In the creative process of sculptor Zoran Srdić Janežič, artistic autonomy is of particular interest, and he draws on his rich knowledge of sculpture and numerous ideas in the creation of artifacts. The relationship between value and worth is important to him, he is fascinated by technological development, and he follows his own path in creation. In 2018, he conceived the Festival 4’33, which took place within the Section of Sculptors and Artists Working in Public Spaces at the Association of Slovene Fine Artists, with the desire to develop an independent platform through which artists from different fields and with different forms of contemporary artistic creation could present themselves outside of galleries and institutions. Visual artists and performers who operate in Ljubljana presented themselves in open studios.

Regarding the exhibition, the exhibition curator and author of the text in the exhibition catalog, Sarival Sosič, wrote: “… Zoran Srdić Janežič has materialized and given meaning to the renewal of memory in his latest sculptural works in wood and metal mechanisms. Through personal energy (creativity), memory constantly moves away from safe fields of historical memory, already established as collective memory, into an authorial and free-thinking artistic interpretation that is not only imbued with seriousness in understanding the ambivalence of everyday life, but also with the sculptor’s typical sharp humor… The current exhibition at the ZDSLU Gallery (Ljubljana) is titled “Kdor visoko leta…” (Who Flies High…) and primarily incorporates memory into its sculptural and exhibition concept as a variable, changing energy that is placed in every artwork. In the presented sculptures, memory is the otherwise immaterial but integral part of the sculptures, which within the images gains a special temporal form, special content and emotional emphasis, which often are based on timeless themes such as death, body, time, love, belonging, nation, homeland. The artistic medium, in this case, sculpture, carries a dynamic temporal form that is verified, questioned, and changed throughout history… The key sculpture in the current sculptural series is a sculpture of a Roman road that is embedded in a flying mechanism, therefore constantly moving, rising and falling, and with its mobility, it dynamizes the sculptural space. It is, first of all, a historical fact associated with a precisely defined event – in sculptural design, it is very similar to the bronze sculpture of the road opposite the Kazina at the beginning of Congress Square, therefore a road that was created as a sculptural response to memory, to the tragic event of the Second World War, to the demonstration of women against fascist terror (imprisonment of women, children, and the elderly) in Ljubljana… ”

Sarival Sosič

Whoever flies high

27. August – 20. September 2020
Galerija Zveze slovenskih likovnih umetnikov

Avtor: Zoran Srdić Janežič
Izdelava elektronskega krmiljenja: Gregor Krpič
Izdelava lesenih delov instalacije: Primož Mihevc
Obdelava kovin: ključavničarstvo Uroš Mehle

Kustos: Sarival Sosič

Produkcija: Zavod za sodobne kiparske raziskave, 2021
Producentka. Matena Bassin
Podpora: Mestna občina Ljubljana, oddelek za kulturo in Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije