[0:00] Dr. Noah Charney: Hello, welcome, and dobrodošli to Feel Slovenia, the podcast. In each episode, we will explore what I have called the world's best country. Meeting locals, traveling, eating, and getting to know the very best of Slovenia.  This podcast is written and hosted by me, Dr. Noah Charney, and is brought to you by the Slovenian Tourist Board. 

Slovenia has numerous fascinating art museums. But none that are a household name abroad, so they remain very pleasant surprises for visitors who discover them.  In this episode, I explore some of my favourite art museums in Slovenia, with a focus on those outside of Ljubljana.  We'll save my guide to Ljubljana museums for a separate episode.

But to cover some of those, I've asked a few art-world friends for their tips, too. 

I've walked past it hundreds of times, always wondering what was inside, but never knowing how to find out.  At the end of a long, postcard perfect, cobbled street, in the centre of my adopted hometown of Kamnik, Slovenia, there's a 19th century townhouse owned by the Sadnikar family. 

Inside it is one man's extremely personal art collection.  This much I knew, as many Kamnik residents recalled having visited the collection as students.  A quick glance in the window, trying not to look suspicious while doing so, I could see some intriguing objects on display. But this, I knew, was a private family home, and so to see it one had to be invited by a family member. 

So, I was delighted when Josip Marko Sadnikar wrote to me and invited me for a visit.  What a wondrous treasure trove his family collection turned out to be. Gathered primarily by Josip Nikolaj Sadnikar, the current Josip's grandfather, a veterinarian and friend of Slovenia's greatest creator, modernist era architect Jože Plečnik, Sadnikar was often paid for veterinary services in antiques when families did not have cash. 

This collection is the passion of a single person, first opened to the public in 1893.  What surprised me is that it is a truly world class small collection. To begin with, it's larger than I expected. Displayed in a corridor and two generous rooms, there are hundreds of objects, ranging from arms and armour to painting, statues to coins, religious objects to instruments of torture, drawings to furniture.

There's even an amazing ornate doorway that was brought in and installed around a doorway of the house itself. It is eclectic and displayed in a Victorian style. Crowded glass cases and tabletops, pictures covering all available wall space.  There's a beautiful portrait by one of the best of all Slovenian artists, Ivana Kobilca.

Portrait of an old man and a number of works by Slovenia Impressionists, several of which were loaned to a major Paris exhibition and even a small painting thought to be by Tintoretto. 

If in an unmarked and rather random home in a lovely but easily overlooked town. At the foot of the Alps in Slovenia, there sits a marvellous top museum quality art collection that even I, as an art historian and resident of said town, have walked past for years and never seen.

And what other under visited treasure houses exist around Slovenia?  If you come to Ljubljana, you'll surely want to see The National Gallery, and you should. It's magnificent and full of unexpected delights, particularly the work of Ivana Kobilca, the painter of the so-called Mona Lisa of Slovenia, Kofetkarica, or the coffee drinker, as well as the remarkably talented Slovenian impressionists. There is the Moderna Galerija for modern art, as well as 10 spaces that are part of the city museums. More on them later. 

But beyond Ljubljana, there are some galleries that I, as a professor of art history, can heartily recommend.  For this episode, I've called on some friends to give you their suggestions as well, but here are mine. I'll focus on museums with a lot of art in them. We'll save other types of museums for another episode.

For old masters and Slovene impressionists, I love Ptuj Castle Museum in Ptuj, a town as fun to say as it is to visit, and Škofja Loka Castle Museum in Škofja Loka. I also like GML Lendava, which includes excellent sculptures as well as ethnographic collections. Most castle museums in Slovenia are hybrids, combining fine art with archaeological, ethnographic, and folk exhibits, making them ideal sources for multidisciplinary information about each place.

You can add Bled Castle Museum to the list as well. There is plenty of good art to see, with an annex to the museum on Bled Island, where a collection of paintings of Lake Bled has been gathered. But these castle museums tell the complete story of the towns over which they loom. For more modern collections, the Pilon Gallery in Ajdovščina is excellent.

But my personal favourite is The Božidar Jakac Gallery in Kostanjevica na Krki. This is where I held my civil wedding ceremony, in the deconsecrated church that's part of this fortified monastery. Its whitewashed walls soar high above, and the monastery grounds are scattered with Forma Viva sculptures, the relics of frequent art workshops in which sculptors used found materials to create monumental works. 

The art inside the monastery represents some of the best of Slovenia's 20th century painters and sculptures, but the whole place has a magic to it.  Speaking of magic, during the summer of 2024, a visit to Kamnik will also yield some surprises.  For instance, in the main square of Kamnik there stands a giant, bright green penguin.

