The exhibition "Potemkin Village: Props and Scenery" will open at the Potemkin Palace on November 5, at 8 pm.
Closing time: November 18, 2007
Opening hours: MO-SAT 12:00 to 20:00

Let’s state it frankly: the Potemkin village is not a lie. It is not some sort of fakery. It has nothing to do with deception. With illusion either.
It is just a slight correction. After all, you, me, everybody, we’re used to this kind of practice, aren’t we? It is a question of preference. You don’t like the situation at all, well put something else instead. A little arrangement with reality, that’s it. Believe me, it always works. No matter who you are: individual, community, or power. This place reminds bad souvenirs (some massacre committed by your government), well, raze it. This other place would fit some ultra expensive new district for rich people, well, evict the inhabitants and destroy their houses. You can’t say that you behaved that well during the war, well, just show what the other side has done, it will be enough to cover your part. And so on. History textbooks, streets, TV news, museums, squats, monuments… the recipe is effective in any realm of life.
It’s just a pity that there are always some spoilsports who try to explain to the public what you’re actually doing.

Participants: Hamdi Attia; Rotem Balva; Delphine de Blic; Omer Fast; Harrell Fletcher; La Générale; Jiří Jílek; Neven Korda; Zhenchen Liu; Christina McPhee; Francois A. Micheux; Jesus Palomino; Helma Pollock; Arjan Pregl; Jože Spacal; Tjebbe van Tijen; Eugeny Umansky; Young hae-Chang Heavy Industries

The exhibition "Potemkin Village: Deus ex Machina" will open at Kiberpipa on November 6, at 10 am.
Closing: November 18, 2007
Opening hours: MO-FRI 10:00 to 22:00

Thank you Aristotle! Like you, we think that this kind of plot resolution out of the blue thanks to a flying god is not working. Like you, we would like to see the story progress with a logical structure, no plot twist allowed, just a chain of events that lead somewhere! Wishful thinking… Nowadays, we could hardly be convinced by crane-lifted messengers but we still have heroes. They’re not saving Mankind anymore, but at least, they enable media, politicians, bosses to distract attention from more embarrassing situations.

Participants: Francisca Caporali Andres, Monochrom

Don Parker
Address: Slovenska 6, Ljubljana
Opening: November 6, 12:00
Opening hours: November 6-18, MO-SAT 12:00-20:00

At the centre of Don Parker’s belief is that we are no longer a passive society when it comes to the brand. We do not look at the posters on walls, we do not feel, breathe or imagine. Art is no longer holding peoples imaginations, capturing their souls, or raising ideals, stirring anger, forming bile. But we believe in all mighty Dollar. We no longer understand our heritage, politically or socially.But we know who to buy our products from. With his installation Supermarket, Don Parker, using a personal 15 year experience in advertising business, explores strategies of marketing and consumer habits. The store is filled with cans, which are limited edition artworks. A CCTV surveillance system, a weak lock, and trust in our fellow man… What will you do – buy or steal?

The exhibition "Potemkin Village: Actors and Plots" will open at the City Museum of Ljubljana on November 6, at 7 pm.
Closing time: November 18, 2007
Opening hours: TUE-FRI 10:00 to 18:00

Let’s imagine the picture. The grand tour goes smooth. Catherine the Great suddenly orders the boat to disembark her at the next stop. All the villages she has seen from the river are so beautiful. She wants to have a closer look at the houses. She wants to touch them. As she approaches the isbas, she notices something strange. Lack of depth, lack of perspective… Surfaces… These are no real houses, just mere facades, freshly, nicely painted. The tsarina goes round the board. There, she discovers a complex system made of pulleys, ropes, and wooden sticks. As her face darkens, the crowd of cheerful peasants progressively shuts up. Catherine the Great stares at Prince Grigory Potemkin. He looks uneasy. The play is over.
The 18th century liked theatre: serfs’ theatre for the enjoyment of nobility in Russia, mushrooming of theatre halls in any city of Europe, queens playing the shepherdess… So do we. We too like theatre -especially when it comes to all the tricks, secrets, stories, and gossips behind the scenes; illusions, mechanics, and optical devices; actors and puppets.
And because in the world of illusion one always needs a touch of reality, we’ll let you guess where it is.

