The Rector of the University of Ljubljana Prof. Dr. Ivan Svetlik bestowed awards for important works of art today, the highest artistic titles of the University of Ljubljana, which are equal to the title Doctor of Science. This year he awarded fifteen such awards at the event, organised once a year by the University. 

The award is a condition for being elected as a university teacher in a field that merits artistic creativity as key in the educational process.

It can be awarded for creations in the field of musical composition and interpretation, theatre and radio art, film and television art, painting, sculpture and graphics, restoration, visual communication, architecture, urbanism and landscape design, industrial and unique design, video, photography and new artistic practices. 

The University of Ljubljana as a comprehensive-discipline university includes three art academies. The principal activities of the academies are artistic creation and the education of students in artistic theory and practices, but artistic activities also take place at other University Members such as the Faculty of Architecture, the Biotechnical Faculty and the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering. 

With the aforementioned awards the University of Ljubljana enables artists an equivalent entry into their academic career as scientists with a Doctor of Science title enjoy. “At the University of Ljubljana we wish that the best artists purvey their knowledge and experience in artistic creation to the artistically gifted members of younger generations. In exchange we enable individuals artistic creation and work with students in a relatively safe university environment,” said the Rector of the University of Ljubljana Prof. Dr. Ivan Svetlik. 

The President of the Committee for bestowing awards for important works of art Prof. Janja Korun stressed that every individual views life within his own string of circumstances, and that is why he can offer a unique, unparalleled and always new expression to the world. “To overtake one’s own contemporaneity, to be absolutely modern, to invent something new – these are imperatives that emerged as early as the beginning of the 20th century and are still alive today,” she maintains. 

You can read the entire speech by Prof. Dr. Janja Korun here. 

We asked the recipients of the award what is, in their view, the mission of the artist. 

Award recipient violinist Anja Bukovec: “The mission of the artist is to conserve his own culture, in a personal and broader social sense. We thereby enrich humanity. For me personally this is the ultimate and most crucial aspect of our existence – to develop ourselves emotionally and mentally. The artist stimulates all this, practices it on himself; he learns and tries to transfer or present it to the public the best he can and hopes to reach somebody, and maybe create a small change for the future generations.” 

Award recipient director Metod Pevec is among those who often ponder this question, responding: “Any answer can sound extremely ambitious and also excessive. Often we like to think we can do more than we actually can. I find it even harder in these times, as there are absolutely too many voices that want to say and change something. All voices are definitely not correct, and the artist’s voice can easily be lost. If you raise this voice, you can easily overdo it. I personally do not want much else than to warn, in a subtle manner, that something is wrong, that something hurts, that we have overlooked something, that something deserves more attention than we actually give it, either to a man or to a problem.” 

The award recipient architect Vlatka Ljubanović agrees: “The mission of the artist is definitely to draw attention to those things that need to be improved in society that must be pointed out and to act in a way that further develops, improves and opens up our society. Each time we find ourselves heading in a direction that does not seem to have an exit, the artist shows the way forward.” 

The recipients of the award for important works of art of the University of Ljubljana in the year 2017: 

• Anja Bukovec, Academy of Music
• Nuška Rojko, Academy of Music
• Matjaž Stopinšek, Academy of Music
   
• Janez Burger, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television
• Špela Čadež, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television
• David Orešič, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television
• Metod Pevec, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television
   
• Mag. Mitja Ficko, Academy of Fine Arts and Design
• Kristina Rutar, Academy of Fine Arts and Design
• Matej Stupica, Academy of Fine Arts and Design
   
• Vlatka Ljubanović, Faculty of Architecture
• Gašper Medvešek, Faculty of Architecture
• Aleksander Ostan, Faculty of Architecture
• Paul Robinson, Faculty of Architecture
• Aleš Žnidaršič, Faculty of Architecture 

Photos by Foto studio NORA, d. o. o. You can find more photos from the event here.