Co_Existence: Boris Beja, Maja Smrekar, Urša Vidic, Miha Godec

Four established intermedia artists (who mostly focus on the intersection of art, science, and new technologies) will present their latest projects on the theme of ethics-civilization-environment relations. These will reflect on some key segments of the relationship between humans and nature, which have brought society to the brink of what is an acceptable treatment of the environment. Four different artistic practices are connected with their common position and relation to the issue of our shared future beyond the current anthropocentrism in which humans have to step down from their position of superiority into an inclusive relationship with nature. We are, after all, merely a fragment of our complete ecosystem.

Although it is a perennial subject, its treatment is always welcomed. Lately, it has almost overwhelmed a large part of art projects, which points to how very relevant this subject is and how every progressive art statement in its direction is simultaneously a socially responsible gesture leading to reflections, which is one of the important challenges of contemporary art, as well as of the City Art Gallery Ljubljana’s program. As the German sociologist Ulrich Beck states in his work Risikogesellschaft (Risk Society), twentieth-century society was the “volcano of civilization”, right before the eruption. Selected artists will, through their works, present how they reflect on and see the reality of the 21^st century, which we “just” entered.