Participants: Ioannis Belimpasakis; Charlie Citron; Robert Franciszty; Jaša H. Jenul; Tadeusz Kantor; Marko A. Kovačič; Erbossyn Meldibekov; Sala-manca

The exhibition "Potemkin Village: the Village" will open at the Alkatraz Gallery on November 6, 2007, at 9pm.
Closing date: November 18, 2007
Opening hours: TUE-SAT 21:00 to 24:00

Hypothesis 1: You’re sold. What you would do to get a studio, a pension, exhibitions, teaching positions, grants, travels, honours, and recognition is simply amazing. You would trample your fellows (after all, if they’re not happy, they can do the same). You would betray the ideals of your youth. You would come on terms with the worst political circles. You would produce any kind of shit if it’s the kind that sells.
Hypothesis 2: You’re not sold. You refuse to trample your fellows. You refuse to betray the ideals of your youth. You refuse to come on terms with the worst political circles. You refuse to produce any kind of shit because it’s the kind that sells. Then, you have three options. Option 1: good luck to you, life won’t be easy. Option 2: it’s just frustration. As soon as you will be properly addressed, you will forget this independent crap. Option 3: that’s your stance. Unfortunately, it has become a trendy one.
Guys, if you have a third hypothesis, you’re most welcome to share it with us.

Participants: Fabrizio and Gabriele Ajello; Fouad Asfour & Catrin Bolt; Redas Diržys; EIA Collective; Rafal Jakubowicz; Dejan Kljun; OPA Collective; Not an Alternative Collective; Pulska grupa

Arch of Titus, Napoleonic armies conquering Europe, Allies marching in liberated cities, Soviet tanks entering Budapest in 1956 or Prague in 1968, a single man defying the Chinese military on Tian An Men square in 1989… The “Military parade” immediately triggers flows of images that reflect a diversity of epochs and places (the military parade is as old and spread as war) and contradictory meanings (from the celebration of triumph echoed by the cheers of enthusiastic crowds to the ominous display of oppression greeted only by silence).

May it be the Triumph procession of the Romans or the North-Korean show-off of nuclear missiles, may it be announced by the sound of parading boots or the roar of tanks, the military procession proves to be a complex visual, representational, and semiotic figure that combines glory, humiliation, defeat, victory, challenge, fate, joy, and sorrow. As the parade progressively takes possession of the city, it proclaims the destiny of the country on the geopolitical chess and marks the places called to become one day realms of memory.

In that sense, the military parade is a paradoxical narrative written by, through its own movement. It is anchored in time as it signals specific events such as the end of a conflict, the liberation, the national independence, or the beginning of occupation. At the same time, it transcends temporality because it is a part of a cyclic, commemorative apparatus. It is one of the dimensions where the national storytelling can be engraved. At the same time, it belongs to the universal vocabulary of power.

As such, the military parade is an icon, elaborated over centuries, and subject to endless re-configurations and re-appraisals. It is a migrating image of army force to be loaded with renewed significations. As time passed, the war booty, captives, and priests of the Roman procession have given way to impressive lethal machines. Through the military parade thus, it is the history of war that is to be deciphered. But not only: the very notions of power structure and civilization are also called into question. Which memory is to be adopted? Should commemoration only be based on the glorification of war acts? What can be the place of the military? What do governments seek when resorting to such dramatization? Can peace be written without such symbols? Let us not forget either: the military parade is urban. For a few hours, the city becomes the stage of army power. As the cleavage civilian/military unfolds for a short period of time, the public space becomes the stake between two visions of society.

The project of Enrique Ježik, by attempting to “paralyze” for a moment this mobile display of power, provides us with the opportunity to carefully observe it; reflect in depth the aforementioned issues; deconstruct the mechanisms of power representation and imagery elaboration; and investigate our own place facing narratives of national identity, war, and history – that is our responsibility as citizens, carriers of memory, and actors-creators of the public sphere.

As well, the project of Enrique Ježik questions the impact of artistic practices and discourses. Where actually is the Potemkin village? Could it be in the artistic endeavor to stop the machine, and bring it to a neutralizing stand still? Is it in the defying gesture of the flesh and blood David against the metal Goliath?

Without any provocation, rather by pointing to debates that have stirred up the Slovenian society these past years and been core issues in the last decade for the civil society in former Yugoslavia, the skilful deconstruction of power representation, imagery of violence, and artistic gesture proposed by Enrique Ježik sets up the critical distance that is necessary for the re-appraisal of “national identity” and new forms of solidarity.

Through his performance and site-specific installation On Now No Won, Jesus Palomino investigates the way a discreet, ephemeral, somewhat alien element modifies the perception of familiar urban spaces and draws attention to parts of the cityscape that would remain unnoticed otherwise. In between the natural, sculptural, and architectural, the letters On Now No Won, melting on Congress Square, express some entropy (inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society) that contrasts with the growth, frenzied renovation, and busy pace of the city. It is a subtle interference with the daily surroundings and as such acts as a reminder of other ways of life and environment – in that sense, it is also a reliever of negativity.