What’s on in Ljubljana, July 23–29, 2018 (Videos & DJ Sets)

July 22, 2018

On days like today it seems the summer will never end, and there’ll always be more time to go out and enjoy the weather, be it during the long bright days or soft, warm evenings and nights. Sadly, this is an illusion, and just as youth passes so do the seasons, and before you know it the residents of Ljubljana will be digging out their autumn clothes and watching the leaves turn brown, wondering if they made good use of their days and how many more summers they have left here.

We thus encourage you to go outside and make the best of things, whether at an organised event, like the small selection of entertainments set out below, or by doing what we love best – just walking around in our summer clothes and enjoying the built, lived and natural environments that make Ljubljana one of the more pleasant capitals to live in, exploring the city as it exists in each moment and adding our own open-hearted joy to the collective feeling of delight that the tourists and other visitors contribute.

One driver of such delight is the presence of so many festivals throughout the summer months, with the biggest being the Ljubljana Festival, which runs until early September and presents a series of live music concerts, with a bias towards classical, opera, and ballet; see here for details. There’s also the Imago Festival in the Old Town, with classical and jazz performances (schedule), this week including a show by the Ton Risco European Quartet on Friday night in Stari trg.

There’s also more of Film Under The Stars, a collaboration between Kinodvor and Ljubljana Castle, which sees screenings of recent art house movies in the castle courtyard when the sun goes down. It can be a magical experience, and you can see more details, plus all the trailers, here. (Although note this year screenings cancelled due to weather will not be moved to Kinodvor, due to renovation work, although refunds will be available.)

Some of the other events on around town are presented below. As ever, clicking on the venue name should get you more details with regard to the time, price and location, as well as other events on this week, and if you want to get a Ljubljana Tourist Card, which gives you travel on the city buses and entry to a lot of attractions, then you can read more about that here, and if you want to use the bike share system, as useful for visitors as it is for residents, then you can learn more by clicking this.

If there's something you want to promote in a future edition of What's on... please get in touch with me at flanner(at)total-slovenia-news.com

CINEMA

You can read about all the cinemas in town here, while the big thing for cinephiles this week, and running from July 5-28, is Film Under the Stars, organised by Kinodvor and Ljubljana Castle, where you can watch movies in the courtyard at night. More details and all the trailers here. Note that kid’s movies tend to be shown in dubbed versions, so do check before driving out to a multiplex and dropping off the young ones. (And if you like watching trailers with Slovene subtitles, then catch up on some from earlier this year here.)

Kinodvor – The arts cinema not far from the train station is undergoing some renovations at the moment, but still has room to show Grace Jones: Blood and Bami and Whitney: Can I Be Me.

Kinoteka – The revival house is taking a break for the summer, but on Friday, at 21:30, will show Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul.

Kolosej – The multiplex out at BTC City Mall is playing all the big movies, which this week include Skyscraper, Terminal, Ant Man and Wasp, Adrift, The First Purge, The Crucifixion, Tag, Love, Simon, Loving Pablo, Incredibles 2 (dubbed), Ocean’s 8, Hereditary, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Book Club, Deadpool 2, Future World and Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado. Opening Wednesday is Looking Glass, with a bearded Nicolas Cage, while Saturday sees the start of Mama Mia: Here We Go Again.

Komuna – The cinema in a basement behind Nama department store is showing Adrift, Book Club, Loving Pablo, and Ocean's 8, then on Saturday also starts playing Mama Mia: Here We Go Again.

CLUBS

Slovenian is the 28^th most affordable country in the world to get drunk or high in, but do note that all the usual drugs remain illegal.

Božidar –Thursday there’s Lost Beats, with DJs Ninja, Sunny Sun and K’Pow, whose set of laid back Slovene hip hop, see below, was the soundtrack to this post. Then Friday this club at Vilharjeva 11 has a night called Ciklon: Vuka & Dulash.

Gala Hala – A busy week ahead at this Metelkova club. Monday’s Dub Lab with Ohoroho. Tuesday is then Music from the Mediterranean, with music from France, Italy, the former Yugoslavia and beyond, as mixed by DJ Bakto. Wednesday night there’s a summer garden party with music from Chunfa and Shao. Friday there’s Rapetek #139, with rap and hip hop from the 80s, 90s, 00s, and 2010s, as spun by DJs Borka, K’Pow, Esco and Toljo. The week then ends with Rave Voyeur on Saturday, leaving you in the capable hands of DJ Tolstoyed – sleep, rave, repeat.

Klub K4 – the klub for kool kids has UVK4: Just Us w/ Nitram, Marin, Limc, Simm on Friday, and then UVK4: Just a Dance w/ Den7el, Maša, Elovetric on Saturday, with a nice mix by the latter below that should get you up and at it (soundtracking today’s trip to the market, in my case).

