The final exhibition of the 20th generation of the World of Art School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing 2024/26
15 May – 10 June 2026
Škuc Gallery, Stari trg 21, Ljubljana
Exhibition opening: Friday 15 May 2026, at 7 pm (ILY performance at 8 pm)
Artists: BRAVO (Ana Urbiha, Neža Urbiha, Pika Basaj), DILEMA, ILY (Iza Štrumbelj Oblak, Lea Topolovec, Yana Deliyska)
Curators: Eva Pušnik, Julija Hoda, Kara Marušič, Lucija Lunder, Svit Skobir Lampič, Tamara Pepelnik, Urša Culiberg
Mentoring support: Alenka Gregorič, Vadim Fiškin
School Heads: Lara Plavčak, Tia Čiček, Urška Aplinc
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Friends with Benefits
The art system often operates as a network of regular collaborations. At a systemic level, this can be understood in negative and exclusionary terms, as it may prevent access for those who do not know the decision-makers. At the individual level, however, such regular collaborations offer an opportunity to build trust and shared interests. It is precisely within close relationships that forms of support and care are often established, which can alleviate the precarious conditions of working in the arts. Collaboration with friends is no exception here, but rather a widespread practice that extends beyond the boundaries of the art world. Friendship as a starting point for collective artistic practice is the central theme of the exhibition Friends with Benefits, in which the collectives BRAVO, DILEMA and ILY highlight the challenges and advantages of working with friends.
For the BRAVO collective, friendship is woven directly into the artworks, which become a materialisation of internal humour, rituals and group dynamics of its members. ILY adopts a slightly more distanced position towards its own friendships, exploring the need for support by enacting a family in which the artists take on the roles of mother, father and daughter. For DILEMA, friendship primarily manifests as a working method. Even though the themes under consideration vary, the common thread of their joint practice remains the process of collaboration and shared thinking.
The collectives in the exhibition juxtapose fragments of past projects and their work to date with reflections on the challenges and opportunities of collaborative work that are currently most relevant to them. BRAVO reflects on the changes in the members’ relationships since they no longer live together. By intentionally staging coded events, which are documented in the exhibition, they attempt to rekindle some of the lost closeness while opening up possibilities for new forms of organisation and connection. The ILY family confronts the absence of one of its members. Yana (Father) lives abroad, while Lea (Mother) and Iza (Izi) live and work in Slovenia. Through a series of participatory-performative events over the course of the exhibition, they seek a potential partner for the mother on a fictional level and a potential collaborator to continue the project on a practical level. DILEMA, with its installation presenting a variation of a string game, materialises the multi-layered process of collaborative work, which requires at least two pairs of hands. At the same time, it points out that work often begins by chance, for instance, during an outing or a break.
The challenges brought to the fore reveal that collaboration with friends is a working method inseparable from the conditions in which it arises. A significant amount of the invisible and unpaid labour that enables the functioning of the art system consists precisely of nurturing relationships and providing help and support to collaborators. Since these are fundamental elements of friendship, the caring aspects of the work can be all the more profound in artistic practices stemming from friendships, while the possibility of defining the work becomes all the more elusive. As is generally the case with work in the arts, collaboration with friends has no clearly defined boundaries. Work seeps into the time and space of friendship and leisure. It is impossible to determine when a coffee turns into a meeting, and thus where the personal relationship ends, and professional collaboration begins.
Despite these conditions, or perhaps precisely because of them, collaboration with friends can also have a soothing effect. The care and support stemming from existing relationships form the foundation for all three artistic practices. DILEMA came about from the need for additional help that its members felt while carrying out their personal projects. Through their work in the exhibition, they once again draw attention to the sense of security and playfulness that collaboration enables. Affirmation is, notably, one of the cornerstones of the BRAVO collective, already signalled in its name. Working together allows the artists to exchange ideas and opinions on the spot and respond immediately, making their artistic practice less uncertain and more reflective. The members of the ILY collective first assumed their familial roles when Iza required support for her Master’s project, with Lea and Yana stepping into the roles of encouraging parents. Since then, the fictional family has served as the point of departure for their artistic exploration.
