12.- 16. 12. 2021

Jaka Babnik: Jaka Babnik: Exercises in Style.
In his recent series Exercises in Style Jaka Babnik focuses on some of the most fundamental questions about creating photographs or artworks. In the form of stylistic exercises, he explores transformative tools and unwritten criteria that enable and constitute so-called quality photographs or works of art, from the point of view of their technical and formal implementation as well as in terms of choice of subject matter and its intended purpose. He is interested in images that are, due to one’s trained cultural and aesthetic codes, visually attractive and formally faultless; however, these images on their own may not convey anything in particular.The series of photographs is, in a way, the result of exercises in knowledge of art theory, which is an indispensable tool for creative work in the wider field of visual culture. At the same time, art theory provides the foundation for the rules, patterns and formulas that artists and creators have to follow, whether they like it or not, because they have proven effective. Thus, in Exercises in Style, Babnik undertakes artistic research in which he primarily turns to himself and his own visual perception, establishing a discourse on the ontology of photography and visual culture while reflecting on the knowledges, experiences, cultivated aesthetics, symbols and memories that determine each individual and his or her way of consuming images. He also turns to (self)irony and humour as he is well aware that he can’t be, however much he may try, exempt from his cultivated cultural code that deeply designates his creative and commercial work.Furthermore, the Exercises in Style series of photographs serve as a starting point for collective reflection on so-called “learned predictability”. With the help of several collaborators, these reflections will be published in the form of articles, opinions, essays and interviews in a self-published newspaper.The contributors to the newspaper:
Jaka Babnik, Viktor Baron, Miha Colner, Karlo Čargonja, Ana Čavić, Chris Eckman, Jasna Jernejšek, Mića Karić, Saša Kralj, Sandra Križić Roban, Tevž Logar, Peter Rauch, Luka Škof, Jožef Školč, Miško Šuvaković, Dalibor Talajić, Leon Zuodar.Jaka Babnik (1979) graduated from social studies and history at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, and has been working as a photographer and cinematographer since 1996. Currently he works as a photographer, artist and publisher who gained local and international acclaim with projects such as We Are Dogs! (2007-2009), Jebodrom (2014), Holy Land (2017), Why So Serious? (2016-2017), Heroes of My Time (2017), Pygmalion (2018-2019), Time Levelling (2020) and Photographs for Illustration Purposes Only (2020). He is co-founder and co-owner (together with Boštjan Pavletič) of the independent publishing house Rostfrei Publishing that, since 2012, produces artists’ books and photobooks. He lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.The exhibition will be on display from 12 to 15 December 2021, from noon to 6pm.Producers of the exhibition and the newspaper:
Zavod Sektor and Rostfrei PublishingThe project is supported by Municipality of Ljubljana. December 2021 at noonDUM Project Space, LjubljanaIn his recent series Exercises in Style Jaka Babnik focuses on some of the most fundamental questions about creating photographs or artworks. In the form of stylistic exercises, he explores transformative tools and unwritten criteria that enable and constitute so-called quality photographs or works of art, from the point of view of their technical and formal implementation as well as in terms of choice of subject matter and its intended purpose. He is interested in images that are, due to one’s trained cultural and aesthetic codes, visually attractive and formally faultless; however, these images on their own may not convey anything in particular.The series of photographs is, in a way, the result of exercises in knowledge of art theory, which is an indispensable tool for creative work in the wider field of visual culture. At the same time, art theory provides the foundation for the rules, patterns and formulas that artists and creators have to follow, whether they like it or not, because they have proven effective. Thus, in Exercises in Style, Babnik undertakes artistic research in which he primarily turns to himself and his own visual perception, establishing a discourse on the ontology of photography and visual culture while reflecting on the knowledges, experiences, cultivated aesthetics, symbols and memories that determine each individual and his or her way of consuming images. He also turns to (self)irony and humour as he is well aware that he can’t be, however much he may try, exempt from his cultivated cultural code that deeply designates his creative and commercial work.Furthermore, the Exercises in Style series of photographs serve as a starting point for collective reflection on so-called “learned predictability”. With the help of several collaborators, these reflections will be published in the form of articles, opinions, essays and interviews in a self-published newspaper.The contributors to the newspaper:
Jaka Babnik, Viktor Baron, Miha Colner, Karlo Čargonja, Ana Čavić, Chris Eckman, Jasna Jernejšek, Mića Karić, Saša Kralj, Sandra Križić Roban, Tevž Logar, Peter Rauch, Luka Škof, Jožef Školč, Miško Šuvaković, Dalibor Talajić, Leon Zuodar.Jaka Babnik (1979) graduated from social studies and history at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, and has been working as a photographer and cinematographer since 1996. Currently he works as a photographer, artist and publisher who gained local and international acclaim with projects such as We Are Dogs! (2007-2009), Jebodrom (2014), Holy Land (2017), Why So Serious? (2016-2017), Heroes of My Time (2017), Pygmalion (2018-2019), Time Levelling (2020) and Photographs for Illustration Purposes Only (2020). He is co-founder and co-owner (together with Boštjan Pavletič) of the independent publishing house Rostfrei Publishing that, since 2012, produces artists’ books and photobooks. He lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.The exhibition will be on display from 12 to 15 December 2021, from noon to 6pm.
Producers of the exhibition and the newspaper:
Zavod Sektor and Rostfrei PublishingThe project is supported by Municipality of Ljubljana.