A selection of book illustrations

Ana Maraž’s selection for this year’s Illustrators Exhibition in Bologna, a main showcase for the latest trends in illustration for children and young adults, her given her work a new lease of life. At first glance, a minimalist approach and a flat style enhanced by the illustrator's primary, abstracted interpretation feature prominently in her work. Through the use of different approaches, this is beautifully represented by her illustrations for the four selected books. The anthology of fairy tales by Mate Dolenc, Kako dolg je čas (Beletrina, 2019), seems a perfect match for the symbolism of the illustrator Ana Maraž, and the black and white colour palette was a logical choice. The most prominent double-spread illustration shows a hippopotamus in a lake outside a spa, a tropical salad and a spa pavilion – depicted in an extremely symbolic way (pen and wash drawings, lines done in Indian ink, collage), and a perfectly balanced layout of the spread. Another, extremely challenging commission was illustrating Miroslav Košuta's poems in his book Božaj veter – Pesmi za mlade (Mladinska knjiga, Sončnica, 2021). The colour range is deliberately sparse, with only shades of blue and green added to the red. Using a unique artistic approach, this time significantly different, Maraž has succeeded in capturing expectations, nimbleness, tenderness, the gloominess of the forest, a garland of dried flowers and wind in hair. Her innovative and unconventional artistic language gained international visibility immediately after the publication of the picture book Protideževna juha by the writer Majda Koren (KUD Sodobnost International, 2023). The illustrations were selected for the main showcase of the Bologna International Children's Book Fair, and went on to tour Japan, Korea and China. The sensual illustrations in mixed media, accompanying Kaja Teržan's poems in the tiny, brightly coloured picture book Narisati ptico (Mladinska knjiga, Knjižnica Čebelica 480, 2024) for the youngest readers, are masterfully done. The continuous thread that runs through Ana Maraž’s body of work is symbolism, the artist’s vehicle for opening windows onto new worlds to the viewers. 

Ana Maraž (1985, Šempeter pri Gorici). Graduated in Art Pedagogy from the Faculty of Education, the University of Ljubljana, in 2011. Since 2017, she has been working in the field of illustration as a self-employed professional in culture. Her illustrations have been published in magazines and books for children and young readers. She has held several solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia and internationally. Maraž is the recipient of several important national and international awards. She is a member of the Illustrators' Section of the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies. She lives and works in Vipava.

Tatjana Pregl Kobe (1946, Maribor) Holds a BA in Art History, and works as an art critic, writer and essayist. Her most notable professional achievement are regular contributions to scholarly journals dedicated to this genre, the book Slovenska knjižna ilustracija (1979/80), a publication charting the development of illustration throughout the world Upodobljene besede (1998), publications in books Likovne impresije I–III (2000–2007) and the book Slovenska knjižna ilustracija 1 (2023). She is on the editorial board of the Otrok in knjiga journal and frequently serves on the jury of various Slovenian and international biennials of illustration. She lives in Ljubljana.
 

Young artist Hana Tavčar's textile art project, Dirty Business, is a witty and innovative narrative about everyday household utensils and work that human society considers inferior. 

Brooms, rags, brushes, sinks, dustpans, dustbins are hidden behind cupboards in our day-to-day living spaces, in pantries, under counters, behind doors. By adding various textile elements, the artist places them in a different context, where they come to life taking on a new role; they become inviting, proud, aesthetic and valuable co-creators of a living space, cleansed of prejudice and stigma and elevated to the status of desirable pieces of family heirloom. The project is a highly felicitous fusion of tradition and contemporaneity, which, in addition to social issues, also addresses the field of sustainability and insightfully penetrates the complex psychology of modern man.

Mentors: Prof. Marija Jenko, Assist. Prof. Katja Burger Kovič, MSc
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Department of Textiles, Graphic Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana

Curator & selector: Prof. Vid Lenard 
Project Manager: Jurij Dobrila 

The Embryonic STROKE of a Designer 
A Greek myth says that the history of painting and all artistic media begins with the drawing. Thus, as the outline of a shadow cast by bodies, drawing constitutes the starting point of the development of art and design. 
The Embryonic STROKE exhibition foregrounds the popularity and relevance of drawing among Slovenian members of the Designers' Society of Slovenia (DOS). As has been established, a hand drawing remains the crucial, extremely useful medium in both design and art (e.g., Risomanija exhibition, Nova Gorica, 2024), although today perhaps occupying a different role. This is because it enables an immediate recording of thoughts, impressions and feelings, which makes it relevant and popular. Drawing is quick and direct, it represents the fastest transference from thought to hand, allowing for a wide range of subjects and a whole array of expressive possibilities. A drawing can be a transfer of thoughts onto paper, perhaps a sketch in the sand, or even a plastic interpretation of ideas in random spatial material. A drawing can be a brief verbal note or a coherent interpretation of an idea. 

In the field of design, drawings are a medium for thinking and working, for concretising or elucidating ideas; they are a means of presenting a project to a client or the authorities; and a way to reflect on analysing and presenting the basic concept of a project. A model – drawing therefore both concretises and externalises the inner world of a designer and their ideas. It helps the designer to reflect on the project and ways towards perfecting it. 