The challenges and benefits of working together are, after all, also significant for the curatorial team that organised the exhibition as part of the World of Art school. Even though, as participants, we were brought together by chance, over the course of two years of working together, we developed personal friendships that we wished to maintain throughout the preparation of the exhibition. We were aware that working in a large, diverse group can lead to disagreements and tensions. In addressing this concern, we looked to the artistic practices of the invited collectives as examples of positively marked collaborations.
We were also curious about how the responsibility attributed to the curatorial role is influenced by our acquaintances and friendships within the art scene. The curator’s task of inviting an artist to participate in an exhibition can be an opportunity to move beyond the confines of a closed art system or an opportunity for inclusion. We believe it is important for the curator’s perspective to extend beyond the limits of their immediate network of acquaintances. At the same time, a curator at the beginning of their career is inevitably constrained by their knowledge. Our attempt to address this issue lies in transparency. While the themes explored by the collectives resonated with us precisely because of their working methods, we also wish to acknowledge that we were already acquainted with some of them, or came to know them during the school programme. The latter, in addition to its curriculum, also provides networking opportunities, demonstrating that connections are a key tool for surviving in the art system. If this is to be the case, let them be pleasant, caring and supportive.
Eva Pušnik, Julija Hoda, Kara Marušič, Lucija Lunder, Svit Skobir Lampič, Tamara Pepelnik, Urša Culiberg
Ana Urbiha, Neža Urbiha and Pika Basaj work as the BRAVO collective. All are students on Master’s programmes at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana: Neža and Pika in Painting, and Ana in Conservation and Restoration. In their projects to date, they have explored close friendships that often extend into an irrational dimension, where collectively created fiction helps shape real life. They have addressed these themes in several group exhibitions, including at the Old Post Building in Kranj (2020), TrainStation SubArt in Kranj (2021), Layer House in Kranj (2023), Mala galerija BS in Ljubljana (2024) and Alkatraz Gallery in Ljubljana. They also collaborated on the scenography for the dance performance Anthology of a Scream: Surprise Bag by Kolektiv Nest (2024). In 2025, they took part in the GuestRoomMaribor residency. (Photo: Urška Culiberg)
The DILEMA duo was initially formed in response to the search for additional help or a frequent, much-needed support pillar for eliminating the struggles of public presentations that would be difficult to manage alone. DILEMA is a collaboration between two (DI) artists: LEne Lekše and MAruša Uhan. For the duo, solutions for temporary spatial interventions are most often finds in exhibition spaces and their immediate surroundings. The partnership, first presented publicly in 2021, has so far helped them surmount terrain such as Marmot’s Prophecy at the Historical Atrium of Ljubljana Town Hall (2021), So ___ that even Birds Walk at the Night Window Display Gallery (2022), Chapter 1 at Y Gallery (2023), Chapter 2: Transition at Veselov vrt Gallery (2024) in Ljubljana, Curative Bonding at the Nova Gorica City Art Gallery (2025), and the project Fighting with Comfort (DILEMA ft Toilet.break), developed in collaboration with Chen Zhang and presented at the DobraVaga gallery (2025). (Photo: Urška Culiberg)
ILY is a collective comprising Iza Štrumbelj Oblak, Lea Topolovec and Yana Deliyska. As part of an ongoing artistic research project, they set up a fictional family structure in which each member takes on a specific familial role: Lea becomes the Mother, Yana the Father and Iza the daughter, Izi. The project is based on personal memories, expectations and wishes, opening up questions about needs and forms of support. In doing so, they use various mediums to document role-play and create participatory encounters. To date, they have presented their work in the exhibition Speculative Gatherings at Slakthuset in Gothenburg (2024) and at the 6th Triennial of Young Artists at the Gallery of Contemporary Art Celje (2025). (Photo: Urška Culiberg)
EXHIBITION PROGRAMME
22 May at 3 pm: Viewing of the exhibition with the curators and the artists – in English.
23 May at 5:30 pm: Gabrielle de la Puente (The White Pube): The Friendship Agenda, lecture and book presentation – in English.
28 May at 3 pm: Viewing of the exhibition with Peter Rot (MDSSNG), teacher of people with visual impairments, and the curators – in Slovenian, for people with blindness and visual impairments.
