KITSCH /ART
2006

concept: Maja Slavec
realization and development: Marko Šebrek and Maja Slavec

The shopping centre Gallerija Gosposka (“Gosposka” means “high society”) used for the opening the idea of Cow Parade – www.cowparade.com - but utilizing dummies instead. They invited Slovenian artists and citizens to participate. The project didn’t have any art curator and the organization gave to every participant 100 € for the realization expenses. They said that this opportunity could be a good reference for the artists, because of the exposition to the media. But I didn’t agree. And so I decided to take two dummies - man and woman, black and white - and used them for a video project. Finished the video, I finally sent back the dummies, with a message for the missing curator written on them. On the black dummy was written the explanation of word KITSCH and on the white one a definition of ART, quoting the Slovenian theorist of art Milan Butina.

AVTOPORTRET / 2006
National Art Gallery Maribor, Slovenia

CONCEPT
The circle is a symbol of the cyclic and the repetitive. The inner circle represents the subconscious and the wishes. The outer circle represents the reality.

BARBIE
Since many decades, Barbie is a common and universal toy for girls. For me, it is a typical shown-like-innocent tool with the latent aim to educate a potential future consumer of products connected with the beauty standards. The today girl playing with Barbie will be the tomorrow ideal buyer of the cosmetic and fashion industry. So, the Barbie in the inner circle displays the subconscious wish of every woman. This subconscious effects and worsens the women dissatisfaction with the reality and put her complexes in an increasing process.

REAL WOMEN BODIES
In the outer circle are placed the real bodies of the women. They stand on tiptoe, in the usual posture of the Barbie.

CHILDREN'S HEADS
The heads of the child on the women bodies symbolized the enigma.

The little girls are not aware of the problems connected with the beauty, because the experiences - at that stage of life – are not in conflict with their external appearance. But when they get to the puberty, there is a switch and their bodies undergo an obvious change. I show my own experience: during the adolescence, the changes of my body were expected as the typical images that the media reinforce, but the opposite happen. This is to say that from the moment in which I am aware of my deviation from the normative image of the beauty, I become mature and prepared for my self control. Anyway, at the same time, I become a part of a consumer chain.

SET UP
The purpose of the circle is to rotate in the space. It is controlled by the observer, but the final landing of the object is unpredictable. With turning this circle the active visitors put the shapes - women bodies and Barbie - into life. This allows a contact between the inner and the outer shapes.

The fast movement leads to the possible connection between the ideal shape of Barbie and one of the different shapes of the women. This to say that all the women are carrying a fragment of a Barbie inside, but the future is unpredictable. The rotating circle it is like a circle-of-luck. Turn it and wait till it stops. When it stops, the woman that you will be is reveal: one body, one shape. But it is a real one, not an ideal one.

TERROR / 2006 Slovinian National Theatre Maribor

After a successful cooperation with the dance Theatre Plesna Izba Maribor, I was again invited to prepare a concept that was planned to be tuned with the dance performance TERROR of the choreographer Marko Urbanek. I created the performance introduction that took place when the audience was escorted in the dance hall. The show was about the state of consciousness and the influence of a traumatic experience from the past. The dancers are represented in portraits and each one expresses seven abnormal personalities or the seven sins.