The changing of the seasons is not a human invention, but a consequence of the tilted axis
of this great sphere we live on. Man observed these changes and adapted to them just as
other creatures did. He tried to explain them through legends. On this basis he compared
the Earth’s rotating around the Sun to the circle of life while he likened the stages of a
lifetime to the characteristics of the seasons. Spring is assigned to youth, summer belongs
to the mature and prolific years, while autumn illustrates old age. Thus winter is connected
with death. In a similar way as the seasons sequentially follow one another in Vesel’s garden, the life cycle starts with birth and ends with death in the beliefs of the main and official religions which have reigned in these parts during the past millennia. The Animist
beliefs and those that remained closely connected to the spirit of Earth still to this day
carry on the awareness of the cyclic repetition of a sequence. Besides, the seasons are
artificially divided for convenience’s sake whereas in nature they merge one into another
without a clear dividing line. Even Christianity has not forgotten that even the dark, dreary,
sleeping, dead winter at its most dormant stage hides a new beginning of life. However
the urban man quickly misses the connection between the world of symbols and the
world of phenomena.
Paola Korošec has placed on the wintery Vesel’s garden a number of statues made of iron,
ice and clay. The time of her exhibition still falls in the autumn, nevertheless we may already strongly anticipate winter’s passivity, nature’s slumber, infertility and stupor - a symbolic death. Accordingly the exhibition of Paola Korošec embraces this, Nature’s Cabaret.
Already the choice of material from which the statues are made evokes a lack of warmth
and life if we imagine each of them separately and being static. However the three elements united carry within them the seed that will transform them into the symbols of life
and creativity, which only waits for higher temperatures to germinate, but not now. Not
yet.
This iron plant which is firmly anchored in the soil and bends down to the ground like a
snow drop, the first spring flower, is actually a framework covered with corrosion from
which an ice drop is hanging. In the earth below, there is a hole. It is deepened in its centre
assuming the shape of the pendant ice and the entire hollow is coated with clay. This imprint in the ground reminds us of the ancient urn graves which were left with an urnshaped hollow once the urn has been removed. So this vacant hole which can hold water
assumes the role of a well. If the air temperature is lower than the melting point of ice, the
well will remain dry, but if it is higher the ice ball will melt and trickle into the well. The artist will keep replacing the melted ice and it may happen that the well will soon be filled to
the brim with droplets. However since this is an open air exhibition it is also subject to
weather conditions so rain may also interfere, which will additionally hasten the process of
melting the ice and filling the clay hole. The constant replacing of ice is not important only
for static, compositional and conceptual reasons but also for the processes of melting,
dripping and changing the shape of the ice. It is a process directly bound to the immediate
surroundings in which the statues are placed. These mainly self-absorbed compositions
are engaged chiefly with their own one-way process; a linear stream from the melting ice
turning into water. They seem like allegories of the ending of an ice-age or even emblems
of climate change, a topic much discussed and written about these days. While the drops
fill the hole only to the extent of forming a puddle, the statue remains a self-involved,
changing composition. In a way it resembles a hybrid plant which has no ability of regeneration and needs human help to continue its repetition, or else it would remain lifelessly
bent over a dry well. However the statues can form a distinct bond with their environment
when so much water trickles in to the hole that it spills over. This can make us ponder the
fictitious story of dry land being flooded by the melting glaciers, but on the other hand,
the irrigation of the surrounding is real, it is not an imaginary garden. Nevertheless we may
assume that this does not close the circle in which a ball of ice re-creates itself.
