September 2026

This year has been a landmark one for the University of Ljubljana’s Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (UL AGRFT) as it celebrates its 80^th anniversary. The occasion has been marked with an extensive series of events and projects. Some have been one-off events, while others are continuing throughout the academic year. The main events marking the anniversary are the AGRFT 80 exhibition, the AGRFT festival, Day of the Arts and the ‘Abonma 80’ subscription series.

UL AGRFT, which started out as the Academy of Dramatic Arts, has not only provided 80 years of systematic university-level education in the fields of theatre and radio, but been instrumental in supplying artistic and creative talent to the Slovenian theatre on an uninterrupted basis for all that time. These eight decades don’t belong only to those who are currently studying on one of the Academy’s many courses, nor to all the worthy teaching and non-teaching staff who have overseen (or still oversee) the study process at Slovenia’s only national institution covering the fields of theatre, radio, film and television; rather, it is a tribute to all those past generations that founded, consolidated, developed and explored the dramatic arts at home and around the world.

A short history of UL AGRFT

‘Humble beginnings in temporary premises’

In 1946, the Academy was housed in a fine city-centre apartment at 10 Gajeva street (today Štefanova 12). There were five rooms, but only one of them was suitable as a lecture theatre. Sixty-five students were enrolled in 1947: 37 in the dramatic arts, seven in theatre directing, four in dramaturgy and 17 in the popular theatre department.

‘Home was a former monastery for many years’

In early 1949, the Academy moved to a section of the nationalised Franciscan monastery at 5 (later 3) Frančiškanska street, which was renamed Nazorjeva in 1952. Student productions were produced on a single stage on the first floor.

‘Relocation, dispersal and the search for more space'

Following abandonment of the idea for a joint building to house three academies at Roška street, relocation from Nazorjeva to 3 Trubarjeva street began in 2014. This initially involved the Department of Dramaturgy and Performing Arts, the Centre for Theatre and Film Studies, the Dean’s office and other non-teaching staff, with UL AGRFT taking over the whole building in 2019.

‘Back together after years apart’

In 2021, the theatre and film department moved to a new building on the site of the former Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at 5 Aškerčeva street, which gave it 4,000 m² of space containing the latest stage and film equipment. Today, UL AGRFT operates from two locations: 3 Trubarjeva street and 5 Aškerčeva street. The university is planning to move the Academy from Trubarjeva at some point in the future with the aim of bringing the entire institution under one roof on Aškerčeva.

AGRFT 80 online exhibition

A look at the spaces, periods and people that have marked the Academy’s eighty years

UL AGRFT’s landmark anniversary is not just an opportunity to reawaken the past, but to reflect on the institution’s current position and future direction. The AGRFT 80 online exhibition provides insight into this with a selection of archive material that reveals the changes that have occurred over the years. The Academy has seen numerous social changes since it was founded, with issues of space always very much to the fore. The documentary and audiovisual material is arranged using a map as the basis. The map operates as a kind of game, with entry points representing the Academy’s four homes (so far) and the chance to meet a host of personalities (students, teaching and non-teaching staff) and the events of which they have been part during the institution’s history. Confronting one’s own history, including the less pleasant aspects of it, enables issues about the institution’s inner essence to come to the fore: the extent to which it can think and create freely, and the dynamics of the changes taking place on the fine line between education and the market.

Take a tour of the online exhibition.

2026 AGRFT Festival

For students, the AGRFT Festival is much more than simply a series of shows, projections, exhibitions and the like. It is a moment when the Academy comes alive again in all its diversity at the start of the academic year, and when different fields of study, generations, ideas and ways of creating come together over the course of one week.

The festival programme is made up of a large number of events involving all courses and fields of work in which UL AGRFT is involved, with students and staff all taking part. All of them are part of a process that has taken place within the walls of the Academy since its inception: hours of practice, discussions and research, accompanied by doubts, mistakes and missteps, new attempts and collaboration. The festival is an opportunity to put these processes before the public and open the Academy outwards for at least a few days.

