Matanovič Retrospective Opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (Photos)

By , 29 Mar 2018, 10:13 AM Lifestyle
Matanovič Retrospective Opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (Photos) Milenko Matanovič, Žito in vrvica / Wheat and rope, 1969

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A look at the conceptual and visual artist’s 50-year career. 

STA, 29 March, 2018 - A retrospective on visual artist Milenko Matanovič will open on Thursday at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, offering an overview of Matanovič's 50-year career. This will be the third independent exhibition of a member of the OHO art collective.

The exhibition follows a retrospective on the 50-year career of painter Andraž Šalamun January 2017 and an overview of the 50-year career of sculptor Marko Pogačnik at Moderna Galerija, the museum of modern art, in 2012.

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Milenko Matanovič, Milenko Matanovič dela pot / Milenko Matanovič makes a path, 1968-69

Matanovič's exhibition Waves, open until 24 June, will not only revive the artist's past works but also link it to his recent production, according to the museum director Zdenka Badovinac.

Curator Igor Španjol has divided the exhibition into four parts - the first presenting Matanovič's OHO production and the so-called Summer Projects, as part of which he placed simple objects such as wooden sticks, rope, candles and bundles in parks, forests, fields and rivers.

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Milenko Matanovič, Projekt, 30. april 1970, konstelacija zvezd na polju ustreza konstelaciji zvezd na nebu / Project 30th April 1970, the constellation of candles in the field corresponds to the constellation of the stars in the sky

The second part brings an overview of his production with communities as part of the Pomegranate centre, which he set up near Seattle to bring together art, ecology, economy, health and education in an effort to improve people's lives.

The third room, called Exercises in Art, features his aquarelle paintings, pencil and Indian ink drawings, which he has been making since childhood.

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Center Pomegranate, Otroški prehod / Children’s Gateway, 1998, Issaquah, Washington

The last part of the exhibition brings five new installations that are inspired by natural phenomena such as the Milky Way and polar lights and point to the artist's “aspiration for harmonic relations with the cosmos”, according to Španjol.

Španjol said Matanovič's work was marked by conceptualism in the widest sense, giving the viewer the freedom to interpret his work, and collectivism as the dominant mode of his operation.

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Center Pomegranate, Pickering Place Park, 1994-1995, Issaquah, Washington

Matanovič told the press that the name of the exhibition suggested to his experience of the world, which was intuitive despite the multitude of theories and interpretations of what life is.

Matanovič has been living in the US for 45 years, dealing with the topical issues of contemporary art, its participatory function, connections between humans and nature, and the issues that OHO tackled back in 1966-1971.

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Center Pomegranate, Valle Lindo, 2014, Washington

Center Pomegranate, Valle Lindo, 2014, Washington

He is the author of some of the most iconic works of the group, such as the Triglav project.

According to Badovinac, there is a great interest in OHO abroad, especially after its presentation at the Venice Biennial in 2017.

A selection of its works was recently presented at Vienna's Museum of Modern Art and now the group is preparing for an exhibition at the National Gallery in Berlin, which will open on 27 April.

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