Ištvan Išt Huzjan
17 Dec 2014 - 16 Jan 2015
Woodcut
Curator: Tevž Logar
Coproducers:
MGLC / International Center of Graphic Arts
MER. Paper Kunsthalle
The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture Republic of Slovenia
You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition on Wednesday the 17th of December 2014 at 7pm at the Project Space Galerija Gregor Podnar.
May 2014, the artist Ištvan Išt Huzjan was invited to participate at the MGLC International Centre of Graphic Arts in the Ljubljana graphic prints collection at an exhibition entitled Crossings, curated by Tevž Logar. He called his performative intervention Woodcut.
A tilia tree in front of the 19th century mansion hosting the International Centre of Graphic Arts had dried out due to disease and a recent natural disaster called glaze ice and had become dangerous, so it had to come down. The tree was about 100 years old and about 30m tall.
The Tisa company, which is responsible for maintaining Tivoli Park, was asked by the artist to cut down the tree as a performative act on the opening day. Part of felled tree trunk was taken to the front of the castle, where it was cut into smaller pieces, 70 x 50 cm, slightly varying in size. These blocks of wood were then taken into the exhibition and displayed as sculptural objects.
By the end of the exhibition, the blocks had been prepared for woodcut printing, which Huzjan did at the Graphic Art Centre, one after another, separated only by a perforation every meter in length, on a sheet of newsprint paper 20 m long by 70 cm wide. The surface of the blocks had not been artistically modified, so the images are only of the structure of the wood. There are 10 copies of these prints, each of which is in a box designed by the artist, which also contains two of the wooden blocks.
The new work by Ištvan Išt Huzjan is a result of collaboration between artist, DUM Association of artists and MGLC. It is one of DUM’s projects that focuses on researching feasible models of long-term cooperation with younger artists. For the project, which will be implemented between 2014 and 2017, several younger-generation artists have been selected to try to present their work locally and internationally in partnership with the curator, DUM and other project partners. The project has two main goals. Firstly, to enable the production and distribution of new art works, which seeks to bring attention to the lack of institutional support to the younger generation of artists. Secondly, to establish long-term professional dialogue with artists and connect them with institutions (public institutes and NGOs). This is by far the most ‘invisible’ part of the project, which provides an opportunity for the much needed reflection to everyone involved and provides a basis for high-quality evolution of artistic work and institutional operation.
Ištvan Išt Huzjan was born on June 1st, 1981, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2005 he graduated from painting at the class of prof. Di Raco at the Accademia di belle arti di Venezia in Italy. He registered his own book-publishing house 21st Century Books in 2006. In 2009 he finished an artist-in-residency programme on Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and finished several residencies between 2010 and 2012, among others the National Art Studio in Changdong, Seoul, South Korea and Lokaal 01 in Antwerpen, Belgium. In 2010 he cofounded the artist collective Project Goleb in Amsterdam and in 2011, 2014 he was twice nominated for the OHO award in Slovenia and in 2013 he was awarded the Fernand Baudin prijs in Belgium. His recent solo exhibitions include Revisiting the 1st m2 at Galerija Gregor Podnar in Ljubljana, You & Me, We & You at Ricou Gallery in Brussels and From Here To There at ŠKUC Gallery in Ljubljana. His recent group exhibitions include U3 the 7th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia at Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana and Chance Holds Sway, Galerie Juliette Jongma in Amsterdam, NL. In 2012 he joined the Simplon Express, a group exhibition set a train traveling from Zagreb to Paris, Taxi Avant Minuit a project for La Galerie Des Locataires involving a happening in a Taxi on FIAC, Paris and he traveled from Seoul, South Korea to Ljubljana, Slovenia by land as an artistic performance. Since 2013 he is running an exhibition space in Brussels called Coffre Fort together with Gregoire Motte and Thibaut Espiau as the Artists Club. Ištvan Išt Huzjan lives and works between Ljubljana, Slovenia and Brussels, Belgium.
