Working Drawings

In 1966 Mel Bochner collected drawings, sketches and similar material from friends and colleagues for an exhibition he intended to make at the Visual Arts Gallery at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He had first intended to frame the material but when informed that the exhibition budget did not allow for such extravagances, he resorted to photo copying all the material in four editions and mounting it in four identical binders that he placed on four podiums in the gallery. Mel Bochner used a xerox machine because it was the most available tool for quick and affordable reproduction.

The equivalent today would be a colour digital printer. Using it we lost that "Xerox sameness filtering" of the material, but we were not trying to technically reproduce the 1966 show, we just took a smart idea that deserves attention and tailored it for our purposes. In their essence the ideas for our shows are very similar, if in a way also diametric – Bochner used Xerox and folders when faced with lack of money for presenting the works he wanted to show and we used printer and folders when wanting to curate a show without a budget. The main differences are in that the artists we had invited to participate knew beforehand that they would be creating for the folder, and that the material submitted would not get much altered in the reproduction process. Content-wise, our goal with this exhibition when it was first created was to bring as much good art as possible to a small, culturally undernourished city in southeast Estonia. So perhaps we were not doing this seminal curatorial piece justice, as we were not exactly ground breaking - showing art reproduced in folders on plinths has been done before, and our group of artists was not particularly revolutionary. Also, as curatorial endeavors go, constructing solemnly on basis of love for art, for enjoying it and showing it, seems like a rather naive and "mundane" concept. However, it does feel at times that loudly proclaimed passion for art is most radical and rare in curating today, so maybe we are not so far off anyway.

The exhibition was made possible with the support from Vladimir Vidmar & Škuc Gallery, IASPIS, Landskrona Stad, Agrippa Manufacturing AB and Esselte Sverige AB.


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	Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant To Be Viewed as Art (After Bochner) (October 26 – November 11, 2016 at Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia)
CAC Bukovje/Landskrona is proud to present again an exhibition inspired by Mel Bochner's project "Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant To Be Viewed as Art" originally executed in New York in 1966. Participating artists: Bengt Adlers (b. 1950 in Sweden), Conny Blom (b. 1974 in Sweden), Mel Bochner (b. 1940 in US), Kalle Brolin (b. 1968 in Sweden), Vasja Cenčič (b. 1973 in Slovenia), Martin Creed (b. 1968 in UK), Kajsa Dahlberg (b. 1973 in Sweden), Jeremy Deller (b. 1966 in UK), Ditte Ejlerskov (b. 1982 in Denmark), Milanka Fabjančič (b. 1982 in Slovenia), Vadim Fishkin (b. 1965 in Russia), Johan Furåker (b. 1978 in Sweden), Alexander Gutke (b. 1971 in Sweden), Felix Gmelin (b. 1962 in Germany), Carl Michael von Hausswolff (b. 1956 in Sweden), Ištvan Išt Huzjan (b. 1981 in Slovenia), Janez Janša (b. 1973 in Slovenia), Janez Janša (b. 1964 in Croatia) and Janez Janša (b. 1970 in Italy), Stine Marie Jacobsen (b. 1977 in Denmark), Lisa Jeannin (b. 1972 in Sweden), Žiga Kariž (b. 1973 in Slovenia), Clay Ketter (b. 1961 in US), Jukka Korkeila (b. 1968 in Finland), Anna Ling (b. 1971 in Sweden), Anna Lundh (b. 1979 in Sweden), Dušan Mandič (IRWIN) (b. 1954 in Slovenia), Miltos Manetas (b. 1964 in Greece), Jonathan Meese (b. 1970 in Japan), Miran Mohar (IRWIN) (b. 1958 in Slovenia), Kristina Müntzing (b. 1973 in Sweden), Jesper Norda (b. 1972 in Sweden), Björn Perborg (b. 1974 in Sweden), Magnus Petersson (b. 1971 in Sweden), Adrian Piper (b. 1948 in US), Andrej Savski (IRWIN) (b. 1961 in Slovenia), Klara Sax (b. 1997 in US), Lina Selander (b. 1973 in Sweden), Nataša Skušek (b. 1967 in Slovenia), Nina Slejko Blom (b. 1982 in Slovenia), Nedko Solakov (b. 1957 in Bulgaria), Mladen Stropnik (b. 1977 in Slovenia), Annika Ström (b. 1964 in Sweden), Stefanos Tsivopoulos (b. 1973 in Greece), Roman Uranjek (IRWIN) (b. 1961 in Slovenia), Borut Vogelnik (IRWIN) (b. 1958 in Slovenia), Leon Zuodar (b. 1977 in Slovenia), Ulla West (b. 1954 in Sweden) and Serkan Özkaya (b. 1973 in Turkey). Curated by Nina Slejko Blom & Conny Blom
In 1966 Mel Bochner collected drawings, sketches and similar material from friends and colleagues for an exhibition he intended to make at the Visual Arts Gallery at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He had first intended to frame the material but when informed that the exhibition budget did not allow for such extravagances, he resorted to photo copying all the material in four editions and mounting it in four identical binders that he placed on four podiums in the gallery. Mel Bochner used a xerox machine because it was the most available tool for quick and affordable reproduction. The equivalent today would be a colour digital printer. Using it we lost that "Xerox sameness filtering" of the material, but we were not trying to technically reproduce the 1966 show, we just took a smart idea that deserves attention and tailored it for our purposes. In their essence the ideas for our shows are very similar, if in a way also diametric – Bochner used Xerox and folders when faced with lack of money for presenting the works he wanted to show and we used printer and folders when wanting to curate a show without a budget. The main differences are in that the artists we had invited to participate knew beforehand that they would be creating for the folder, and that the material submitted would not get much altered in the reproduction process. Content-wise, our goal with this exhibition when it was first created was to bring as much good art as possible to a small, culturally undernourished city in southeast Estonia. So perhaps we were not doing this seminal curatorial piece justice, as we were not exactly ground breaking - showing art reproduced in folders on plinths has been done before, and our group of artists was not particularly revolutionary. Also, as curatorial endeavors go, constructing solemnly on basis of love for art, for enjoying it and showing it, seems like a rather naive and "mundane" concept. However, it does feel at times that loudly proclaimed passion for art is most radical and rare in curating today, so maybe we are not so far off anyway. The exhibition was made possible with the support from Vladimir Vidmar & Škuc Gallery, IASPIS, Landskrona Stad, Agrippa Manufacturing AB and Esselte Sverige AB.



