Slovenia
Thinking the Conditions of Our Time

March 1 – September 1 2019

Broken Nature is a result of our Broken Human Nature. Initially, humans manipulated the environment in ways that Richard Dawkins described as evolutionarily stable strategies. However, our modes of production in the time since the Enlightenment have involved—as noted by Clive Dilnot and Tony Fry—a negation of our interdependence with the natural world. Instead of harmonizing our practices with the system in its totality, we have been moving toward anthropocentrism and thereby towards dominance and destruction of nature–both without and within us.

The actions of humankind may have the power to destroy, but they also have the power to regenerate. We have the knowledge and ability to give back more than we receive. In order to achieve this, we have to change the way we live and operate.

The exhibition presents selected Slovenian design projects that are based on the principles of an evolutionarily stable strategy and the practices of a "natural" designer, whose primary design concern is preserving optimal relationships within the existing natural system (that consists of all living beings on the planet). By demonstrating an alternative, we not only expose the shortcomings of the current design approaches, but also offer possibilities for their reform.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book Thinking the Conditions of our Time.

Credits

Organising institution:
University of Ljubljana
Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Industrial Design and Applied Arts Department - Master’s degree program

Commissioner:
Barbara Predan

Curators:
Tamara Lašič Jurković, Barbara Predan, Valentina Repenšek

Project by:
Ajda Bertok, Žiga Hančič, Marko Ježek, Jernej Kapus, Julija Karas, Tamara Lašič Jurković, Ambrož Močnik, Gal Rančigaj, Valentina Repenšek, Mihaela Romanešen, and Hana Železnik (University of Ljubljana, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Department of Industrial Design and Applied Arts) Mentors: Barbara Predan, Jure Miklavc in collaboration with Rok Kuhar, Primož Jeza, and Lidija Pritržnik Exhibition designed by: Jure Miklavc, Barbara Šušteršič, Silva Vitez, Andrej Šenk, and Jože Carli in collaboration with Rok Kuhar, and students Marko Ježek, Jernej Kapus, Ambrož Močnik, Gal Rančigaj, Mihaela Romanešen, Hana Železnik

Identity and book design:
Barbara Šušteršič

Illustrations:
Maja Grobler

Photographs:
Aleš Rosa, Fatima Galijasević and Aleksander Lilik, John Sturrock, Jonathan Killick and Elliott Taylor, Mimi Antolovič, Tlakovci Podlesnik, Luka Dakskobler

Organised by:
Academy of Fine Arts and Design

The project Thinking the Conditions of Our Time is supported by: University of Ljubljana, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, 507 Design Production House, and Ministry of Economic Development and Technology – I feel Slovenia: Green. Creative. Smart.