DIFFERENT ANGLES: ON COLLECTING CONTEMPORARY ART

15.00—17.00

The first part will be dedicated to providing advice to collectors who are just starting out with their collections. It will be based on the principle of "quick dates", where (young) enthusiasts will have the opportunity to receive advice on how to build (up) their art collections from knowledgeable representatives of the Slovenian professional public: Zdenka Badovinac, Barbara Čeferin, Tevž Logar, Vasa Perović, Piera Ravnikar and Roman Uranjek. The event will feature works from their collections, prepared by the curator and artistic director of Cukrarna, Alenka Gregorič.
You can register for the collectors' advice session at info@cukrarna.art. The number of places is very limited.

18.00—20.00

The second part of the event will round off with a discussion between Tevž Logar and local and foreign guests. Contrary to the widespread opinion in Slovenia and in the wider Slovenian cultural and political sphere that buying artworks automatically means building an art collection, this is certainly not the case. The process of collecting artworks is a complex, multi-layered process that consequently also shapes the different meanings of traditions, geopolitical structures and the orientations of collections, thus making an important contribution to understanding cultural heritage today. Regardless of whether the art collections are simple or more complex, small or large, public or private, they are always very well considered ongoing projects that connect different aspects of selected narratives, both in terms of content and form. It should be emphasised, however, that the system of collecting artworks is by no means only made up of collectors, but of a whole series of elements and processes that need to be contextualised in order to fully understand the complexity of the mechanisms of collecting. And it is precisely this segment that is the thematic starting point for the Different Angles discussion, in which the opinions and experiences of various agents from the world of contemporary art will be compared. The Slovenian collector Vasa Perović and the Romanian collector Ovidiu Șandor, whose collecting structures and focuses are different but establish a precise relationship between the local and the international arenas, will present their thoughts on their collections. Galleries play an extremely important indirect role in shaping collections by establishing long-term relationships with collectors in an attempt to provide them with a continuous and high-quality supply of artworks. This aspect will be presented by Christine König, the director of the legendary and prominent Vienna gallery that has been active in the field of contemporary art since the late 1980s. The discussion will be topped off by the reflections of Renger van den Heuvel, the long-time director of Viennacontemporary and founder of the new Spark Art Fair Vienna, which offers collectors, museums and institutions an exciting opportunity to discover artworks by young and established artists with an international dimension through an innovative new format of solo presentations. 

RAVNIKAR GALLERY SPACE is the initiator for the creation of the international platform Ljubljana Art Weekend, prepared in cooperation with Cukrarna and the City of Ljubljana. The initiative, like its numerous European counterparts, is committed to the appropriate presentation and promotion of contemporary visual art. As part of the various events of the extended weekend programme, we will join forces once a year with various partners: galleries, artist-run spaces, private collectors, museums and other public spaces and projects, as well as young, not-yet-established initiatives dedicated to contemporary art. During this time, art lovers from home and abroad will have the opportunity to visit Ljubljana and experience the rich and vibrant local contemporary art production first-hand.