And you'll find some red turtles with plastic water bottles strapped to their backs climbing up the façade of Galerija Dika.  A colossal red pig is in the courtyard of Grad Zaprice. And a pair of mighty red dogs sit, waiting and panting, well, somewhere in town because they're moved almost every day. They are works by the famous Belgian sculptor William Sweetlove.

and are part of a six-month long art event featuring 25 renowned international artists installed at multiple locations in the centre of Kamnik and in nearby Arboretum, the amazing and expansive botanical garden five minutes from the town.  Sweetlove is the most famous, but all 25 are significant artists. And this exhibition, called Dobre novice, which means Good News, is unique as far as I know in Slovenian history, bringing together so many artists for a multi-site installation of this kind.  My favourite part? Sweetlove turned down the chance for an exhibition in Shanghai in favour of Kamnik Slovenia. The exhibition was spearheaded by an American architect living near Kamnik, Matthew McQuarrie. 

[7:03] Matthew McQuarrie, an American architect living in Slovenia: Hey Noah, thanks for your support of Dobre novice.  I'm an American living in Slovenia. Like you, I'm married to a Slovene, and I've made Slovenia my home, and I care about my community. As the event coordinator, I'm one of several partners of Dobre novice. In a group that organized a huge international art event over a novice,  I'm especially proud, truly proud of the productive collaboration we form together with various municipal institutions to make this event happen.

The preparations took a couple of years and included the coordination of 25 international artists who generously donated their time and their artwork.  I have always considered art as an important component to imagining the world around us.

As an architect, I enjoy repurposing spaces and creating new ones. I also like to see how art revitalizes neglected spaces and dormant communities.  Yes, of course, art can also change and transform perceptions.  It can also promote critical thinking that may challenge society's norms, and and beliefs. 

For me, I prefer looking at contemporary art, especially because it has not yet passed the historic test of time. It reflects the present moment. Contemporary artists often push the boundaries.  They experiment with materials, Techniques and concepts and challenge traditional notions of art, and this leads to fresh and innovative ideas and creations.

[8:48] Dr. Noah Charney: When it comes to contemporary art that will make headlines: there's a museum soon to open as I record this, and it's one that I'm particularly excited to see.

When you enter the new museum Lah, you'll do so via a huge cast bronze door that's been turned sideways.  Right from the start, you get the impression that this is not your ordinary museum. It certainly isn't, as it is a unique cultural offering in this part of the worl and was designed by a rock star among architects. 

Pass through the doorway, and inside you'll see, among some 100 objects on display, a three-story tall bombed out ruin, a multi-sensory installation involving a mechanical elephant and a back of a train ramming through a wall.  These are among the eye-catching pieces in the new world class contemporary art museum that, as I write, is being built still on the road up to Bled Castle.

It's a private museum, one that's being funded by the Lah family to house their personal art collection.  And it is going to be amazing, as I was able to see for myself in a preview tour of the building, still a construction site.  The Lah family, Igor and Mojca, are, as of  2024, the wealthiest Slovenians, and they have been collecting contemporary art at the highest level for decades. 

There are nearly 1,000 objects in their collection, of which around 100 will be on display at the new museum at any given time.  As I record this podcast, so in the summer of 2024, the museum isn't finished yet. But it will be a world class attraction when it is.  It's been designed by David Chipperfield, winner of the Pritzker Prize, the highest international award for architecture.

And the collection is full of major names in contemporary art, including Anselm Kiefer, William Kentridge,Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, and Slovenian artists Mirsad Begić and Zoran Mušič.  I spoke with Marko Jenko, one of the founding curators of the forthcoming Lah Museum. 

[10:49] Marko Jenko, Curator at Muzej Lah: So, what can one expect from The Lah Museum? Of course, a new museum dedicated to contemporary art in all its forms of media. I'm not simply talking about visual arts. I would like to say simply art or art in general, not only locally, but globally. And of course, a museum that will be open to all. Now, first and foremost, I would say, especially from a local and centralized perspective, that one can expect a proper international museum in all its aspects, so including international museum standards, and that this will be a museum based on the private collection of Mojca and Igor Lah, a collection that now has well over 830 works and, of course, still growing.

But the pull will not only be the programmes or, let's say, the works by some of the truly biggest names in art of the past 80 years. It will also be the architecture of the museum itself, which was conceived by David Chipperfield and very much in tune with the landscape or the natural beauty of Bled, let's say the natural beauty that is Bled.