Curator: Tevž Logar
Coproducers:
MGLC / International Center of Graphic Arts
MER. Paper Kunsthalle
The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture Republic of Slovenia
You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition on Wednesday the 17th of December 2014 at 7pm at the Project Space Galerija Gregor Podnar.
May 2014, the artist Ištvan Išt Huzjan was invited to participate at the MGLC International Centre of Graphic Arts in the Ljubljana graphic prints collection at an exhibition entitled Crossings, curated by Tevž Logar. He called his performative intervention Woodcut.
A tilia tree in front of the 19th century mansion hosting the International Centre of Graphic Arts had dried out due to disease and a recent natural disaster called glaze ice and had become dangerous, so it had to come down. The tree was about 100 years old and about 30m tall.
The Tisa company, which is responsible for maintaining Tivoli Park, was asked by the artist to cut down the tree as a performative act on the opening day. Part of felled tree trunk was taken to the front of the castle, where it was cut into smaller pieces, 70 x 50 cm, slightly varying in size. These blocks of wood were then taken into the exhibition and displayed as sculptural objects.
By the end of the exhibition, the blocks had been prepared for woodcut printing, which Huzjan did at the Graphic Art Centre, one after another, separated only by a perforation every meter in length, on a sheet of newsprint paper 20 m long by 70 cm wide. The surface of the blocks had not been artistically modified, so the images are only of the structure of the wood. There are 10 copies of these prints, each of which is in a box designed by the artist, which also contains two of the wooden blocks.
The new work by Ištvan Išt Huzjan is a result of collaboration between artist, DUM Association of artists and MGLC. It is one of DUM’s projects that focuses on researching feasible models of long-term cooperation with younger artists. For the project, which will be implemented between 2014 and 2017, several younger-generation artists have been selected to try to present their work locally and internationally in partnership with the curator, DUM and other project partners. The project has two main goals. Firstly, to enable the production and distribution of new art works, which seeks to bring attention to the lack of institutional support to the younger generation of artists. Secondly, to establish long-term professional dialogue with artists and connect them with institutions (public institutes and NGOs). This is by far the most ‘invisible’ part of the project, which provides an opportunity for the much needed reflection to everyone involved and provides a basis for high-quality evolution of artistic work and institutional operation.
Ištvan Išt Huzjan was born on June 1st, 1981, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2005 he graduated from painting at the class of prof. Di Raco at the Accademia di belle arti di Venezia in Italy. He registered his own book-publishing house 21st Century Books in 2006. In 2009 he finished an artist-in-residency programme on Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and finished several residencies between 2010 and 2012, among others the National Art Studio in Changdong, Seoul, South Korea and Lokaal 01 in Antwerpen, Belgium. In 2010 he cofounded the artist collective Project Goleb in Amsterdam and in 2011, 2014 he was twice nominated for the OHO award in Slovenia and in 2013 he was awarded the Fernand Baudin prijs in Belgium. His recent solo exhibitions include Revisiting the 1st m2 at Galerija Gregor Podnar in Ljubljana, You & Me, We & You at Ricou Gallery in Brussels and From Here To There at ŠKUC Gallery in Ljubljana. His recent group exhibitions include U3 the 7th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia at Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana and Chance Holds Sway, Galerie Juliette Jongma in Amsterdam, NL. In 2012 he joined the Simplon Express, a group exhibition set a train traveling from Zagreb to Paris, Taxi Avant Minuit a project for La Galerie Des Locataires involving a happening in a Taxi on FIAC, Paris and he traveled from Seoul, South Korea to Ljubljana, Slovenia by land as an artistic performance. Since 2013 he is running an exhibition space in Brussels called Coffre Fort together with Gregoire Motte and Thibaut Espiau as the Artists Club. Ištvan Išt Huzjan lives and works between Ljubljana, Slovenia and Brussels, Belgium.