K18 GALLERY (2010 - 2022)
On the once-degraded Koroška Street, now a city promenade, we have organized more than 420 cultural events over the past 12 years at Gallery K18. These include solo and group exhibitions, installations, audiovisual performances, façade interventions, film screenings, artist talks, educational programs, theoretical lectures, and workshops. With its non-institutional openness and fluidity, Gallery K18 has made an important contribution to the mosaic of Maribor’s contemporary art scene.
2010
The gallery was first managed by artist Tadej Vaukman, whose program primarily featured creators from the fields of street art and graffiti. Vaukman sought to challenge the generally negative perception of graffiti and street art and to demonstrate that such artistic practices in public space can improve many degraded urban situations and contribute to the quality of life. In the early days, the gallery was called Galerija Pekmez, where Vaukman organized five exhibitions, hosting among others the duo Beli sladoled (Leon Zoudar, Miha Perne), Ninja Tiger, Pekmezmed, the Mutabooks collective, and others.
2010 – 2011
The next phase lasted from October 2010 to September 2011, when Lucija Smodiš took over program development. During this year, we invited five artists and one art collective to participate, each of whom had the opportunity to rename the gallery, intervene in the façade, and decide the function it would play during their exhibition period. Through these open frameworks, we sought to question the role and use of gallery space, the relationship between curator and artist, and the boundaries of their roles—while giving invited artists the chance to insert the gallery’s changing name into their own list of references.
At that time, we exhibited exclusively young artists, and it was expected of us to work “for references”—which, however, still cannot pay the rent. Among others, we hosted Mojca Lešnik (the imaginary identity of Nataša Berk), who invited 35 local artists and creators to participate. Their works were displayed in the gallery as a simulation of Koroška Street itself. Through her installation, Lešnik affirmatively addressed the idea of Koroška Street’s future—envisioning a space that, while preserving the traditions of old crafts still active there, could also host art spaces, galleries, studios, and art shops. Her vision of Koroška Street as an “art object of observation, collaboration, and connection” will now finally fade away with the closing of the last independent gallery on that street.
During this period, we also hosted Peter Gorenšek, Luka Uršič, Pila Rusjan, students of Visual Arts at the Faculty of Education in Maribor (PEF MB), and the Group Phototherapy collective. The project was also submitted to the European Capital of Culture 2012 program but was rejected by the jury, who stated that “the activities do not meet the program guidelines of the European Capital of Culture.”
2012 – 2013
Between 2013 and 2014, the program at Gallery K18 was curated by Lara Železnik. Through the project “18 Exhibitions in K18,” she represented younger local artists (including high school students). Their production was mainly based in visual art practices and, to some extent, performative art.
2014 – 2022
Over the years, Gallery K18 has also hosted numerous creative workshops, lectures, and the Political School of Art: Ways of Seeing with John Berger, as well as magazine presentations (KINO!, Razpotja). We organized reading circles of contemporary art theory, lectures on art history, and film-related events and screenings (StopTrik, History of Film series, Cinema and Maribor exhibition, etc.). Through our projects, we collaborated with many other NGOs and individuals—many are listed, surely just as many omitted.
RESIDENCY PROGRAM AT GALLERY K18 (2011 – 2022)
In 2011, Borut Wenzel, Katja Beck Kos, and Tajša Perović established the residency program SobaZaGosteMaribor within our institute. Since then, Gallery K18 has been an important space for presenting new works by international and Slovenian artists created during residencies in Maribor. In 2014, program leadership was taken over by Lucija Smodiš, Kaja Kraner, and Tajša Perović. Later, curator Irena Borić and curator/producer Simon Žlahtič joined the team for shorter periods—Simon Žlahtič remains part of our team today.
Since its founding, the SobaZaGosteMaribor residency program has collaborated with over one hundred artists, curators, researchers, and theorists. The program is open to both international and Slovenian creators, and over the years, we have hosted individuals, duos, and collectives from 28 countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, England, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine, Romania, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Japan, Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon, Australia, the USA, Palestine, and, of course, Slovenia.
Focusing on contemporary visual art practices, the residency primarily supports socially engaged, hybrid, and experimental projects, as well as works that relate to the local social, cultural, historical, or political context. We particularly encourage projects that respond to and engage with the space in which they are created—often resulting in participatory, site-specific projects and public space interventions.
Gallery K18 was significant precisely because of its physical presence, including its street-facing façade, which—alongside the interior exhibitions—enabled visual communication with the street, passersby, and people who might not typically visit galleries or museums.
The last international artist-in-residence was David Nez, a member of the OHO Group, who presented a perceptive and well-received installation “Zoetrope – The Wheel of Life,” whose attendance broke all previous records. Among Slovenian artists, our most recent collaboration was with Danilo Milovanović, who has again been nominated for the OHO Award this year. One of his works, created during his residency in Maribor, remains permanently installed in public space: the “Solar Mural”, which uses sunlight reflection to question urban gentrification—made possible through the generous partnership of the Festić Britovšek family.