3, 5 and 7 June from 3 to 7 pm: Plenty of Fish in the Sea, participatory performance with ILY collective (mandatory registration at collective.ily@gmail.com).
10 June at 6 pm: Final viewing of the exhibition with the curators – in Slovenian, accompanied by an interpreter for Slovenian sign language.
INFORMACIJE O DOSTOPNOSTI
Obisk
Obisk razstave in vsi spremljevalni dogodki so brezplačni. Galerija Škuc je opremljena s klančino za gibalno ovirane osebe na vhodu (širina 150 cm) in v prostoru (širina 106 cm). Notranje dvorišče in toaletni prostori galerije niso dostopni za uporabnice_ invalidskega vozička. Dostopni toaletni prostori so na voljo v sosednji gostilni Druga violina. Za uporabo se obrnite na zaposlene v gostilni, ki vas bodo prijazno usmerili. Toaleta v galeriji je spolno nevtralna. Na voljo je brezplačna voda iz pipe. Prostor ni opremljen s slušno zanko. Obrazstavno besedilo, opisi del in življenjepisi umetnic so dostopni v tisku za osebe s slabovidnostjo in v dokumentu, ki je urejen za uporabo sintetizatorja govora (oboje v slovenskem in angleškem jeziku). Možna je uporaba prenosne lupe za osebe s slabovidnostjo, ki si jo lahko izposodite pri informatorki_. Organizirana bosta ogled razstave s tiflopedagogom za osebe s slepoto in slabovidnostjo ter ogled razstave v spremstvu tolmačke za slovenski znakovni jezik (oboje v slovenskem jeziku). Tekom razstave bo izšla knjižica v lahkem branju v slovenskem jeziku, ki bo na voljo v galeriji in na spletni strani Sveta umetnosti. Ker želimo varen obisk razstave omogočiti tudi imunokompromitiranim osebam, priporočamo uporabo zaščitnih mask. Psi dobrodošli. Osebje lahko zanje priskrbi posodo z vodo.
Prihod
Galerija je najbližje avtobusni postaji Gornji trg (180 m), kjer ustavijo avtobusne linije 2, 3, 11, 19, 27. Več informacij je dostopnih na spletni strani LPP in LPP številkah (01 58 22 426, 051 44 99 92). Večina avtobusov je opremljena s klančino, a vseeno priporočamo klic na LPP s poizvedbo za prevoz v vašem terminu. Galerija je v peš coni v centru Ljubljane. Najbližji dovoz za avtomobile je 50 m stran. Ulice v neposredni okolici so tlakovane. Na območju peš cone vozijo brezplačna vozila Kavalir, ki jih lahko naročite od 6.00 do 22.00 po telefonu (031 666 331, 031 666 332, 031 666 299). Nekatera vozila so dostopna za uporabnice_ invalidskega vozička, svetujemo klic s poizvedbo. Najbližje plačljivo parkirišče s parkirnimi mesti (14) za gibalno ovirane osebe je Parkirna hiša Kongresni trg (550 m), najbližje parkirno mesto (1) za gibalno ovirane za kratkoročno parkiranje je na Levstikovem trgu (100 m). Za več informacij se obrnite na podjetje JP LPT (01 300 12 00). Zemljevid dostopnosti lokacij v centru Ljubljane in druge koristne informacije pa so na voljo tudi na spletni strani Zveze paraplegikov Slovenije.
KOLOFON
Slovenian proofreading: Inge Pangos
English translation: Arven Šakti Kralj
Cover image: Lea Jelenko
Leaflet design: Lea Jelenko
Production: World of Art/SCCA-Ljubljana
Co-production: Škuc Gallery
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Municipality of Ljubljana – Department for Culture
Partners: Zavod Risa, Druga violina, Azil Bookstore (ZRC SAZU), Inter-Municipal Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired Nova Gorica
Sponsors: DIOPTA, d. o. o., Ljubljana, Pizzeria FoculuS, Nord Hard Seltzer, Zdrava Trgovinca
Acknowledgements: associates of the World of Art School 2024/26 programme, Aleš Barle, Lar Nikolaj Leskovar, Barbara Leskovar, Papa BRAVO, Uhan family, Iris Lukšič, Obenauf, Urška Murovec
The World of Art School programme is developed in partnership with Cukrana/MGML and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