EXHIBITIONS

Please note that public galleries and museums are closed on Mondays.

Ljubljana Castle has an exhibition on the history of dragons that runs until November 11, and is being promoted with the following video.

Plečnik's desk. Photo: JL Flanner

Plečnik’s House is worth a visit if you want to learn more about the architect who gave Ljubljana much of its character. Read about our guided tour here.

The Balassi Institute (The Cultural Centre of the Embassy of Hungary) – This is at Barvarska steza 8, Ljubljana, not far from Dragon Bridge, and hosts various events. Until August 6 it’s also showing photos by Ora Hasenfratz.

Jakopič Gallery – Fans of Magnum and photography in general will wish to check out the Marc Riboud show here, as detailed in an earlier story, and on until October.

Marc Riboud. Huangshan, 1985. On the right, the pine named Flower-Formed-on-the-tip-of-a-Dream-Paintbrush. On the left, the Sublime Peak. ©Marc Riboud – all rights reserved.

Cankerjev dom – Running until the end of February 2019 is an exhibition titled Ivan Cankar and Europe: Between Shakespeare and Kafka. This is “An examination of Cankar’s art through an analysis of influences and interpretations, and juxtaposition with contemporary European writers. The visually elaborate architectural and graphic layout, supported by audio-visual media, installation art and diverse visual highlights, offers a vivid account of Cankar’s excellence, his comprehensively exquisite aesthetic and artistic vision.”

City Art Gallery – On until the first week of September is a show called Prrrrrr, featuring the work of seven female artists from Slovenia. More on that here.

Simona Semenič, Nada Žgank - Zapis celote, triptih fotografij, 67 x 100 cm, giclée print, 2009. On display at the City Art Gallery

City Museum – The Museum in French Revolution Square has an exhibition on the writer Ivan Cankar that’s on until the end of February 2019, with pictures, books and manuscripts, all presented in Slovene and English. It also has a very interesting permanent exhibition on the history of Ljubljana, from prehistoric times to the present day, with many artefacts, models and so on that bring the story alive.You can read about my recent visit here.

The Faces of Ljubljana in the City Museum. Photo: JL Flanner

Galerija Kresija – Among other shows, until August 2 this gallery has an exhibition of puppets, masks and posters by Eka Vogelnik.

International Centre of Graphic Arts – Running until August 18 is a show called Stop and Go - the art of animated gifs. Per the publicity "The group exhibition explores the artistic use of animated GIFs, presenting a broad and diversified panorama of the various approaches currently adopted by the international community. The show includes works by nine artists who are some of the most famous exponents of the genre." Continuing until July 29 is David Lynch: Fire on Stage, presenting seventy lithographs from the director.

Ljubljana Castle – Giampaolo Sgura, the fashion photographer, has an exhibition here until August 25, with images like the one below.

Giampaolo Sgura

MAO – The Museum of Architecture and Design is showcasing Slovenian designers in a show called Made in Slovenia, lasting until the end of 2018: “The selling exhibition aims to present good practices of Slovenian designers and companies in the creative sector.” The same venue has an exhibition based on Slovenia’s Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, called “Living with Water”, and on until November 25.

Something by Drago Tršar

Moderna galerija – The main branch of this gallery, to be found near the entrance to Tivoli Park, has a good collection of modern art, as well a nice café in the basement, and, until September 30^th, a retrospective on the monumental sculptures of Drago Tršar, which you’ll recognise from around town (see more here). For even more contemporary work you can take a trip to the Metelkova branch, where there’s currently a show on the relationship between humans and animals.

JL Flanner

Museum of Contemporary History – The museum in Tivoli Park has two new shows. One is called Museum's (R)evolution 1948-2018, marking the place's 70th anniversary with an exhibition tracing its evolution through artefacts, photographs and personal stories and running until January 6 2019. There's also In Search of Freedom: 1968-2018, looking at the 1968 student protests.

National Gallery – The country’s main gallery has “the best” of what’s on offer in non-contemporary of modern visual arts, and is in a great location for exploring other areas, just by Tivoli Park and opposite the main branch of the Moderna galerija. Running until February 10 2019 is a show called Ivana Kobilca (1861-1926): But Of Course, Painting Is Something Beautiful!, featuring works like the one below.

National Museum of Slovenia – There’s plenty to see in the permanent collection here, from Roman times, Egypt and more. Meanwhile, at the museum's Metelkova branch, located between one branch of the Moderna galerija and the Ethnographic Museum is the International Ceramic Triennial UNICUM 2018, which runs until September 30. It's being promoted with the following image.