‘For me, the AGRFT festival is a very inspirational entry into the new academic year. It’s a very beautiful thing. Magic happens when the effort and energy of the previous year seep into the new, when we restart old productions from a certain distance, watch our edited films and show our work in condensed form to the general public. When I started studying at UL AGRFT, I was immediately swept up by the festival spirit, as embodied in the festival lounge: loads of events, productions, parties – in short, vibrancy, energy to create and a great opportunity to get to know new people in a relaxed atmosphere. Last year’s edition was the first one to be organised by the students, and you could sense a special something in the air. It was clear that this was something the students really wanted to do. They really got into it. That’s the most important thing, I think. It’s not an obligation, but a genuine desire to bring a rich programme of events to life. Organising can be fun, too. This year’s AGRFT Festival, the sixth, took a lot of organising, but had something for everyone.’
– Katarina Kolar, student of dramatic arts

The festival also has a particular importance for first-year students. We always look forward to seeing the new intake arrive and encounter the rooms, the people and the rhythm of the Academy for the first time. Festival week enables them to feel the pulse of the place at the very start of the academic year, and to get a sense of the world they are entering. They can get to know the work of older cohorts, students from different courses and the host of opportunities to collaborate that they themselves will then help shape in the years to come.

The festival is therefore something of a collective beginning, with everyone meeting up after the summer, showing each other what they’ve created and reminding themselves that UL AGRFT is not only lecture halls, black boxes, editing suites, studios and sterile hallways, but also and above all the people who are busy creating things within its walls. During the festival we stop for a moment, take a look at other people’s work and experience the Academy as a community.

‘For me, the festival is a great counterweight to today’s world of individualism. Students from different year groups and courses link up and build a community that creates something rounded and inclusive. Our building comes alive after the summer holidays, we get to watch the work being produced on the stage (something we missed during the exam period), films are playing on the screen, and the smokers’ corner and lounge are always full of people. For the rest of the year, we shut ourselves away in our own work and forget about everyone else, but at festival time, we all breathe and work together like one big family. In my first year, it was at the festival that I got to know most of the people I now call friends. It would be great if every fresher had the same feeling of warmth and welcome that I had three years ago. Even if you don’t know anyone, the festival is full of informal gatherings, where new connections are made in a totally natural way.’
– Džana Porić, student of theatre direction

This year’s festival was particularly special as it took place amid celebrations to mark UL AGRFT’s 80^th anniversary. The celebrations were an opportunity to look back, but above all a reminder that the history of the Academy is by no means a finished thing. It continues to be written with each new generation, process and encounter. The festival is also part of this story – a time when the past comes face to face with the present and with all those who are only just getting to know the place.

For students, it is a week of socialising, sharing and curiosity, a week when they can step out of their own discipline for a while and take a look at what others are doing. Above all, however, it is a celebration of a community that brings us back together at the beginning of the new academic year, and reminds us of why we are here and what we can create together.

More information on the AGRFT Festival.

UL Day of the Arts 

Day of the Arts was organised by the University of Ljubljana for the first time in 2023, and its fourth edition will take place on Friday 2 October. It arose as an initiative to provide an occasion for the comprehensive presentation of artistic creation at the university, and as a space for bringing different arts academies, disciplines and courses together. The diversity of artistic practices taking place at the university is very much the focus of the event, which is also designed to make those practices more publicly visible.

Day of the Arts will bring together different UL academies and faculties, including the Academy of Music, the Academy of Fine Arts and design, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Faculty of Arts and, of course, UL AGRFT (Day of the Arts will coincide with the eighth day of the AGRFT Festival). The programme will range widely, from exhibitions and film showings to book presentations and a concert, and also feature:

• a festival bookshop
• a presentation of the 80 Years of AGRFT exhibition
• a showing of Butoh dance films
• an exhibition on young architects and stage design
• showings of short films with live music from the Academy of Music’s saxophone quartet
• an exhibition of work produced at the Department for Textile and Clothing Design (Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering)
• a look at various cultural studies topics (Faculty of Social Sciences)

More information.

‘Abonma 80’

‘At the UL AGRFT Department of Theatre and Radio, we decided to involve the widest possible cross-section of the Slovenian theatre community in a major part of our celebrations of the Academy’s 80^th anniversary.’

