Exhibiting of Art and Architecture between Artistic and Ideological Concepts. Case Study of Slovenia, 1947–1979

The main topic of the project is the research of the history of art exhibitions in  Slovenia in the context of second Yugoslavia. The selected period is defined by two prominent exhibitions that symbolically mark this stretch of time, since they reflect their historic situation through their organisation, selected works of art, and reception. At the same they both deserve attention also as standalone artistic manifestations. The first one is the Exhibition of Soviet Painters, which was set up in 1947 in then still not officially opened venue of the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana. The exhibition, which travelled across Yugoslavia and countries of the Eastern Bloc, can be seen as a valuable document for the research of the short period when Yugoslav art tried to emulate the Soviet art model. That ended in June 1948 when the cooperation between the two countries was formally interrupted with the expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform. The exhibition, which was supposed to serve as a model for the art of socialist realism, was largely dismissed by artists and critics at the time.
The second milestone is the exhibition Slovenian Fine Art 1945–1978  held in 1979, and organised in the cooperation of the Museum of Modern Art and the Architecture Museum of Ljubljana. With the attempt of cataloguing the art of the period in question and with the specific selection of the works, the exhibition served as a survey of Slovenian modernist art and symbolically prepared the terrain for the new chapter. The death of the President Tito in 1980 was followed by radical political changes. Alongside this, the period of the 1980s also brought important changes to the art discourse and artistic activity, as well as new developments in the field of exhibitions and institutionalisation of art.
Implementation plan and timetable
The project will investigate the selected exhibitions in the period between 1947 and 1979. We will be interested in what, besides the exhibited artworks, shaped exhibitions in this period. We will look behind the scenes of development of selected exhibitions. Through archival materials, interviews (where possible), existing literature and comparative analysis, and by positioning them in the context of actual social circumstances we will reconstruct the development of these exhibitions and trace the decision-making process shaping the exhibition programme in certain institutions, their financing and purpose.

The impact of the social and political situation and changes in the understanding of Slovenia's own national entity and its position in the context of the federation, and further in the international context was profoundly felt in the organisation of large-scale international, state-wide, and national exhibitions in the framework of the former Yugoslavia. An insight into the structure of these events and their analysis can therefore contribute to new findings in the understanding of the studied period and its art. With the critical and in depth review of the exhibitions we will therefore try to answer the following questions:
•    How do exhibitions reflect changes in politics and society?
•    How do exhibitions co-shape the presentation of Slovenian art abroad (particularly in the context of Yugoslav art)?
•    What kind exhibitions of foreign art come to Slovenia, how are they received and what is their impact?
•    What is the comprehensive meaning of exhibiting for the development of Slovenian art and culture?
The research will thus bring some concrete answers about the situation in Slovenia, also in the context of the broader Yugoslav umbrella. Broadly speaking, it will contribute to the understanding of the role of exhibition as a medium in artistic and social processes as well as the impact of political frameworks on the medium of exhibiting, and through this prism also on the art in general.metnost.