The exhibition Again, Once More, and Anew* presents contemporary printmaking production by the younger generation through the works of students at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana. Printmaking is a field that is constantly evolving, with artists adopting new digital approaches, reviving older techniques and printing on alternative materials with alternative tools. The selection of works in the exhibition encompasses a wide range of approaches, from traditional printing techniques that demand precision and patience to hybrid experiments in which printmaking intertwines with spatial installations, drawing, photography and various forms of digital production.
Each work on display expresses the author’s individual perspective, yet together they form a broader reflection of the times we live in. The artists address a wide array of topics: exploring identity, questioning relationships, memory and closeness, or reflecting on their own role in a rapidly changing society. Some works emerge from humour or distance, others from a sense of inner tension or the urge to open new horizons. The result is a series of diverse responses that reveal how far the printmaking medium can extend when it becomes a space for personal shifts and social reflections.
A significant part of this production takes place in the academy’s studios, where students work side by side every day, exchanging thoughts and comments and building a community united by their engagement with the printmaking medium. It is precisely this shared dynamic, curiosity and willingness to engage in dialogue that enables printmaking to continue evolving as a medium that constantly expands and redefines itself, while still retaining its fundamental connection to the process, trace and transformation.
Just as in the poem where Tone Pavček leads us “to the end” – to the rose in flower, to the snow-white queen, to the very truth – the printmaking process also requires repetition, patience and returning to the same matrix, the same surface, the same attempt. For printmaking students, this means working again, once more, and anew: continually exploring techniques, materials, ideas and themselves. Returning to the beginning when the result is not yet right, and moving forward, which never happens without trials, errors and prints that may at first seem unnecessary but ultimately prove essential. Prints emerge from this return – not from a single gesture, but from a multitude of attempts, each of which opens up the possibility of a new image. Again, Once More, and Anew* is therefore a tribute to this search. It is an invitation to believe that persistence and repetition are what lead the way forward.
Participating students: Špela Ambrož, Manuel Brajnik, Ana Govc, Emili Jenko, Maks Jeriha, Petra Leskovar Grum, Nina Munih, Tinkara Nemec Herkess, Maruša Pajnič, Sara Stevanović
Mentor: Assoc. Prof. Zora Stančič, MA
Assistant: Helena B. Tahir
MGBS curator: Ema Kobal
Production: University of Ljubljana
* Tone PAVČEK, The Wayfarer, Pesmi in leta - Poems and Years, Dob pri Domžalah: Miš, 2008.
