary Arts
Supported by: Mestna občina Celje, Ministrstvo za kulturo RS, Fondskwadraat
Curator: Maja Hodošček
Text: Maja Hodošček
Special thanks: Mitja Blažič