Sašo Sedlaček: Supertrash, overview exhibition

Initially shown in the Koroška Art Gallery in Slovenj Gradec in late 2011, the exhibition incorporates for the first time Sedlaček’s most typical projects created during the last ten years. The exhibition is accompanied by an overview catalogue designed by Studiobotas and presenting texts by Dr Petja Grafenauer and Dr Luka Omladič.

The exhibition Supertrash features the projects Picnic on a Dump (Piknik na deponiji), Beggar (Žicar), Urban – Woodenware Vending Machine (Urban – Avtomat za suho robo), Space Junk Spotting (Vesoljske smeti), The Ex, No Lego, Just Do It!, AcDcWc, The Big Switch Off (Veliki izklop), iSmoke2 and others, all of which demonstrate Sašo Sedlaček’s ability to reflect upon waste. Moreover, regardless of whether he is dealing with recycling faeces or analogue televisual waves, waste remains the key topic of Sedlaček’s oeuvre.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sašo Sedlaček is clearly one of the key figures of contemporary art in Slovenia. He has received several awards (OHO, Vida 11, Spaport, Zogo Toy etc.); he has been an artist-in-residence three times (in Germany, Japan and the United States); he has had exhibitions in Slovenia, Japan, Taiwan, the USA, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy, Serbia, Russia, Estonia etc. – including established exhibition venues such as Secession in Vienna and the Lentos Museum in Linz – and he has participated in major international biennials (Taipei, Taiwan 2008 and Ogaki, Japan 2006) and festivals.

Last year in Slovenia, the iSmoke 2 project was presented in the Tobačna 001 cultural centre and The Big Switch Off in the Aksioma project space. He has recently problematised the sell-out of frequency space (Manifesto, 2008, and Infocalypse Now!, 2007) and he is particularly recognisable for his interventions in consumer Meccas: using bricks made of printed advertising materials, he closed off the entrances to department stores in Ljubljana (Just Do It!, 2003) and built a pavilion for eavesdropping and dwelling in BTC City (Loop, 2004); in 2006, he took the Beggar, a robot for the materially deprived, which he lent to the homeless people of Ljubljana the following year – for a walk around Citypark and the streets of Tokyo and Taipei etc.


PROGRAMME ACCOMPANYING THE EXHIBITION  
Guided tours in the Slovenian language: on Sundays at 4:30 p.m. Guided tours with the artist Sašo Sedlaček: on Sundays, 15 April and 13 May, at 4:30 p.m.    


Author: Sašo Sedlaček
Production of the exhibition: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2011−2012 / www.aksioma.org
Executive producer: Marcela Okretič
Coproduction: Koroška galerija likovnih umetnosti, Muzej in galerije mesta Ljubljane

For the Jakopič Gallery, MGML:
Curator: Marija Skočir
Design: Bojan Lazarevič, Agora Design
Exhibition layout: tehnična služba MGML, RPS d.o.o.
Public Relations: Maja Kovač


Projects Space Junk Spotting (2007), Just Do It! (2003), Loop (2004) and Beggar 1.0 (2006) produced by: Institute K6/4 – Kapelica gallery
Project Beggar 1.1 (2008) produced by: Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
Project Žicar 2.0 and Space Junk Spotting (2006) produced by: IAMAS – Institute for Advanced Media Art and Science, Ogaki, Japan
Project Urban – avtomat za suho robo (2007) produced by: Miklova Hiša, Ribnica
Project The ex (2010) produced by: Moderna galerija
Project Globe Heaters (2010) produced by: MGLC Ljubljana
Projects Infocalypse Now! (2007), Manifesto (2008), AcDcWc (2010) and The Big Switch Off (2011) produced by: Aksioma –Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
Project iSmoke2 produced by City Art Gallery, MGML

Thanks to Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Austria; Miklova hiša, Ribnica; Koroško Gallery of Fine Arts, Slovenj Gradec for lending the works.
Thanks to Moderna galerija and Vigrad d.o.o. for lending equipment.
Special thanks to Pavle Sedlaček for technical assistance with the majority of the projects.
The exhibition is supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Ljubljana and the Municipality of Slovenj Gradec