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Hybrid Family
Interview with Maja Smrekar
- Vol. 4, no. 1
- 2019
- 14/04/2020

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Maja Smrekar is a visual artist addressing current phenomena in contemporary society. Her earlier works often touch upon the mundane permeated by stereotypes of popular culture, the future as understood through fiction, and the ethical aspects of human interventions in nature and natural processes. In 2014, she began performing her continuous work K-9_topology, in which she analyses the causes and consequences of human domination on the planet, and questions the self-evidence of the anthropogenic mentality. During the following four years, this artistic research and extremely interdisciplinary action led her to deeply explore the relationship between a human and a dog. Individual elements of the project were introduced through performance, installation, artist book, and photography. The following interview focuses on this segment of her work; on her reflections on the relationship between a human and an animal; and on certain important social contexts that define her work.
- Keywords: contemporary art, human-dog relation, performance art, posthumanism, wildlife domestication
Miha Colner (born 1978) has graduated from Art History and works as a freelance curator and art critic. Colner works as a curator and programme coordinator at the International Centre of Graphic Arts / Svicarija Creative Centre in Ljubljana. He is also active as a publicist, specialised in photography, printmaking, artists’ moving image and various forms of (new) media art. In the period 2006-2016 he was a curator at Photon – Centre for Contemporary Photography, Ljubljana. Since 2005 he has been a contributor of newspapers, magazines, specialist publications, and his personal blog, as well as part-time lecturer. In 2006, he became a member of the project group Station DIVA at the SCCA Institute in Ljubljana, which is creating an archive and conducts research on Slovenian video art. In 2007, he co-curated and co-organized Break 2.4 festival, held biannually by K6/4 Institute. Since 2005, he has also worked as an art critic and a regular member of the cultural department at Radio Študent – he is an editor of the show on contemporary art Art-Area. He is also a regular external contributor to the daily newspaper Dnevnik and to the magazines Fotografija and Art-Words. He occasionally contributes to other specialist magazines on fine art and music, such as Maska, Forum, Časopis za kritiko znanosti, Flash, Folio, Zarez, Art Kontura, Frakcija (Croatia), Foto dokumenti (Serbia), Flaneur, Cluster (Great Britain), and Sculpture Network (USA). He lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
http://mihacolner.com
http://www.mglc-lj.si
Maja Smrekar (1978) graduated at the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana and holds a Master’s of Arts in Video and New Media from the same institution. Her work is based on an interdisciplinary research of the developments and application of ideological structures in society. In exhibiting her projects, she employs various art media and conceptual tools such as installation, performance, drawing, sound, text, video and photography. She has been awarded the Golden Nica award at the Ars Electronica festival and the Prešeren Foundation Award, among others. Currently, she is Guest Professor at the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design. Maja Smrekar lives and works in Ljubljana.
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The so-called freedom of choice is turning into an infinite burden. All of this coincides with the ecologic crisis that is influencing all animal species, including humans.
- Cover photo: Maja Smrekar: K-9_topology: Ecce Canis, 2014.
Reading time: 8 min.
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