Umetniški projekt Vrtičkanje, prtičkanje mlade tekstilne oblikovalke Zale Hrastar je domišljen razmislek o življenjskih kontrastih, ki jih spretno združuje skozi uporabo digitalne in rokodelske tehnike. Središče tega projekta predstavljajo stari prtički, ki so preoblikovani in kolažirani v funkcionalne tekstilne mojstrovine. 

Projekt tako izraža sinergijo med preteklostjo in sedanjostjo, preoblikovanje dediščine v nekaj novega, inovativnega in privlačnega. 
Poleg tega ima projekt pomembno vlogo pri spodbujanju pomena recikliranja in ponovne uporabe rabljenega tekstila. 

Avtorica si zato zasluži priznanje za ohranjanje prepoznavne vizualne identitete in kakovostnega umetniškega dela, ki presega čas in modne trende. 

Projekt je nastal v sodelovanju z mentoricama Marijo Jenko in Petjo Zorec; NTF – Univerza v Ljubljani. 

Priznanje DALJNOGLED razpiše in podeljuje Društvo oblikovalcev Slovenije ter je namenjeno mladim ustvarjalcem, ki ob prijavi dela še niso dopolnili trideset let. Avtor ali skupina avtorjev prejme priznanje za najboljši odgovor na razpis oziroma izziv, razpisan pri DOS.

Predsednik Društva oblikovalcev Slovenije: Jurij Dobrila
Predsednik žirije oblikovalski presežki: Peter Jamšek
Oblikovanje razstavne postavitve: Anka Štular
Fotografija: Zala Hrastar

It has been three decades since Alen Ožbolt took over designing the PROBLEMI magazine and the ANALECTA book collection. Thirty years and more than 200 book covers – an imposing output and one virtually unparalleled in the publishing industry. Thirty years of book covers, designs all sharing the same starting point, but each and every one singularly unique, and nearly all alluding to the content with great subtlety. A book cover is a window onto the book, and these book jackets are the main focus of Cankarjev dom's Silver Windows exhibition. 

The exhibition includes accompanying reflections by Dr. Mladen Dolar and Dr. Alenka Zupančič, and Gray on Gray, a series of lectures by great philosophical figures to take place in January and February 2024.
 

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated 60 years ago, on 22 November 1963, in Dallas. Appearing on all TV channels and delivering eloquent speeches, Kennedy was a president whose life was front-page news, whose words went down in history as famous quotes. An icon, a mythical figure, a physically weak man of athletic appearance, a powerful, promiscuous man giving an impression of a modest family man.

The newspaper copies kept by the Museum of Press present his dazzling public image. JFK’s assassination was a global media sensation - like the Moon landing. 

Razstava skozi fotografski objektiv prikazuje in obiskovalcu ponuja vpogled v bojne aktivnosti pripadnikov slovenske teritorialne obrambe in milice med ključnimi trenutki na poti do uresničitve dolgo pričakovane samostojnosti naše države.

Na ogled danih 49 fotografij poskrbi za popotovanje skozi trenutke zgodovine, ki razkrivajo pogum, odločnost, vztrajnost in zavzetost tistih, ki so dokazali, da je slovenski narod tudi nepopustljiv in trdoživ. 

Različni fotografi, profesionalni in amaterski, ki so prispevali fotografije za razstavo, s tem omogočajo, da njihove vsebine postajajo del zgodovine in tako večnosti. In ob enem prebujajo spomine na obdobje slovenskega osamosvajanja ter so hkrati opomin, da vojna ne sme postati stanje duha.

We imagine the future as a world abounding in technology, robots and, consequently, geometric elements that convey an impression of being uncomfortable. But what if that's not the case? What if it’s all an illusion? The “Illusion of a Soft Future” collection is a new version of elegant pleats combined with a smooth, compact material in warm shades. The cold-grey hemming tape, wound softly between the materials, creates an illusion of a comfortable technological future.

Jury statement
The elegant women's clothing collection constitutes a well-considered fusion of elements of architecture and fashion design. The complex and carefully tailored clothing features an intertwinement of curved, soft lines of the compact polyester fabric and the unobtrusively rigorous, straight lines of pleats. The collection has been designed with a sophisticated flair for elegance, detail and coherence, and with a great deal of patience, clarity and determination. The felicitous artistic articulation of the vision of a robotized and technicised future, where strict geometric elements are "softened" into comfortable wearability, testify to the artist’s feel for contemporary fashion design and at the same time a palpable sense of originality. 

Showcase exhibition of the Network of Art and Cultural Research Centers- RUK, which consists of Delavski dom Trbovlje (Trbovlje), ACE KIBLA (Maribor) and PiNA (Koper). 

