The City Museum of Ljubljana, in co-operation with the artist Bojan Brecelj, has been preparing a project and an exhibition entitled “Who are you?”. In terms of content, the starting point of the project is old studio photographs which, from the earliest times of photography, have featured people who would typically attempt to show who they were through the other people they were portrayed with or through objects and garments, thereby leaving their visual image for posterity.

This concept has been transposed to the present time by means of the “Who are you?” project and exhibition which will be on display from 19 October to 31 December 2011 at the City Museum. Within the framework of the exhibition, the Selffish studio for live self-portraying conceived by the photographer and author Bojan Brecelj will be set up at the Museum. Visitors to the exhibition and others will be invited to the studio in order for them to create their image and tell us who they are. Self-portraying in the studio will be available to those who wish to say something about themselves. This means all of us who in contemporary society hold our viewpoints, opinions and tenets which we most often live by without publicly expressing them.
Put simply, everybody is invited to brand themselves and confide their story, their »brand mark« in us.

The exhibition curator Blaž Vurnik said about the project and the exhibition: »Photography is an exceptional and unique historical source. Studio portraits of people are truly special in this regard. Most of the people in the immense amounts of such photos kept in museum collections are unknown to us. We only know about them by what they communicated to us through their visual images, which is the only way of identifying them and putting them in a historical context. It is through today's photographs that these shots acquire actuality – we may again ask ourselves who are the people who, a century ago, recorded their images for the future. At the exhibition and in the course of the project, the past and the present converge, thereby jointly producing answers to the question 'Who are you?'«.

Bojan Brecelj, creator of the Selffish studio and the Self-Branding theme, adds: »In 'My world' – how I live, how I think, what interests me – there's a hidden power! By offering Selffish I provide an opportunity to express awareness that every deed, word and thought is a contribution to the community you are part of. Express it through your self-portrait, and put down some words, a phrase which speaks about 'your power', the power of your values, tenets, intentions, yearnings and visions you live by.«

A selection of portraits to be created in the Selffish studio will be put on show in an exhibition which will keep changing through the alternation of portraits. All shots made will be kept by the Museum as part of its collections in formation, and they will be preserved according to the principle that the collection is open to research and that the City Museum puts it on display or publishes it exclusively in its original context and as an in-house production.

Programme accompanying the exhibition:
11 October to 21 December self-portraying in the Selffish studio situated in the City Museum of Ljubljana
26 November at 4:00 p.m. – Family party with Ljuba the Frog (Saturday family workshop and family self-portraying in the Selffish studio)

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The project and exhibition are within the ambit of the European Cross-border Cooperation Programme Italy-Slovenia 2007-2013, “OpenMuseums”. The aim of the programme is to improve, re-evaluate and promote the historical and cultural heritage of museums as the prime custodians of history by introducing technological innovations. Eleven Slovenian and Italian partners are collaborating in the project: the City of Ravenna Art Museum, the region of Rovigo and the region of Venice, the Goriška Museum Kromberk – Nova Gorica, the municipality of Udine – the city museum and art history galleries, the municipality of Ljubljana, Maritime Museum “Sergej Mašera”, the  townof Piran, the Regional Museum of Koper, the Aquileia Foundation and the Kobarid Museum. The project's main goal is to establish a network of “open” museums, with an innovative approach, providing as much flexibility and dynamism as possible, as well as improving and expanding on what they currently offer through professional collaboration. The project is co-financed within the ambit of the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Italy-Slovenia 2007-2013, from the European Regional Development Fund and national funds. The net worth of the programme is €3,856,000.

 
Lead partner: Pokrajina Ferrara / Provincia di Ferrara

Project partners: Museo d’Arte della Città – Comune di Ravenna / Mestni umetniški muzej - Občina Ravenna; Provincia di Rovigo / Pokrajina Rovigo; Provincia di Venezia / Pokrajina Benetke; Musei Provinciali  di Gorizia / Goriški pokrajinski muzej; Comune di Udine- Civici Musei e Gallerie di storia ed arte / Občina Videm – Mestni muzeji in galerije zgodovine umetnosti; Mestna občina Ljubljana/ Comune di Lubiana; Pomorski muzej “Sergej Mašera”, Piran / Museo del mare “Sergej Mašera”, Pirano; Pokrajinski muzej Koper/ Museo regionale di Capodistria; Fondazione Aquileia / Fundacija Oglej; Kobariški muzej d.o.o./ Museo di Caporetto

Projekt, sofinanciran v okviru Programa čezmejnega sodelovanja Slovenija−Italija 2007−2013 iz sredstev Evropskega sklada za regionalni razvoj in nacionalnih sredstev.
Progetto finanziato nell'ambito del Programma per la Cooperazione Transfrontaliera Italia-Slovenia 2007-2013, dal Fondo europeo di sviluppo regionale e dai fondi nazionali.