Text, Vasja Nagy
Translation, Nina Zelenko
Breg 22, 1000 Ljubljana, tel.: +386 1 434 9465
e-naslov: [email protected], www.dlul-drustvo.si
Poštnina
plačana
pri pošti
1101
Ljubljana
Spreminjanje letnih časov ni človeški izum, temveč posledica nagiba te velike krogle, na
kateri živimo. Človek je te menjave le opazoval, se jim prilagajal, tako kot druga bitja in jih
pojasnjeval z zgodbami iz domišljije. Kroženje Zemlje okoli Sonca je tako primerjal z življenjskim krogom in obdobjem enega življenja pripisoval lastnosti posameznih letnih časov. Mladosti se pripisuje pomlad, zrelemu, plodnemu obdobju poletje, starosti pa jesen.
Zima je tako povezana s smrtjo. Na podoben način, kot se letni časi linearno zvrstijo na
Veselovem vrtu, so tudi prevladujoče in uradne religije na našem prostoru v zadnjih tisočletjih življenje interpretirale z rojstvom na začetku in s smrtjo na koncu. Animistična in z
zemljino naravo tesneje povezana verovanja pa še v današnji čas nosijo zavedanje o cikličnem ponavljanju zaporedja. Poleg tega so letni časi zgolj funkcionalno, umetno razdeljeni,
medtem, ko v naravi prehajajo eden v drugega brez jasne meje. Tudi v krščanstvu se sicer
ni pozabilo, da temna, pusta, speča, mrtva zima v svoji najbolj intenzivni stopnji odkriva
ponovno rojstvo življenja, vendar urbanizirani človek zelo hitro izgubi povezavo med svetovoma simbolov in pojavov.
Paola Korošec je na zimski Veselov vrt postavila več kipov iz železa, ledu in gline. Čas njene postavitve je še dokaj jesenski, vendar se v njem že pošteno anticipira tudi zimska pasivnost, spanje narave, neplodnost, mrtvilo, simbolna smrt. Temu teatru narave se skladno
pridružuje tudi postavitev Paole Korošec. Že izbor materiala, iz katerega so narejeni kipi,
zbuja občutek odsotnosti toplote in življenja, če si jih predstavljamo same po sebi in statično. Vsi trije elementi pa hkrati nosijo v sebi seme transformacije v simbole življenja in
ustvarjalnosti, ki samo čaka na ugodnejšo temperaturo, da vzklije. Vendar ne zdaj. Ne še.
V zemljo čvrsto usidrana železna bilka, ki se sklanja navzdol proti tlom kot zvonček, prva
pomladna cvetlica, je s korozijo pokrit skelet, s katerega visi ledena kepa. Pod njo je v zemljo izkopana jama. V njeni sredini je poglobitev v obliki visečega ledu in je cela premazana s plastjo gline. Odtis v zemlji spominja na arheološko izkopane starodavne žarne grobove, ki nosijo negativni odtis odstranjene žare, jama sama, ki je razmeroma vododržna,
pa prevzema vlogo vodnjaka. V primeru, da bi bila temperatura zraka nižja od tališča ledu,
bi ta vodnjak ostal suh, v nasprotnem pa se bo ledena kepa odkapljala vanj. Umetnica bo
stopljeni led nadomeščala z novim in lahko se zgodi, da se bo vodnjak v kratkem času do
roba napolnil s kapljevino. Ker pa je postavitev na odprtem in torej podvržena vremenskim
vplivom, obstaja možnost, da se vmeša tudi dež, ki bo še dodatno pospešil tako topljenje
ledu, kot polnjenje glinene jame. Stalno nadomeščanje ledu ni pomembno zgolj zaradi
statičnih, kompozicijskih in konceptualnih razlogov, temveč tudi zaradi procesa topljenja,
kapljanja in spreminjanja oblike ledu. Gre za proces, ki je vezan na neposredno okolje, v
katerega so kipi postavljeni. Sicer pretežno vase zaprte kompozicije so zaposlene predvsem s svojim lastnim, enosmernim procesom, linearnim tokom od ledu k vodi. Delujejo
kot prispodobe konca ledene dobe ali celo podnebnih sprememb, o katerih se v današnjem času veliko govori in piše. Dokler se v jamo nakaplja toliko vode, da se v njej naredi
zgolj luža, kip ostaja vase zaprta, spreminjajoča se kompozicija. Po svoje spominja na hibridno rastlino, ki se ni sposobna regenerirati in potrebuje človekovo pomoč, da lahko v
ponavljanju nadaljuje svoj proces, sicer bi mrtvo obvisela nad posušenim vodnjakom. Posebno vez s svojim okoljem pa lahko kipi vzpostavijo, če se v jamo nakaplja toliko vode, da
se razlije preko roba. Ob tem lahko sledimo fiktivni pripovedi o poplavljanju kopnega zaradi topljenja ledenikov, po drugi strani pa gre za namakanje neposredne okolice, ki je
dejanski, ne namišljen vrt. Kljub vsemu pa lahko predvidevamo, da to ne sklene kroga, v
katerem bi se ledena kepa zopet sama nabrala.
