Vesna Bukovec

For Your Pleasure. Feminist Positions in Visual Art in and from Slovenia

Exhibition: For Your Pleasure. Feminist Positions in Visual Art in and from Slovenia
Venue: Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI
Date: 27 October 2023 — 21 April 2024

Artists: Lina Akif, Zemira Alajbegović, Milijana Babić, Mirjana Batinić, Urban Belina, Saša Bezjak, Vanja Bućan Vesna Bukovec, Jasmina Cibic, Lea Culetto, Ana Čigon, Eclipse, Elena Fajt, Andreja Gomišček, Olja GrubiĆ, Marina Gržinić, Dejan Habicht, Đejmi Hadrović, Ida Hiršenfelder, Hiša na hribu, Maja Hodošček, Tjaša Kancler, Jasna Klančišar, Andrea Knezović, Tatiana Kocmur, Neven Korda, Mankica Kranjec, Anka Krašna, Rok Kravanja, Meta Krese, Tanja Lažetić, Agate Lielpētere, Aprilija Lužar, Dušan Mandič, Lela B. Njatin, Daniel Petković, Jovita Pristovšek, Tadej Pogačar & P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. muzej sodobne umetnosti, Urška Preis, Marija Mojca Pungerčar, Maruša Sagadin, Duba Sambolec, Simona Semenič, Mojca Senegačnik, Zvonka T Simčič, Nataša Skušek, Maja Smrekar, Alenka Spacal, Saša Spačal, Zora Stančič, Aina Šmid, Ajda Tomazin, Jasmina Založnik, Lana Zdravković (KITCH), Nada Žgank

Curator: Martina Vovk
Assistant Curator: Kristjan Sedej

The exhibition presents artistic production focusing on gender and gender-related discrimination, on sexism and the inequality of women (and all who identify as women), with discrimination manifesting at the intersections of gender and other categories and circumstances, such as class, labor, race, nationality, sexual identity, and age.

The areas and topics of interest of the artists presented at the exhibition coincide with those of feminist theory, social movements, and political action. They emerge as universal feminist themes outlining numerous specific positions, personal iconographies, figurations, memories, investigations, performative actions, and individual artistic statements in the perspective of gender-based discrimination and through the prism of the intersection with other areas of discrimination, above all labor, class, race, nationality, and LGBTIQ+ identities.

Excerpts from curatorial text

More about the exhibition

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I am participating with two works, digital drawing Cyclists are Coming (2020) and series of seven drawings Local Racisms (2022).

Description of my works at the exhibition, written by Kristjan Sedej

Vesna Bukovec
Local Racisms, 2022
series of 7 drawings; ink on paper

Vesna Bukovec
Cyclists Are Coming, 2020
digital drawing

Made with the line and text only, Vesna Bukovec’s drawings are topical responses to political and social changes in the Slovenian context. In this visual form, the artist explores the positions and stories of marginalized and oppressed social groups adversely impacted by daily politics. Drawing from a variety of sources, most prominently statistical data and the news, Bukovec reveals the real image of our social reality and its protagonists. The motifs in her drawings thus constantly keep changing: Some are representations of the “erased” citizens, others of the Roma, and so on.

Represented in the Local Racisms series are a variety of subjects whose identities and positions the artist has recognized to be socially marginalized and treated unequally. As Bukovec points out: “Racism is discrimination based on the color of the skin or race, but it also underpins the logic of excluding entire groups that deviate from the norm.” Directly addressing the viewers, the represented figures invite them to reflect on social norms and their problematic aspects, because otherwise such practices of exclusion can lead to nationalism and racism becoming the norm. The drawings were made on the initiative of the City of Women for the poster campaign promoting the 28^th International Festival of Contemporary Arts – City of Women.

Unlike the series described above that aims to inspire viewers to action, Cyclists Are Coming depicts a moment of active rebellion against the political situation of the time. The drawing portrays the mass group of cyclists at the 2020 antigovernment protests during the pandemic, denouncing the mass violations of civil and human rights and the spreading of the politics of hate. Like Local Racisms, this work sustains an active dialogue with the present and a critical stand vis-à-vis current events, and both works are a call for solidarity in society. The bicycle, a symbol of women’s mobility and resistance against the restraining corset, and feminism, a mass movement against all forms of patriarchal exploitation, are here presented as unfailingly relevant forms of resistance.

Vesna Bukovec (1977, Ljubljana) is a visual artist, curator, and graphic designer. After obtaining her BA and MFA in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, she started working in a variety of media, especially drawing and video, as well as photography and installation. Stemming from her socially critical stand, her research, appropriation of images, and participatory practices reveal the extent of inequality in society. She is a member of the KOLEKTIVA art group. She works as a curator in collaboration with the SCCA-Ljubljana.

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Photo: Dejan Habicht/Modern Gallery, Ljubljana