THREE ROOMS (AND A CORRIDOR) Three exhibitions curated by CAC Bukovje/Landskrona (These texts are written in the name of CAC Bukovje/Landskrona and speak for us only, that is to say, for Nina Slejko Blom and Conny Blom. The given opinions are not necessarily same as those of the staff at Škuc, nor of the featured artists and they do not speak of the works in the exhibitions.) Yes we like brackets. We also like to make exhibitions. It is like that feeling when you were a child and thought the whole world shared your passion for toys. Without knowing any better, you insisted on sharing your amazing discoveries in toy catalogues and shop windows with every incautious adult that gave you a moment of attention when they, for their sake, should not have. They would always regret it later. We hope same is not true for our more or less suspecting audience. Sometimes we make exhibitions that we really wish we could force upon more people. Last summer we happened to make one such. Very compact in format, rich in content and pleasing to the eye, we found the show just too good to sit on our shelves after its initial birth and brief glimpses of light in Estonia. We really wanted to show it to more people, so we nagged around for different exposure venues. And lo and behold! the place we wished for most was the one to say yes. A great place with a fine history, good present and given the recent leaderships we dare to hope also future, gave their three rooms (and a corridor) to our disposal. Given the number of rooms, not only could we exhibit again our version of Mel Bochner's "Working Drawings And Other Visible Things On Paper Not Necessarily Meant To Be Viewed As Art," we also got the opportunity to put together more shows to show. The joy, the joy! We thought that a certain other historical remake would fit the setting nicely and decided to tackle Joseph Kosuth's "Fifteen People Present Their Favorite Book." And then, running slightly out of steam, we settled on letting Klara Sax handle the remaining space. Klara, known for being an easy artist happy to serve and adapt to any given situation and curators' whim, positioned her piece terrifically well alongside the other two exhibitions. Her work, named "All the Books on Baking, Bread and Matej Andraž Vogrinčič Removed from all the City libraries of Ljubljana" concludes the trio of exhibitions quite sweetly with its bookish appearance and flirtatious references to the history of the venue and a recent exhibition that took place there. In short, on display at Škuc there will be a conglomerate of three shows that stuff the premises with over 60 artists (but who counts) while making sure that both the art and exhibitions look really well. These shows wish to provide a discourse on curating in form of an investigation into the borders between curatorial and artistic practices, and that of authorship. Look look look, how about this one, and this, isn't it fantastic?! But look here! And here!! And come, come, look at this one! And this one has all these blinking lights and it makes sounds if you press and ... ps Some people might notice that the gallery in question has in fact five rooms. Or perhaps four and a corridor. Or maybe a lobby and four rooms. Or else a lobby, a small staircase, two rooms and a corridor. Feel free to think what you like. We have always thought of the gallery as one with three rooms and a corridor, and we are the curator, ergo, we say, therefore it is. (Our opinions on which of the rooms we perceive as a corridor vary, but we find that unimportant. The important thing about both these corridors is that they are rather lovely and can make for pretty decent rooms.)