This led to the creation of ‘Abonma 80’, a commemorative season ticket/subscription, to run throughout the 2026/27 academic year, for 14 performances by all of the country’s professional theatres, including puppet theatres, along with two performances produced or co-produced with non-governmental organisations, and two final diploma productions by fourth-year Drama and Theatre Direction students. Further special features of the programme include a collaboration with the ‘Tovariški abonma’, which offers performances of contemporary dance and dramatic arts, and a cycle of broadcast premieres of short student radio plays, continuing the tradition established on Radio Ars (Radio Slovenia’s third programme, dedicated to the arts) in recent years.

Among the almost 200 creators and other people involved, visibly or behind the scenes, in the creation, life and existence of the performances included in Abonma 80 are almost 100 UL AGRFT alumni, including a number of teachers and educators – indubitable proof that the Slovenian theatre and UL AGRFT are parts of the same tree: its roots and its crown.

When selecting the performances, we looked at a number of variables, in addition to excellence and quality of content and staging; these included time and technical constraints, the availability of theatre companies and guest actors, and the Academy’s spatial and financial resources.

Abonma 80 is primarily intended for the academic community at the University of Ljubljana, and for our students, teachers and professional and technical staff, but also for the ever-growing community of theatregoers and performing arts professionals who are regular and frequent attenders of our public exam productions and repeat performances of those productions during the University of Ljubljana’s Culture Month or the annual AGRFT Festival. In any case, we would love to see as many people as possible coming through the doors on Aškerčeva for the first time.

Happy Birthday, UL AGRFT!

– Assistant Professor Zala Dobovšek, UL AGRFT

The 13^th Zagreb Design Week (ZGDW) began on 15 September with a gala awards ceremony at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts. This year, 339 finalists from 16 countries competed for international ZGDW Awards across six categories. They included 35 Slovenian projects, five of them by students from UL ALUO. Two of them, Scrap Squad by Gaja Bumbar and SEEDKO by Maša Kralj and Ana Topole, were among the prizewinners.

First prize in the Social Innovation Design category went to Gaja Bumbar, graphic design graduate, for Scrap Squad, a participatory visual communication system, created under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Roman Ražman, that sets out to transform recycling education through play, creativity and active participation. Although recycling is one of the first sustainable habits taught in schools, most waste-sorting systems are designed for adults, relying on text, abstract symbols and inconsistent labels that young children often struggle to understand. Scrap Squad transforms discarded materials into expressive characters, enabling children to recognise materials before they learn what the recycling categories are.

Third prize in the Social Innovation Design category went to SEEDKO by Maša Kralj and Ana Topole, master’s students in industrial design. SEEDKO is a biodegradable seedling pot made exclusively from secondary raw materials, predominantly coffee grounds. It is therefore a sustainable alternative for the growing of seedlings in garden centres and home gardens. The project was created under the mentorship of Professor Barbara Prinčič.

In the same category, a third UL ALUO project was among the finalists. WOODn’t it be nice was created by master’s students of industrial design Zoja Čepin, Jure Kralj, Maša Kralj and Klara Maček, along with UL Biotechnical Faculty (UL BF) student Leon Rojk Štupar, under the mentorship of Professors Barbara Prinčič, Barbara Predan and Jure Miklavc, and teaching assistants Tamara Lašič Jurković and Tim Prezelj. The project is an attempt to raise awareness about human impact on forest ecosystems and the imbalances it causes. The newly designed educational observatory and multi-species feeder address these knowledge gaps, offering a first step towards more resilient and informed approaches.

Two projects by master’s students of industrial design at UL ALUO were among the finalists in the Product Design category. IKO is a living playground ecosystem that connects children to natural cycles through biocomposite from waste rosehip and jute. The designers are Jovana Mališić, Lejla Mehanoli Alić and Leja Rebolj, and the mentoring team the same as for the WOODn’t it be nice project.

The other finalist from ALUO in the Product Design category is DAJZ, packaging made entirely from waste tomato vines (designer Ana Topole, mentor Professor Barbara Prinčič).

Many congratulations to all prizewinners and finalists! Their work remained on display at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb until 20 September.