2010
The gallery was first managed by artist Tadej Vaukman, whose program primarily featured creators from the fields of street art and graffiti. Vaukman sought to challenge the generally negative perception of graffiti and street art and to demonstrate that such artistic practices in public space can improve many degraded urban situations and contribute to the quality of life. In the early days, the gallery was called Galerija Pekmez, where Vaukman organized five exhibitions, hosting among others the duo Beli sladoled (Leon Zoudar, Miha Perne), Ninja Tiger, Pekmezmed, the Mutabooks collective, and others.
2010 – 2011
The next phase lasted from October 2010 to September 2011, when Lucija Smodiš took over program development. During this year, we invited five artists and one art collective to participate, each of whom had the opportunity to rename the gallery, intervene in the façade, and decide the function it would play during their exhibition period. Through these open frameworks, we sought to question the role and use of gallery space, the relationship between curator and artist, and the boundaries of their roles—while giving invited artists the chance to insert the gallery’s changing name into their own list of references.
At that time, we exhibited exclusively young artists, and it was expected of us to work “for references”—which, however, still cannot pay the rent. Among others, we hosted Mojca Lešnik (the imaginary identity of Nataša Berk), who invited 35 local artists and creators to participate. Their works were displayed in the gallery as a simulation of Koroška Street itself. Through her installation, Lešnik affirmatively addressed the idea of Koroška Street’s future—envisioning a space that, while preserving the traditions of old crafts still active there, could also host art spaces, galleries, studios, and art shops. Her vision of Koroška Street as an “art object of observation, collaboration, and connection” will now finally fade away with the closing of the last independent gallery on that street.
During this period, we also hosted Peter Gorenšek, Luka Uršič, Pila Rusjan, students of Visual Arts at the Faculty of Education in Maribor (PEF MB), and the Group Phototherapy collective. The project was also submitted to the European Capital of Culture 2012 program but was rejected by the jury, who stated that “the activities do not meet the program guidelines of the European Capital of Culture.”
2012 – 2013
Between 2013 and 2014, the program at Gallery K18 was curated by Lara Železnik. Through the project “18 Exhibitions in K18,” she represented younger local artists (including high school students). Their production was mainly based in visual art practices and, to some extent, performative art.
2014 – 2022
Over the years, Gallery K18 has also hosted numerous creative workshops, lectures, and the Political School of Art: Ways of Seeing with John Berger, as well as magazine presentations (KINO!, Razpotja). We organized reading circles of contemporary art theory, lectures on art history, and film-related events and screenings (StopTrik, History of Film series, Cinema and Maribor exhibition, etc.). Through our projects, we collaborated with many other NGOs and individuals—many are listed, surely just as many omitted.
RESIDENCY PROGRAM AT GALLERY K18 (2011 – 2022)
In 2011, Borut Wenzel, Katja Beck Kos, and Tajša Perović established the residency program SobaZaGosteMaribor within our institute. Since then, Gallery K18 has been an important space for presenting new works by international and Slovenian artists created during residencies in Maribor. In 2014, program leadership was taken over by Lucija Smodiš, Kaja Kraner, and Tajša Perović. Later, curator Irena Borić and curator/producer Simon Žlahtič joined the team for shorter periods—Simon Žlahtič remains part of our team today.
Since its founding, the SobaZaGosteMaribor residency program has collaborated with over one hundred artists, curators, researchers, and theorists. The program is open to both international and Slovenian creators, and over the years, we have hosted individuals, duos, and collectives from 28 countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, England, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine, Romania, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Japan, Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon, Australia, the USA, Palestine, and, of course, Slovenia.
Focusing on contemporary visual art practices, the residency primarily supports socially engaged, hybrid, and experimental projects, as well as works that relate to the local social, cultural, historical, or political context. We particularly encourage projects that respond to and engage with the space in which they are created—often resulting in participatory, site-specific projects and public space interventions.
Gallery K18 was significant precisely because of its physical presence, including its street-facing façade, which—alongside the interior exhibitions—enabled visual communication with the street, passersby, and people who might not typically visit galleries or museums.
The last international artist-in-residence was David Nez, a member of the OHO Group, who presented a perceptive and well-received installation “Zoetrope – The Wheel of Life,” whose attendance broke all previous records. Among Slovenian artists, our most recent collaboration was with Danilo Milovanović, who has again been nominated for the OHO Award this year. One of his works, created during his residency in Maribor, remains permanently installed in public space: the “Solar Mural”, which uses sunlight reflection to question urban gentrification—made possible through the generous partnership of the Festić Britovšek family.
