Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav

The exhibition confronts three artistic actions which occurred around the idea of Mount Triglav as an allegory of the geographical, national and state symbol and belong to the historical construction of identity. The living sculpture Mount Triglav was performed by David Nez, Milenko Matanović, and Drago Dellabernardina –  members of the most important Slovene neo-avant-garde movement OHO – in Ljubljana’s Zvezda (Star) Park on 30 December 1968. They were covered with fabric in such a way that only their three heads were visible. Beneath them a wordgame referred to the meaning of the mountain’s name. That action was part of a number of events that took place that year in the park and signify an essential portion of OHO’s interdisciplinary activities.
The Irwin group reconstructed the action in 2004 in the frame of the series Like to Like, dedicated to the renewed presentation of six of the most representative and recognized activities of OHO. The work was created from photographs which documented artistic interventions in the countryside. In this manner, existing sketches and photographic documentation supplemented with the brilliant color photographs of Tomaž Gregorič give the project Mount Triglav a new measure of clarity and added weight.

This year on 6 August, atop Mount Triglav, three artists – intermedia artist Janez Janša, director and performer Janez Janša, and visual artist Janez Janša – realized the action Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav. A reconstruction of the works of OHO and Irwin group with the objective to continue the tradition of Conceptual Arts in Slovenia and the problematization of the ideological connection of events from recent and past history.

All three works are based on the grips of deconstruction and reconstruction of arts traditions and ideological systems. At the same time, the exhibition establishes a new context and conceptual net for singular creations as well as enforces the comprehension of the history of arts and prevailing performances of social and political reality.