– UL ALUO

Tanja Pak, an internationally renowned Slovenian artist and professor of applied arts (with a focus on glass) at UL ALUO, has received this year’s top prize at the Premio Fondazione di Venezia per The Venice Glass Week for her solo exhibition Oblika tišine [Shape of Silence]. The prize, sponsored by the Fondazione di Venezia, was given to the best project on show at this year’s tenth edition of the festival.

The expert jury made the award for the project’s convincing and authentic expression within a contemporary art context. According to the official citation, Tanja Pak’s creation was a ‘poetic and technically accomplished exploration of the limits of glass, from the physical boundaries of the material to the outer reaches of its expressive potential. Through an evocative dialogue between material, landscape and processes of transformation, the exhibition gives expression to humanity’s timeless yearning to reconnect with nature, a desire that resonates more powerfully today than ever, evoking the ice of the polar regions through the heat of the furnace.’ It was, said the jury, ‘[a] project of extraordinary beauty, underpinned by profound and rigorous research, that reveals compelling new possibilities for contemporary glass.’

For this Slovenian artist, the award is particularly valuable because it signals that her work is being recognised within the wider context of contemporary spatial art. In the words of the curator, glass is not merely a starting point for the artist, one that defines her artistic practice in itself, but a medium she reaches for exclusively because of its unique expressive possibilities. The award-winning installation works as a spatial whole that goes beyond the object itself and places the medium in a broader human and spatial context; it is also a continuation of her many years of artistic exploration of the fragility, vulnerability and transience of life – of the individual, society and the planet.

Curator Francesca Giubilei is strong in her agreement: ‘Tanja Pak is first and foremost an artist and only secondarily a glass artist: she is an artist who has chosen glass as the ideal medium to explore space, silence, and the human condition.’

The fact that the winning project was an exhibition in the SPARC* Spazio Arte Contemporanea gallery, which is devoted to contemporary art and does not specialise in glass, gives the award extra weight and confirmation.

It is further enriched by a multimedia project, a collaboration with Diana Chester, Rob Lye and Natalia Petkov, that reflects the experience of a recent trip to the Arctic and clearly highlights pressing environmental issues. The Oblika tišine / Shape of Silence exhibition is showing in Venice (Campo Santo Stefano, San Marco 2828A) until 2 October.

– Sara Bešlin Vatovec, UL ALUO

A major exhibition, Cosmos Kosovel, opened at the Cankarjev Dom Gallery on 16 September. Organised to mark the 100^th anniversary of the death of Srečko Kosovel, the exhibition is the result of an extensive interdisciplinary collaboration between more than twenty institutions and a large number of experts and creators from a range of fields.

It places Kosovel in dialogue with the European artistic and intellectual currents of his time, leading the visitor through his full range of interests, from the intimate and biographical to the planetary and the cosmic. As he wrote in one of his notebooks, ‘My life is mine, Slovenian, modern, European and eternal’’ – and 100 years after his death, these words trace the basic narrative arc of the exhibition, which invites us into the world of a poet who was simultaneously Slovene, a man of the Karst, modern, European and timeless.

One distinctive feature of the exhibition is the way it examines Kosovel from the perspective of the present. The spatial and overall design concepts were developed by students on the second-cycle Interactive Design course at UL ALUO – who are around the same age Kosovel was when he died. Original manuscripts and art are complemented by interactive multimedia content, from sound installations and digital games to immersive projections.

The opening was addressed by Uršula Menih Dokl, state secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Jure Novak, general director of Cankarjev Dom, Dr Jana Kolar, head of the National and University Library (NUK), Professor Barbara Predan, Dean of UL ALUO, Marijan Rupert, curator of the exhibition and head of manuscripts and the national literary archive at NUK, and Katarina Hergouth, head of the exhibition programme at Cankarjev Dom.