Now as a curator, of course, I could go into more perceptual thinking. But let's leave that aside and keep it simple. I simply see the museum as a place for thought in general, and that should be, and that is more than enough. In a way, that should be the only goal.  Museums of course can be an escape, they can be about escapism, but for me more in terms of a necessary refuge, where you come to stop, you come to relax in order to admire, to think. 

Three people discuss just about everything, of course, all forms of art, and I would say ultimately the world.  To think about humanity as such, and in these times, it's something that I think we need more than ever. Um, and that Museum Lah will be a refuge for exactly that, for the past, for the contemporary times, and of course, mostly future.  For you, for me, for everybody. 

[12:43] Dr. Noah Charney: What are his favourite museums in Slovenia? Turns out his first two choices aren't art museums at all, but a technological museum and one dedicated to beekeeping. 

[12:54] Marko Jenko, Curator at Muzej Lah:  There are many museums outside Ljubljana that I enjoy visiting. Most of them are art museums, of course. However, this question entails some sort of re-association game.

And well, because of that, the funny thing is that my immediate response or answer, the first museums that come to my mind are those that I distinctly remember visiting as a child if I stick to museums in Slovenia, of course, where I grew up and where I still live.  I truly have, and this would be my first answer, so I truly have a fond and I must say quite a vivid memory of visiting the beekeeping museum in my hometown of Radovljica, when I was in primary school.

It was quite an experience and I remember distinctly how we had to paint beehive panels during our art class after our visit. I think, yeah, I'm sure that my parents still have my dodgy beehive panel on their wall. So, the visit became personal and I guess that's why it stuck with me.  

The next immediate response is also quite personal and again from my childhood. I remember being fascinated by those beautiful cars in the Technical Museum at Bistra. And just remembering the beauty of those lines, the surfaces, and I guess of something historic, older than me. Plus, my mother's aunt worked there as a curator, and so yes, again, it was all very personal. I was touched, I think, by something that I still can't put my finger on.

[14:21] Dr. Noah Charney: Blaž Peršin is director of the City Museums of Ljubljana. This encompasses 10 different museums and art spaces, including Plečnik House, the City Museum and Cukrarna, a newly open, sleek, contemporary art museum in a converted sugar factory. 

[14:38] Blaž Peršin, Director of Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana: I'm Director of Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, which is an institution combining different spaces: City Museum, Cukrarna, the new space we have opened two years and a half ago. City Gallery, Plečnik House, Jakopič Gallery. So, it's really a division of different spaces with profile of their own. Jakopič Gallery, it's occupied by mainly photography. City Gallery about Slovenian artists, painters, and so on.

Cukrarna, it's for home international production we are showing. City Museum, it's occupying by history of the city, but also how we see the city today. And then we have, for example, also Plečnik House. It's talking about heritage of Plečnik, his living, his way of thinking, and so on. 

[15:33] Dr. Noah Charney: How would you describe Slovenian art, or is that too hard to do because it's too diverse?

[15:38] Blaž Peršin, Director of Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana: Slovenian art, if you are talking about contemporary art or past art, of course Slovenia was part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, so influences have been quite broad from different sources from Western to East art and so on. 

But especially in the 80s, let's say it was a big movement of new art, which was especially with youth energy. And this is also the part we are living in. We are part of, of course, Middle East European art in general. Also, the group IRWIN have made one project, East Art Map, where they have been detecting the artists from this part of the world.

In the other way, our contemporary art trends are very similar to the Western contemporary art faction, but we can see the different approaches, what is especially interesting combining science and art, then we have different projects with installations with sound art and so on. And that is all the things we are showing in Cukrarna, which is really a lab, but also a view how we see how we approach to the art and how art should be disseminated also with the people and the audience. 

[17:12] Dr. Noah Charney: So, this year, in 2024, what are some exhibitions that you're looking forward to? 

[17:17] Blaž Peršin, Director of Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana: We have just opened in City Museum one exhibition about History of Wearing Clothes, the clothing, the cloth culture in Ljubljana from 1850 to 1950.

Very interesting exhibition, which is also talking about culture history through the clothes. Then in Cukrarna we have a couple of exhibitions, which would be interesting. Now, Extended Vision, it's about our senses in a way, how we approach the senses, how we see art works and how art works is changing our senses.

Then we have Tarek Atoui Exhibition, which is a sound installation in the parterre of the Cukrarna gallery. And we will have in June, very interesting in exhibition about three international renowned artists and three curators. They will fill the whole building.

 It is Tobias Putrih. He's living now in Boston, New York, but Slovene. Then Adrian Paci, artist from Italy, from Milan. And Šejla Kamerić, the artist who is living in Sarajevo, but also in Berlin. It will be a mixture of different approaches to the art.  