Vasja Nagy
18. 3. 2014
Biografija
Paola Korošec je bila rojena leta 1969 v Ljubljani. Študij kiparstva je zaključila leta 1993
pri prof. Dragu Tršarju na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje v Ljubljani.
Sodeluje na različnih kiparskih in restavratorskih projektih doma in v tujini. Njeno
delo se pogosto dotika problema prostora.
V zadnjem času bolj intenzivno sodeluje z
različnimi muzeji in drugimi institucijami na
področju arheološke keramike in računalniške 3d modelacije. V letošnjem letu je za
kiparsko delo prejela priznanje majski salon
ter priznanje mednarodnega festivala likovnih umetnosti Kranj. Živi in dela v Ljubljani.
[email protected]
Biography
Paola Korošec was born in 1969 in Ljubljana. She finished her sculpture studies in
prof. Drago Tršar’s class at Academy for
Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 1993.
She participates in different artistic and
restoration project in Slovenia and abroad.
Lately she has been involved in archaeological ceramics and 3d modelling projects
with different museums and other similar
institutions. This year she received recognition at Majski salon and at International
Fine Arts festival Kranj for her sculptural
work. She lives and works in Ljubljana.
[email protected]
Breg 22, 1000 Ljubljana, tel.: +386 1 434 9465
e-naslov: [email protected], www.dlul-drustvo.si
Paola Korošec
ZIMA
Prostorska postavitev na prostem,
cikel »Štirje letni časi« / ZIMA 2014.
Društvo likovnih umetnikov Ljubljana vabi na odprtje razstave, ki bo v sredo,
22. 10. 2014 ob 18. uri v Galeriji Veselov vrt, Komenskega 8, Ljubljana.
Razstava bo na ogled do 22. 11. 2014.
Izdajatelj: Društvo likovnih umetnikov Ljubljana, Breg 22, 1000 Ljubljana | zanj: Polona Demšar | Organizacija razstave: Mojca Smerdu, Visart
| Kustos: Vasja Nagy | Besedilo: Vasja Nagy | Fotografije: Paola Korošec | Prevod in lektoriranje: Nina Zelenko | Oblikovanje vabila in zloženke:
Društvo Visart | Priprava in tisk: Tiskarna Mat-Format d.o.o., Ljubljana | Naklada: 450 kosov | Slovenija, Ljubljana 2014
Trajanje razstave: 22. 10. – 22. 11. 2014
https://www.facebook.com/dlul.drustvo.si
Razstavo so omogočili Mestna občina Ljubljana, Ministrstvo za kulturo RS in Zveza društev slovenskih likovnih umetnikov in Visart.
Predsednica DLUL, Polona Demšar
Izvedbo razstave so omogočili Mestna občina Ljubljana,
Ministrstvo za kulturo in ZDSLU.
Paola Korošec
ZIMA
Prostorska postavitev na prostem, Cikel »Štirje letni časi« / ZIMA 2014.
Galerija Veselov vrt, Komenskega 8, Ljubljana
Razstava bo na ogled do 22. 11. 2014.