Kosovel through the lens of today’s generation

One distinctive aspect of the exhibition is the perspective it offers from our own time. The spatial and overall design concepts were developed by students on the second-cycle Interactive Design course at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (UL ALUO) – who are around the same age Kosovel was when he died. The poet is read through the perspective of this younger generation, with the exhibition designed as an experience that attempts to go beyond the classic museum visit. While it addresses the visitor through sound, interactive elements, multimedia, and a range of different perspectives and participatory features, the original items remain central, with modern technology merely complementing them and suggesting new ways of experiencing them. Dean of UL ALUO Professor Barbara Predan used her speech to highlight the importance of collaboration between students and public institutions, and of creation in dialogue with different environments and perspectives: ‘High-quality arts and design education does not come about in isolation, but in dialogue with different publics and public spaces – and of course, as in this case, in collaboration with domestic and international organisations. This openness, the critical approach to current specific issues and the constant interweaving of different perspectives give the works on show here an additional weight and importance. They introduce the perspectives of the younger generation – that is, the very members of the public who so often get ignored.’ Professor Predan also highlighted the fact that it was for precisely these reasons that arts and design education needed suitable premises – that is, a new UL ALUO building.

Interdisciplinary project involving more than twenty institutions

This major Cankarjev Dom production arose as an interdisciplinary project involving more than twenty institutions, including domestic and foreign museums, galleries and faculties, along with a large number of experts and creators from the fields of literature, art history, museum studies and design, to name just a few. Katarina Hergouth called the Cosmos Kosovel exhibition one of the most complex projects mounted by Cankarjev Dom in recent years, and highlighted the importance of the intergenerational cooperation that combined the expert knowledge and experience of the older generations and the energy, knowledge and insights of the younger. As she also pointed out, Kosovel continues to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for creators and researchers a century after his death.

The opening of the exhibition was accompanied by a specially designed artistic programme, directed by Ajda Valcl, that explored Kosovel’s poetry and thoughts through music, video, dance and visual interventions. It featured young creators and performers from Ljubljana’s secondary school of pre-school education studies, and general upper secondary school and arts school (SVŠGUGL) and UL AGRFT, the video was designed by Urša Čuk and Lana Hasić from UL ALUO, and the music was written and performed by Uroš Buh.

Cosmos Kosovel is showing at the Cankarjev Dom Gallery until 9 May 2027.

Exhibition curator: Marijan Rupert, National and University Library (NUK)
Project manager: Katarina Hergouth, head of the exhibition programme at Cankarjev Dom (CD)
Programme committee: Katarina Hergouth (CD), Marijan Rupert (NUK), Dr Kristina Pranjić (Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, University of Nova Gorica), Mateja Kralj (Kosovel Room in Sežana and the Kosovel House in Tomaj), Miha Colner (Božidar Jakac Gallery – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art),Professor Boštjan Botas Kenda (UL ALUO)
In cooperation with: National and University Library
Preparation/restoration of materials: Meta Kojc and Nika Mlakar (Department for Protection and Restoration, NUK)
Spatial concept and design: Students on the second-cycle Interactive Design course at UL ALUO (with mentors): Vojin Đorđević, Tea Gregorc, Lana Hasić, Jan Kranjec, Alja Ločičnik, Tim Topić, Ela Urankar and Gaja Žnidarčič, Professors Boštjan Botas Kenda and Domen Fras, Associate Professor Primož Fijavž, Assistant Professors Emil Kozole and Nejc Prah, teaching assistants Dorijan Šiško, Andrija Mihailović and Pika Žvan.
Stone benches: Boaz Novšak, Julija Mesojedec, Rok Mlinar, Jason Tilen Unterlehner and Nina Kuharič (UL ALUO, Department of Sculpture, Assistant Tejka Pezdirc, mentor)

– Cankarjev Dom public relations office and UL ALUO

An exhibition of works by students from the Department for Textile and Clothing Design opened at 7 pm on Thursday 10 September at MGBS (Banka Slovenije’s Mala Galerija). Titled Nepopolnosti [Imperfections], the exhibition shows student collections that explore the notion of imperfection through the body, emotions, materials and the creative process. It opens up a variety of perspectives, often personal, on deviations from the expected and the ideal. Through the design process, students explore vulnerability, change and unpredictability, and locate new design possibilities in the imperfect and the incomplete.