Slovene Ethnographic Museum – The museum currently has a temporary show on Bees and Beekeeping, as well two permenant exhibitions. One of these is called Between Nature and Culture, and has a great collection of objects from Slovenia and around the world, well worth the trip up to the third floor to see it. This place is located near the newer branch of the Moderna galerija and Metelkova.

Photo: JL Flanner

Union Experience – The Ljubljana-based brewer has a museum showing the history of the company, with the ticket also including access to part of the factory and a few samples of the product. You can read about our visit here.

It's not a formal museum, but if you're interested in "Yugo-stalgia" then you'll enjoy a trip to Verba, a small, privately run space that's crammed with objects and pop culture items from the era, and is conventiently located at the start of one of the short walks to the castle. It's also a great place to take pictures, if you leave a donation, and you can read more about it here.

Verba. Photo: JL Flanner

FAMILIES & KIDS

You can find our Top 12 list of things to do with kids in Ljubljana here. If want to read more about the philosophy behind the wonderful House of Experiments look here, while our trip to the Museum of Illusions is documented here, and there’s always riverside walks, ice cream and pizza.

Lean more about this happy fellow here. Photo: JL Flanner

LGBTQI+

If you want to learn more about Ljubljana Pride, then take a look at our interview with its president here.

Klub Monokel – On Friday this lesbian bar (but open to all) has a night of electronic dance music from Nulla, Nitz, and Tritch.

Klub Tiffany – This gay bar (again, open to all) has cabaret on Tuesday, 22:00–23:00. Google Translate works its strange magic with the following promotional text: “Indulge yourself with the sweet mischief of the queens and kings of disguise, their blades of sharp love songs, avant-garde attacks, artistic vertigo, nudity, and political incompetence. Cabaret Tiffany proudly celebrates the diversity of LGBT + culture. Join our celebration, and together with our, with the camp of the armed forces, spark your life on the frightened faces of tradition!”

LIVE MUSIC

See the intro for links to the various festivals on around town, with a lot of classical and jazz.

Križanke – The site of much the Ljubljana Festival will see a show by Goran Bojčevski and his clarinet, promising Classical meets Balkan Nuevo. The concert starts at 20:00 on Wednesday, and tickets are here.

Gala Hala – Thursday offers a night of trip hop and soul with JUNEsHELEN.

Klub Gromka – Monday there’s a night of anarcho hardcore punk, with the entertainment provided by MDC (Millions Of Dead Cops), Fršlus, and Datura. You can get a taste of the headline act below.

Kino Šiška – Friday, 20:00, those who make the short trip out of the centre to this venue will be rewarded with MotörCity festival Warm Up: Richie Kotzen, although if you don’t have a ticket you’ll be disappointed on arrival, as it’s already sold out. A taste of what you’ll be missing is below.

Pritličje – Friday night there’s a set from Shu Shu , while the next evening you can enjoy the sounds of Žiga Murko (and you can read more about this venue here).

OPERA, THEATRE, DANCE

Cankerjev dom – The main cultural centre in town has a Gala of St Petersburg Opera Stars on Friday the 27^th. The details of the programme remain unknown, but the talent includes Oxana Shilova (soprano), Ekaterina Sergeeva (mezzo-soprano), Roman Burdenko (baritone) and Sergei Skorokhodov (tenor). Tickets here.

SNG Opera and Ballet – Bizet’s Carmen will be performed Friday, 21:00.

MISC.

Every Friday through the warmer months there’s the Open Kitchen in Ljubljana Market, where you can try food and drink from some the biggest names in town, and you can read more about it here.

Breg Embankment, just opposite the Old Town and by the river, has a small flea market open every Sunday morning. Learn more about it here.

If you’re in town and want to go jogging or walking in nature, why not take another look at the Castle, with a brief guide to the trails here. If you want something bigger, head to Tivoli Park.

If you want to get wet and work on your tan then consider going to one of the outdoor pools in town, which you can read about here.

Kodeljevo pool

And if you're bored with the Old Town, why not take a walk, cycle or boat ride to nearby Špica and enjoy the riverside life. Learn more about that here.

visitljubjana.si

Flicker - Dave Rosenbaum CC by 2.0

Want to stretch and breath? Then check out our list of drop-in yoga classes for tourists, visitors and the uncommitted.

TRIPS

Most of Slovenia is only a few hours from Ljubljana, and you can easily visit Lake Bled, Lipica Stud Farm, Postojna Cave, Predjama Castle, the coast and other locations.

And if you're in Maribor, consider a visit to the Inge Morath retrospective at the Maribor Art Gallery, with over 200 images from the Magnum photographer like the one below (on until October 21). You can see and read more about it here.