Ema Maznik Antić & Maks Bricelj
Hi-Res Prints for Burial T-shirts
Curated by
Domen Ograjenšek
Exhibition
11 October–3 November 2023
Aksioma | Project Space, Ljubljana
Part of U30+ production programme for supporting young artists
The wasps have gathered in a corner of the wooden shack for the second time, restraining flight for a surreptitious assembly. Forming patterns that change every now and then, perhaps in intervals. An octagon disassembles and rearranges into a triangle, turning into a circle, its line wiggling as a twisted sine wave before eventually settling into a hexagon.
It was not staying put for the sake of staying put but, rather, due to an intricate petrification of the mind. Where to go when the outside already beats on your humble enclosure with a ferocity matching that of a grief-stricken mama bear? Those cubs were hard to mistake for your usual game, yet you made the shot nonetheless. All that occurs seemingly does so as punishment for one thing or another – be it a sin or a frivolous mistake. Despite this, you bear little sign of guilt or remorse. Regret seems exuberant. You would welcome it, yet it seems unlikely to come. Too costly for your mental economy. The wood reeks.
Perhaps you’ve spilt some varnish that managed to seep through the hardwood floor. It holds a grip on you. Luring you closer. Twisting your neck as you draw your ear to the gaps between the wooden planks, attempting to distinguish the vague sizzling sounds: the pops and crackles that emanate from the foundation underneath. It could very well be tinnitus. You never were a skilful shot. The uncertainty, however, does not unnerve you.
The exhibition leaves little room for imagination. In the space that it awards it, it holds it hostage instead. Immersion is used as a borrowed concept, stripped of its wonder-like spectacle until it is but a mere entryway into those that immerse. A lone wooden construction covered with fastened leather strips and scattered drawings encodes a vacuous experience that forgoes narration for scenes devoid of protagonists or unfolding events, shredding the boundaries between the hypothesised, the fictive and the real. You are an experimental protocol, a hypothesis, by no means binding for the environment that you enter. The spatial installation does not hold you in any regard. If challenged, it withdraws rather than face the consequences of your will. And yet, you are allowed to enter. Welcomed, even, by its carefully arranged inventory. As finicky as it may be, it seeks ample amusement. Subjects – that bear no hold on its development or form but nevertheless test its intricate layout – provide for it a foundation upon which its own sense of verity could eventually be formed.
THE AUTHORS
Ema Maznik Antić (1998) obtained a BA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (2021), where she is currently pursuing an MA in the same field. She has also received the institution’s Prešeren Prize. She has presented her work in the individual exhibition Lost Cargo at DobraVaga (2022), in group exhibitions Plaza Protocol – Deposit at Mala galerija BS (2022), Terminal Drift at the MoTA LAB (2022) and s04e03 (2021) as part of the student pop-up gallery 7:069 at the Alcatraz Gallery, and in the student exhibition Ni belega platna (2020) at Mala galerija BS. She lives and works in Ljubljana.
Maks Bricelj (1991) obtained a BA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2016, and an MA in Sculpture from the same institution in 2021. He has held several individual exhibitions, including Gel Chambers at R Space (2022) and Not Being Able to Function Properly at Kino Šiška (2019), and participated in many group exhibitions, such as Plaza Protocol – Deposit at Mala galerija BS (2022), Terminal Drift at the MoTA LAB (2022), Open call at the Škuc Gallery (2017) and Community Kit at MAO’s Project Space (2017), among others.
THE CURATOR
Domen Ograjenšek is a writer, critic and curator of contemporary visual art. They are a former member of the ŠUM Journal editorial board and its research collective, and they have given lectures and seminars at art institutions such as the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC Ljubljana), the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MSUM), Škuc Gallery, PhaseBook Prague, Nova Pošta and the International Festival of Computer Art (IFCA). Their reviews and essays have been published in magazines and online platforms such as PASSE-AVANT, Artalk, Blok Magazine, Fotograf Magazine, all-over Magazine, ETC. Magazine, Maska Magazine, ŠUM Journal, Borec Journal, Tribuna and Radio Študent. They have curated exhibitions at the Museum of Madness Trate, SCCA-Ljubljana, Aksioma Project Space, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (as a member of the Neteorit collective), Center for Contemporary Arts Celje (Likovni salon) and Škuc Gallery. They are based in Vienna.
CREDITS
Authors: Ema Maznik Antić & Maks Bricelj
Curator and author of the text: Domen Ograjenšek
Production: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2023
Part of U30+ production programme for supporting young artists
Financial support: the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana
Thanks: Fabrikaid d.o.o., Živa Božičnik Rebec, Nicholas Gardner, Robert Petek, Glej Theatre