Participating students: Andrej Alagjozovski, Angel Micevski, Tadej Šandor, Grega Štor, Jera Marn, Lejla Lamija Mešanović, Ema Barbič, Manuela Mokotar, Neža Kavčič, Lucija Polanc, Lucija Dimovski Ivanuš, Sandra Pregelj, Alin Toplak, Dimitar Simovski, Eva Sonc, Pia Wallner, Luka Bončina
Visual equipment: Hana Podvršič
Mentors: Professors Almira Sadar, Nataša Peršuh, Elena Fajt and Marija Jenko, Assistant Professor Petja Zorec, teaching assistants Nataša Hrupić, Alenka More, Sari Valenci, Anže Mrak
Technical support: Nina Glavič, Mojca Košir, Andrej Vilar, Veronika Vidmar
Project leader: Professor Almira Sadar
MGBS curator: Ema Kobal
Production: University of Ljubljana

– Professor Almira Sadar, UL NTF

To noč sem ga slišal [I Heard Him Last Night] is a multimedia exploration lying at the intersection of photography, art book, poster and object. Alen Fuks’s work does not remain within the bounds of a single medium; instead it establishes an open narrative field in which historical memory, personal identity and the materiality of the photographic image and other materials intertwine, interconnect and complement each other’s content. The exhibition’s title makes oblique reference to Drago Jančar’s novel To noč sem jo videl [I Saw Her That Night], one of the most important reflections in Slovenian literature on war, loss and the fragmentary nature of memory.

The central figure, Veronika Zarnik, is revealed through the eyes of five people, each of whom reconstructs her from memory in their own way. Similarly, the exhibition is not seeking a single story, but creating a visual space in which images are placed one on top of the other to reveal different layers of meaning and ways of reading, with the female protagonist being replaced by a young man in uniform. The photography does not appear as a document of the past or as an attempt to replicate it, but as a medium of interpretation in which individual and collective memory are constantly being reshaped and replaced, presenting the opportunity to choose or reject. At the heart of the project is an art book that combines elements of fashion photography, an archival imaginary and a performative excursion into photography. The images of the model in historical uniforms, which we borrowed from Viba film, establish a tense relationship between present and past, individual identity and the social roles determined by political systems and historical circumstances. The uniform, which usually denotes belonging and discipline, here becomes a space for questions around the fragility of the individual, loss and responsibility.

The motif of the stitch is one of the key elements running through the exhibition. The photographs are not merely bearers of images, but material objects in which the artist intervenes by cutting, patching up and reconstituting the surface. The stitch, created by Pia Wallner, functions as an active line, a drawing, a scar and a bond all at the same time. It denotes interruption, damage to the photograph and the possibility of reconnection, becoming a metaphor for memory that is never ‘whole’, but is always comprised of fragments, gaps and subsequent reconstruction. Appearing in different segments of the installation, the motif of the crocodile occupies a special place in the work. It refers to the records of Veronika Zarnik’s life, at the same time assuming the role of a visual symbol that connects historical narrative with the logic of the contemporary image and its reproduction. In a series of packaged ready-mades, the crocodile enters the realm of mass culture and reproducibility, establishing a dialogue between the unique art work and everyday, mass-produced objects.

The exhibition can be seen at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering at 5 Snežniška street in Ljubljana. It has been conceived as a parallel sequence of five thematic units, just as Jančar’s novel features five storytellers across five chapters. The installation is made up of the title poster, a series of photographs, stitched photographs, objects and the artist’s book. Together they create a narrative of past decades, which Fuks addresses from a distance, as a student of the fourth postwar generation. Instead of historical reconstruction, we are invited to reflect on how history persists in images, objects and personal stories, and how this can still influence and shape our views of the present.

To noč sem ga slišal is not just about who we hear in the echoes of the past, but how we listen to ourselves. The work explores the relationship between memory and image, absence and presence, personal experience and collective memory, mentor and student, and solidarity and patience. In a world where photographs are often regarded as evidence, Alen Fuks shows us that they can also be spaces of doubt, false projections, and sites of silent dialogue with those who are no longer with us. In this dialogue, the image does not merely hold a position as a memory of the past, but becomes an active space in which history and the present constantly meet.