[18:35] Dr. Noah Charney: Most people who come to Slovenia will visit Ljubljana and Bled, but there are a lot of wonderful museums and galleries beyond those two destinations. Can you tell us some of your favourite places for art lovers to visit that are beyond those two spaces?

[18:48] Blaž Peršin, Director of Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana: Of course, Slovenia has a lot to offer, but also in the field of contemporary art or art in general. We have a beautiful Božidar Jakac Gallery in Kostanjevica na Krki, but also some interesting projects with temporary exhibitions. Then we have Obalne Galerije Piran, Coastal Galleries Piran. They have a new team there, Mara Ambrožič is the new director, and she's really keen to push things forward. Then we have UGM, the Art Gallery in Maribor with a new collection presented in a new different way, which is also interesting. But we have also some heritage buildings, churches, and so on. Crngrob near Škofja Loka or Nova Štifta near Ribnica, these are the little jewels, which are really good to discover, huh? 

[19:54] Dr. Noah Charney: So, if you were to pick three works of art, or buildings, outside of Ljubljana to recommend, you just named two churches, maybe those would be two of your list, what else might you recommend?

[20:05] Blaž Peršin, Director of Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana: Maybe it's interesting to go to Gornji grad, where you have this bishop residence, maybe it's good to check also some undiscovered Plečnik works, which are not in Ljubljana, but maybe Bogojina and so on. Maybe it's interesting to see some other little gems. Let's say, of course, near Ljubljana is Črna vas, the church of Plečnik. This is a must-see object and church.  It's a lot of revelation if you see it. 

[20:44] Dr. Noah Charney: Jaša Mrevlje-Pollak, who goes simply by the name Jaša, is one of my closest friends, and we even wrote a book together called Making It, the Artist's Survival Guide. He's probably Slovenia's highest profile conceptual artist, having performed at the Venice Biennale and the Frieze Art Fair, among many other venues. 

I spoke with him from his studio in Berlin, and I asked him where he recommends going to see the best contemporary art in Slovenia.  

[21:12] Jaša Mrevlje-Pollak, a Slovenian conceptual artist: Where to go to see quality contemporary art in Slovenia?  Let's start from the capital. Still Ljubljana, it's the busiest town when it comes to that. We can go down the usual suspects, which is Moderna Galerija and the newest, part of it, the MSUM in Metelkova. We have to say that since the legendary director Zdenka Badovinac has left, things are not the same, or let's say they are trying now to get the vision that it had, or at least the urgency, because I think that's the most important thing is when a director can create a certain appeal, hype and urgency about the programme, that's the beauty of contemporary art because you're dealing with artists that are alive and kicking as opposed to old masters, which of course, in a way it's easier because it's already established what is good or not.

The new playing player in town is definitely Cukrarna. There's been a lot of hype around it, building it. And let's say that the one holding the hot spot now is definitely Cukrarna. I hope that it will grow and develop to its expectations because there are places to be filled up. Especially I hope they will create a better reach out to the local communities and younger artists, what I think now is missing, it's project spaces that would give that a platform to newer generations. 

Out of that, in my eyes, one of the most hard-working and amazing institutions is UGM, the Art Gallery in Maribor. With an incredible director, Simona Vidmar, and before that Breda. I'm not just saying because yes, there's a reason why I've done all the biggest projects with them as I did with other beautiful institutions in Slovenia.  And, there's a new player in town in Slovenia, which is Obalne Galerije Piran with Mara Ambrožič, who is one of the most ambitious and capable and professional  people that I know.

She's new blood. And I think there are a lot of interesting and good things happening, coming up that will come from there. So Obalne Galerije Piran used to have this status of not so much contemporary, let's say, or let's say contemporary in a certain older way, but definitely things are changing there.I hope that's helpful and thank you. Wish you all the best and a beautiful day.  

[24:41] Dr. Noah Charney: Slovenia abounds with art museums of surprising quality and interest. Surprising in that tourists are unlikely to have known of the institutions or artists ahead of time, but are impressed and intrigued when they do visit. 

While the highest profile museums are in Ljubljana, other gems are located throughout the country. For a fan of art and for those who enjoy getting to know a culture and its history through cultural heritage, Slovenia's art museums are a great idea to add to your itinerary. 

Hvala and thank you for listening to Feel Slovenia the Podcast. This podcast is brought to you by the Slovenian Tourist Board and was written and presented by Dr. Noah Charney. Please subscribe to get each new episode and tell all of your friends interested in travel and all things Slovenia.  If you'd like to learn more, visit slovenia.info. 

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