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Art for Community. Registration and Assessment of Artworks Commissioned for Public Institutions in Slovenia, 1945–1991

Opis

The project aims to comprehensively investigate works of art that were commissioned for Slovenian public institutions in the period 1945-1991. The focus will be on artworks located in public spaces such as kindergartens, hospitals, banks, offices, railway stations, factories, shops, restaurants, hotels, and other areas that were intended for regular use by the community. In this period, specially commissioned artworks were incorporated into many newly constructed or renovated public service and social infrastructure buildings in the new Yugoslavia. These works of art, which include murals, tapestries, reliefs, and statues, were intended to serve decorative and educational purposes. In this way, the new authorities aimed to legitimize the new country and disseminate its values, particularly during the first post-war years. Over the decades of social and political change since their inception, the meaning, influence, and reception of these artworks, along with the spaces they occupy, have also undergone significant transformation. As they have not yet been evaluated or examined from an art historical perspective, the works of art present a largely unregistered segment of heritage, which has not been afforded legal protection and is therefore under considerable threat - particularly during renovations of the currently dilapidated premises, which are becoming increasingly frequent due to changes in purpose and ownership.

The project aims to comprehensively record, present, analyse, and evaluate artworks created for public institutions in Slovenia between 1945-1991 to make this segment of artistic heritage visible, and to protect it from neglect and destruction. The goals are to:

-         gain further insight into Slovenian and Yugoslav art of the second half of 20th century,
-         position these artworks within the (inter)national art historical context,  
-         re-evaluate artists' oeuvres based on artworks previously not considered,
-         reach new findings on cultural policies of the period under consideration, particularly with reference to directives, regulations, and commissions,
-         introduce principles of citizen science into art historical methodology.

 


Faze projekta

Phase 1 (October 2023 – September 2024):
- kick-off meeting
- draft template for project website/registry
- launch of project website/registry
- preliminary methodological guidelines for crowdsourcing
- survey of existing data collections
- research of primary sources and literature
- field work
- registration of artworks (regional units Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje)
- open call for contribution of information
- writing and publishing scientific articles
- participation in scientific conferences

Phase 2 (October 2024 – September 2025):
- organisation of an international scientific conference on artworks commissioned for public institutions
- registration of artworks (regional units Kranj, Nova gorica, Piran, Novo mesto)
- research of primary sources and literature
- field work
- guided tours of artworks (one in each regional unit)
- writing and publishing scientific articles
- participation in scientific conferences
- writing chapters for the final project monograph
- optimisation of project website/registry

PHASE 3 (October 2025 – September 2026):
- additional registration of artworks (based on information collected by crowdsourcing)
- research of primary sources and literature
- field work
- writing and publishing scientific articles
- participation in scientific conferences
- editing the final project monograph
- creating recommendations for implementation of the percent for art scheme for Ministry of Culture
- creating a proposal for inclusion of artworks in the Register of immovable cultural heritage of the Republic of Slovenia
- final presentation of results
- optimisation of project website/registry

The proposed research will utilize conventional art historical methods through an exploration of archives, libraries, and regional units of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. The approach will be supplemented by crowdsourcing. This collaborative approach will not only benefit the project team, but it will also serve as an opportunity for the public to participate in scientific research, raise awareness of heritage values, and promote the better inclusion of seniors in society. The project's primary outcome and primary channel of dissemination will be the project website and digital registry. The heritage under scrutiny is highly endangered due to insufficient information, and thus the website will be regularly updated with new content following the necessary metadata standards for integration with established heritage documentation platforms (Europeana). The project team will conduct a thorough analysis, interpretation, and critical assessment of the recorded artworks within the context of supranational Yugoslav and international frameworks. A list of artworks will be proposed for inclusion in the Register of immovable cultural heritage of the Republic of Slovenia, thus directly contributing to its protection. Comparative analyses of policies influencing the commissioning practice and placement of artworks in public institutions will be conducted with the objective of creating recommendations for the Ministry of Culture on the "percent for art" scheme. Other important project results include a project monograph, and an international conference, to be organized in Ljubljana.

 


Raziskovalni projekt