After three years of interdisciplinary development, bringing together various stakeholders and pushing the boundaries in the fields of augmented reality technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence, digitization and digitization of cultural heritage, ecology, and sustainable development, innovative and visionary pilot projects, products, artworks, festivals, and educational programmes will be presented. We will connect and present several creative areas, methodological approaches, and production contexts through the displayed projects, in which we will try to introduce new technologies into the basic postulates of the modern society of the twenty-first century according to the principle of technology humanization. 
Confronting the works that emerge from the postulates of consideration and reflection, openness and cooperation, mutual reciprocity, ideas and action were the ideas of only pushing to assemble the parts into a coherent community and opening spaces for the realisation of projects with knowledge and behaviour, ingenuity, research, and experiments as artistic elements.
What we have implemented and put into practice reflects our perception of technology's humanization. Even our current work and future plans continue the design of the Network of Art and Cultural Research Centre - RUK at the intersection of modern technologies, science, and economy as an interdisciplinary hub for the development of innovative products and services for the future soft and humane technology. The integration of art and culture into scientific and technological research, development and innovation, digitization, entrepreneurship, training and education with an emphasis on the humanities and social sciences, ecology, circular economy, and sustainable development is also an incentive for Slovenia to be more equal regionally, as it contributes to the even development of regions as well as the three fundamental pillars of the development strategy: digital development, circular economy and Industry 4.0.

Production/co-production and cooperation of laboratories of the RUK Network: 

DDTlab 
Laibach: Quadrophenia
Tomo Križnar, Bojana Križnar Pivk, Tanja Hanžič, Maša Jazbec: Nube 360°
Dunking Devils, HSE, Arctur, Iztok Kovač: Vertigo Bird 2020
Varvara & Mar, Žan Rajšek, Maša Jazbec: Robot Yaski Art
Laibach, Matic Bernot (STPŠ Trbovlje) and Društvo TNM: AR Laibach
DDTlab, AFormX: NeuroFly
Speculum Artium New Media Culture Festival 

HEKA 
Robertina Šebjanič, Sofia Crespo, Feileacan McCormick: AquA(l)formings – Interweaving the Subaqueous
Boštjan Čadež - Fšk: Mr. Processor, do you understand life?
Brad Downey: Sky Clock, Limestone 45º32'N, 13º38',
Maja Smrekar and Jonas Jørgensen: brute! force: Soft Resilience
name:: Time Will Tell 
Experiential Spatial Sound Studio - KUBER / HEKA: Joao Pedro Oliveira - 8-channel ambisonic mix
Experiential Spatial Sound Studio - KUBER / HEKA: Tamara Lašič Jurković, Matevž Kolenc,
Gašper Torkar, Mauricio Valdés San Emeterio - Binaural mix (surround sound on headphones)
Biomaterials / Marko Vivoda and Gjorgji Despodov: Dunch at the Holy Crab
Društvo Trajna / Creative Laboratory KRATER
Cooperativa Puntozero, VR-Team, Slovenian Alpine Museum Mojstrana: Exxplorers – Take a Walk on the Invisible Side
Summer School of Design & Science 
Creatorship training programme
Cultural Management education programme 
IZIS – Contemporary Intermedia Art Festival

KIBLA2LAB 
KIBLA2LAB and Arboretum Volčji Potok: VRTN!CA
KIBLA2LAB and the Faculty of Agriculture and Biosystem Sciences UM: Archduke John, Father of Meranovo
Neo Christopher Chung with Diana Bohucka (VR) and Žiga Pavlovič (VR): Artificial Perspectives
Simon Whetham, Maša Dobrina, Valérie Wolf Gang, Monika Pocrnjić: Changed Perspectives
Tanja Vujinović: AvantGarden – Bios6 and MetaGarden – FlowR
Alice Daeun Kim: Minorities
Vojtěch Radakulan: On the Garden of the Future
Laser scans for the project Invisible Maribor
Laser scan of the exhibition KIBLIX 2020–2021: Virtual Worlds Now
Laser scan of KIBLA PORTAL
ANTROPOMORPHIA
Valérie Wolf Gang: The Beautiful Face of Artificial Intelligence
International Festival of Arts, Technology and Sciences KIBLIX 

Public tours and presentations will be held throughout the exhibition. 
The Network of Art and Cultural Research Centre - RUK (2019–2023) is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.

www.mcruk.si

In the past academic year, six individual seating units from mainly secondary materials were created as an initiative and joint project of postgraduate industrial design students of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. The product has been designed in a way to allow for sustained maintenance and replacement of worn-out parts. The corner affords students a place to withdraw to and study in a room allocated for proofreading and lectures. The units are movable and allow for any type of configuration for group or individual use. At mid-term exhibitions, the exterior walls serve as flexible exhibition areas for posters.

The project is the result of the efforts to use organic materials or materials of secondary origin.
 
Felt is the production residue of the company Filc d.o.o.
Textile waste (approx. 13 kg/unit) is used as wall soundproofing material and has been sourced by the Dravograd Organic Cooperative.
Cardboard tubes are scrap materials of the Lokatex company.
 
We would like to express our gratitude for their support to the following companies:
DS Smith d.o.o.
Donar d.o.o.
Fintex d.o.o.