London based Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic is one of the leading voices in contemporary art dealing with the relationship between art and architecture with ideologies and nationhood. Cibic’s projects depart from deep engagement with archives and historical traces, which the artist embeds in immersive film installations and performative works.
Spielraum is an extensive publication about Cibic’s three-part film and exhibition project she developed with the Ludwig Museum, Budapest; the International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade. The title is drawn from an essay by Karl Kraus, in which he vehemently opposes the use of decoration in both language and architecture. In this multidisciplinary work, Cibic takes Kraus’s concept of ‘Spielraum’ as a lens through which to examine soft power and strategies of nation building by political figures and establishments via the use of linguistic and visual decoration, with particular focus on the first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, in 1961.
This title includes commissioned curatorial texts by Anna Gritz, Rona Kopeczky, Una Popović, Dubravka Sekulić, Jelena Vesić, Alessandro Vincentelli, Giovanna Zapperi and WHW.
Born in 1979 in Ljubljana, Jasmina Cibic represented Slovenia at the 55th Venice Biennial with her project For Our Economy and Culture. Her recent solo shows include BALTIC Gateshead, Museum Haus Esters–Krefeld, Aarhus 2017, MSU Zagreb, MOCA Belgrade, MGLC Ljubljana, Ludwig Museum Budapest and Esker Foundation Calgary and group exhibitions at Hessel Museum New York, City Gallery Wellington, MSUM Ljubljana, MNHA Luxembourg and Guangdong Museum of Art, China. She was the recipient of the MAC International Ulster Bank Prize and Best International Artist Charlottenborg Fonden Award.
The publication is co-published with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead and in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade and Esker Foundation, Calgary.