The exhibition project, mounted with the support of the University of Ljubljana’s HUD Fund, is a continuation of the work that the artist created, in the form of a poster, for the Artistic Analysis of Graphic Products 2 course, under the supervision of Dr Tanja Medved and Boris Beja in the 2025/26 academic year.

– Assistant Professor Boris Beja, UL NTF

The thirty-sixth International Student School of Sculpture, which is held every year at the Montraker quarry in Vrsar, Croatia and features students from academies of art in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Ljubljana, came to an end on 12 September.

Since 1991, young sculptors have used the occasion of the workshop to create original artistic works in the old abandoned Montraker quarry. The open summer school also offers tourists and other visitors, who are able to come and see the creations up close as they are taking shape, a unique insight into the process of transforming raw stone into intriguing and inspiring forms. All the sculptures created at previous workshops are exhibited on the beaches, campsites, promenade and city parks of Vrsar.

After two weeks’ work, this year’s students from the four academies unveiled four new works: a ship, a buoy, an Istrian goat and a sheep, all of which will soon be installed in various public spaces around Vrsar. The sheep was the work of undergraduate student of sculpture Leo Samsa, who represented UL ALUO. His supervisor was Associate Professor Metod Frlic.

– Sara Bešlin Vatovec, UL ALUO

Between 5 and 13 September, an Erasmus+ BIP international summer school took place at the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at the Tomas Bata University in Zlín (Czechia), with UL ALUO taking part for the second year running. This year’s theme, Future-Proof Cultural Institutions: Innovation, Inclusion, Sustainability, attracted students and academics from Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Portugal and Brazil.

UL ALUO’s student representatives at the summer school were undergraduates Sara Bauer (industrial design) and Brina Tomažič (video, animation and new media), while the academic staff were represented by Anja Zorko, head of the national Centre for Creativity platform, and Professor Boštjan Botas Kenda, professor of visual communications at UL ALUO.

This year’s theme was the future of cultural institutions and their importance and role in contemporary society. Students from the participating universities encountered a range of views on and insights into the future of the cultural sector through lectures, visits to cultural institutions in Zlín and Olomouc, and a closer look at Tomas Bata University, which is housed in the former factory and office buildings of Baťa, a company that has had a strong impact on the image and character of the city of Zlín. Indeed, the history of the company and its impact on the city have provided an important context for research into the role of institutions in the local environment.

In the concluding part of the summer school, students split into groups and developed their own visions of cultural institutions with the help of speculative design approaches. They presented their work at the final exhibition in the university’s student gallery.

– Sara Bešlin Vatovec, UL ALUO

At the Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language, we organised an intensive Slovenian course for Erasmus+ students in collaboration with the university’s international relations office and the Erasmus+ programme. The course is co-financed by the European Union and is designed for students who are studying at higher education establishments with an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) and have been selected for an Erasmus+ study period. The course commenced on 31 August and lasted three weeks. It was attended by 61 students, who were divided into four groups. The highest single number (25) came from Germany.

A large number of the students opted to continue learning Slovene on the ‘Slovenian for Students’ course, which begins on 6 October. In addition to classroom lessons, students could also test their knowledge on a language-learning walk around Ljubljana, where they visited the market, a post office and other places of interest.

– Brigita Zahirović, UL FF

Between 7 and 11 September, UL ALUO, in collaboration with Ribnica Handicrafts Centre (RCR), held a week-long summer seminar (Clay 3D Printing Camp) aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students on design and architecture courses at UL, as well as others with an interest in the subject.

This intensive and creative week, which was organised by UL ALUO’s Department of Industrial Design and Applied Arts, took place at the RCR’s premises under the supervision of Assistant Professor Janez Mesarič, an industrial designer and teacher based at UL ALUO. The students were divided into four groups and set about exploring, creating and developing ideas using new clay 3D printing techniques. At the end, they brought their ideas to life by using a 3D printer to produce their first physical prototypes.

The camp’s participants created four very different projects. The Netopirnica [Bat House] project explored the possibility of producing a shelter for bats, the ŽIV ŽAV [Cacophony] project developed modular elements for the rewilding of a section of the Gradaščica, the ZOM project involved the development of a 3D-printed acoustic wall, and the BUBA project produced a protective element for trees.

