The Passage of the Gaze

The spring issue of magazine Maska entitled The Passage of the Gaze brings the analysis of new phenomena and traits of the past seven years in the Slovene performing arts. The main attention of this issue is focused on art production and its reflection of contemporaneity and to the question of art’s relation toward the zeitgeist. Despite the unenviable production conditions that currently exist in the sphere of art (something even the present issue could not avoid), it is evident that the local context created a rather significant number of effective, visible and penetrating art works. Many of these art forms reflect the society and the conflict of the art sphere with the political and economic field. At a wider level, this could be read as a complex problem of the individual who relentlessly searches for points of contact and communication in a collapsing network of relations. Namely, disintegration took hold of both: the network of relations as well as the value systems of contemporary world.

The issue is edited by Karla Železnik and Katja Praznik. Contributions by renowned Slovene theoreticians and writers, like Bojana Kunst, Marina Gržinić, Andreja Kopač, Mojca Kumerdej, Mojca Puncer, Blaž Lukan, Tomaž Toporišič, Rok Vevar, shed light on concrete works of artists (although they certainly do not cover the entire field of production). Groundbreaking, highly visible art production in Slovenia is supported also by comments and perspectives of the artists, authors, critics and producers.