Marjeta Ciglenečki
Art: NOW
Art: NOW is a title which addresses visitors to exhibitions held at the Rectorate of the
University of Maribor and at the ephemeral exhibition site RAZ:UM, and also readers of this
catalogue on a symbolical level. On the one hand it poses a question regarding the artistic
moment in a city, which has become the European Capital of Culture for one year. But we
would prefer to interpret the title as an appeal: Now is the right time to give art in the city of
Maribor the place and position it deserves!
Maribor has been a centre with its own unique character for centuries. But a character that has
been changing hand in hand with the city itself. Maribor's artistic past has seen quite a few
climaxes. One of them was the Late Gothic period, when the extension of the municipal
parish church was carried out with the participation of the most skilful architects and stone
carvers of the time. During that period, the Jewish Quarter reached its greatest extent and
spread like a mycelium around the city centre. The then Maribor Jewish community boasted
several humanists, whose endeavours were recognised on a European level. Italian architects
arrived to the city in the 16th Century in order to fortify it against Turkish attacks.
Nevertheless, citizens employed them for non-military projects as well. In the mid 18th
Century, Joseph Straub from the Kingdom of Württemberg gained citizenship rights in
Maribor and his Plague Memorial on the Main Square (Glavni trg) and St Zachariah statue
from a church at Studenci have now become the symbols of the city, so to speak. After Anton
Martin Slomšek moved the seat of the Diocese of Lavant to Maribor, dynamic construction
activities began on the Diocese premises and Maribor again caught up with Central European
artistic trends. After WW2, Maribor became a centre with less power and influence than the
Slovene Capital of Ljubljana, but was nevertheless an original centre with its foundations
steeped in tradition. On the other hand, artists in this second largest city in Slovenia were less
bound to follow the compulsory and dominating artistic trends at that period and were (at
least those more daring) able to experiment more openly. The nearby Austrian city of Graz,
the former provincial centre, remained attractive for people from Maribor even in the second
half of the 20th Century, and helped to broaden horizons in a relatively hermetic socialist
society.
The inception of organised art life in Maribor was triggered by an exhibition, designed and
organised in 1920 by the artist Viktor Cotič and supported by Rudolf Maister. The
establishment of Art Gallery in 1954 was an even more important milestone. The gallery was
opened on the eve of the Slovene Cultural Holiday in a renovated complex on Strossmayer
Street. It housed more contemporary paintings from the fund of the Provincial Museum of
Maribor, which served as a basis for further development of the new institution. Not long
after, Maribor artists established their own exhibition ground. Exhibits of contemporary art
were numerous and diverse, but unfortunately this zeal later diminished. In 1961, the
Academy of Education was established in Maribor, with the Department of Fine Arts
Pedagogy as part of the study programme. The most prominent Maribor artists became
Professors at the Academy. Since Maribor didn't offer the opportunity for studying arts,
numerous talented young people enrolled in the Academy of Education (which became the
Faculty of Education in 1986), in order to develop and improve their artistic skills. Quite a
few graduates who proved their talent and endeavour continued their studies at various Art
Academies (mainly in Ljubljana). Many of them later became prominent and influential
artists.
The Professorial Board at the Department of Fine Arts Pedagogy, now Department of Fine
Arts, and students have formed an important artistic potential for several decades now, and
their artwork reaches beyond the campus. Regular group exhibitions by lecturers, as well as
end of term and topical exhibitions by students under the mentorship of their professors are
presented not only in the faculty showground but in other art galleries dotted around the city.
These exhibitions are organised in the noble spirit of the eldest European Art Academies.
With their regular exhibitions, the Maribor Professors and their students continue to prove the
success of their work. Student projects exude uninhibited youthful freshness and buoyancy
and thus enriches the rhythm of the city of Maribor. The role of the University, the presence
of creative ideas and a young population proved to be a huge advantage especially in the
1990s, when Maribor was in huge turmoil after the loss of the Yugoslav markets and also the
bankruptcy of numerous large factories.
The several months long project Art: NOW united the creative potential of established artist,
lecturers at the Maribor Faculty of Education, their guests and students who inspired Maribor
by their attractive presentations of creative processes and interventions in public space. In
2012, the project has a very special note. Although we have seen numerous excellent art
events in connection with Maribor 2012, the European Capital of Culture programme, we still
miss a review of the coexistent creativity in Maribor and its environs. Events and exhibitions
within the Art: NOW project partly fill this void with their insight in one of the less noticed
but nevertheless very creative Maribor art centres. The Department of Fine Arts has together
with theatre artists and musicians produced an elaborate plan for establishing an Art
Academy, but the idea is unfortunately again pushed into an indefinable future. It seemed that
the period of Maribor as the European Capital of Culture, while the city was under the critical
gaze of the international art community was the most appropriate time for starting an art
school. This would be a symbolic gesture and would bring hope and would also guarantee that
art in Maribor won't lose the respect and value after 2012. But it looks like that we will again
have to wait for an art academy. The relevant authorities try to justify their decision through
the onset of recession and the global financial crisis, but history and contemporary examples
teach us that during times of crisis, calls for an in-depth deliberation and creativity beyond
dull limitations. The most important factor for establishing a new member of the University of
Maribor is the quality of courses which should be proved by potential lecturers. One such
proof is the project Art: NOW! It is only one of many, but nevertheless especially valuable, as
the participants brought the artistic spirit to the city by organising events in the city centre and
the deliberate exhibition of their artworks in the Rectorate building. The artists took their
creations from the showground in November. By doing this, they created a sense of emptiness
and loss to some people. Others haven't even noticed that anything is missing. Nevertheless,
something will remain unchanged. The spirit of Art: NOW will stay in both the premises of
the Rectorate and within the city itself. It can not be banished. We can only hope and wish
that it sowed its seeds and will bear fruit in the near future.