The camp was a space of experimentation, collaboration, knowledge-sharing and focused on testing what can arise when clay meets state-of-the-art technology and the creative ideas of young designers. The camp was organised as part of the ‘Handicrafts Between Tradition and Innovation’ project, which was co-financed by the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Sport. Participation was therefore free of charge.

– Sara Bešlin Vatovec, UL ALUO

An exhibition of drawings and watercolours by Alenka Golob opened at 5 pm on Tuesday 1 September at the Gallery of the UL School of Economics and Business UL EF). The opening address outlined the artist’s twin interests, architecture and fine arts, and pointed out that drawing has been part of Golob’s artistic practice for decades and that, in her work, it is not merely the precise depiction of space that is important, but the way in which she observes, feels and captures something at a given moment. The artist herself emphasises the ‘sense’ of nature as the origin of her inspiration. As an architect, she recognises lines, proportions, structure and composition in space; as an artist, she adds her own personal experience to these elements. The exhibition contains landscape, urban and architectural motifs from a number of different places, including Ljubljana, Bohinj, Venice and Paris.

The opening address was followed by a few words from the artist, who explained why she still felt compelled to create drawings, landscapes and watercolours. She pointed out that, because of their transparency, light effects and interwoven shades of colour, watercolours enable a very direct presentation of a landscape to be produced, while demanding from the artist a considerable measure of skill, as it is difficult to correct a brushstroke.

Drawings and watercolours are closely connected with each other: the line determines the basic structure of the motif, while colour adds light, atmosphere and the artist’s personal feeling to it. By ‘line’, the artist means the sketches that, as she says, arise spontaneously and ‘live and on the spot’, as an alternative to taking a photograph with a phone and as a more vivid way of capturing the moment.

Alenka Golob, architect and visual artist, was born in Ljubljana in 1946. She studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Surveying (FAGG), graduating in 1971 under Professor Edvard Ravnikar. During her studies, she also attended a one-year drawing course given by Professor Zoran Didek. In 1974, after receiving a French scholarship, she did further studies in architecture and urban planning in Paris. In her professional career as an architect, Alenka Golob designed public and residential buildings, and also took part in cultural heritage restoration projects. Her drawings and watercolours have already been shown at various group and solo exhibitions, including in the Pilon Gallery in Ajdovščina, the Dessa Gallery and the Finžgar Gallery.

During the opening, Golob also talked at length about the importance of drawing in architecture, and lamented that drawing used to be an important part of education in architecture, but is now no longer. For her, this tradition of architectural drawing, connected with Plečnik and the wider Central European architectural sphere, and specifically to Professors Marjan Mušič and Edvard Ravnikar, who passed it on to subsequent generations, is a very important one. The official text accompanying the exhibition sees Golob as an artist who is continuing this tradition, and emphasises the central role of Plečnik’s drawing in the Slovenian context. The artist herself often starts with a sketch, stopping before the subject, sitting down and observing nature or space. Instead of simply photographing the scene, she tries to understand it and put it down on paper herself.

She is especially critical of today’s technology, particularly when it comes to what it has done to people’s relationship with experience generally, and of the use of computers to generate architectural images. In her opinion, computer rendering has largely replaced the drawing that architects used to be skilled at; this had led to architectural creation losing some of its direct human expression. We can also see her thinking as a critique of the way we look at the world. Today we can take a huge number of photographs in just a few seconds, but that does not mean that we have really seen what we are looking at. Drawing by hand takes time, concentration and a decision about what is really important in any given scene. For this reason, Alenka Golob recognises in drawing something that the machine-generated image can never entirely replace: the personal trace or the ‘spirit’ of the person who observed the subject and got it down on paper.

Her exhibition is therefore not merely a collection of drawings and watercolours, but a reflection on the importance of handcrafted art in an increasingly digitalised world. It is, at the same time, a reflection on our relationship to observation and the subject of observation. We would do well to heed her call: paper and pencil over the phone camera every time.

– Marko Čadež Mačkić