#LJSAF 2022

STREET ARTING: ESCIF

Follow live the creation of the mural by Escif in Šiška neighborhood. His work draws on the location it is placed in, with the artist responding differently to the content of buildings, the history of the city and current attractions.

PIECE OF CAKE (day 1)

Under the mentorship of Siniša Simšič, kindergarteners aged 3-6 years (Vodmat Kindergarten) will learn about art in public spaces, especially about the expressive power of graffiti. Following the pedagogical method of five-level planning, we want to facilitate the children's social engagement in public space. Based on a message, developed into a story with the help of the educational staff and the artist, the children will create a visual message for the general public at Metelkova.

ŠIŠKA GRAFFITI TOUR

Together with Katja Pavlič, we will visit the largest gallery in the city – the streets of Ljubljana, where we will look for the best street creations in the Šiška neighbourhood. The graffiti tour will reveal the colourful side of Ljubljana in a unique way and show the city’s history through the medium of street art. Book your spot >>

FORM(AT) | KEYNOTE LECTURE | Peter Bengtsen

Unsanctioned expressions like graffiti and street art are ephemeral. This does not mean that they are necessarily short-lived, but rather that they are generally not intended to last and may be altered or removed at any time. However, aspects of such works often live on through different types of documentation. This talk will discuss how we might think about the methods for, as well as the very practice of, documenting – and perhaps preserving – graffiti and street art. necessarily short-lived, but rather that they are generally not intended to last and may be altered or removed at any time. However, aspects of such works often live on through different types of documentation. This talk will discuss how we might think about the methods for, as well as the very practice of, documenting – and perhaps preserving – graffiti and street art.

FORM(AT) | PANEL 1 | Documentary Photographer Martha Cooper in Conversation with Mitja Velikonja

We’ll talk with the iconic photojournalist of the social and cultural margins of American megalopolises, whose splendor and misery, pain and inspiration she has been tirelessly recording, camera in hand, since the 1970s, within the framework of two of her most famous works. First, her pioneering chronicling of the early New York graffiti scene in the first photobook on the topic, titled Subway Art (1984). The second work is the recent documentary film, simply titled Martha: A Picture Story (2019), in which she and her contemporaries speak about her invaluable contribution to understanding the culture of the streets – especially the side streets, the dirty and graffitied alleys.

FORM(AT) | PANEL 2 | Self-Archiving Practices - From Books to Social Media

Artist presentations: Jasper van Es, Good Guy Boris, Epos 257 & The Miha Artnak. The presentations are followed by a round table.

STREET ARTING: ESCIF

Follow live the creation of the mural by Escif in Šiška neighborhood.

PIECE OF CAKE (day 2)

Under the mentorship of Siniša Simšič, children aged 3-6 years from the group Butterflies and Suns (Vodmat Kindergarten) will learn about art in public spaces, especially about the expressive power of graffiti. Butterflies and Suns will create a visual message in the form of a story for the general public in Metelkova mesto together with the educational staff and the artist.

ŠIŠKA GRAFFITI TOUR

Together with Katja Pavlič, we will visit the largest gallery in the city – the streets of Ljubljana, where we will look for the best street creations in the Šiška neighbourhood. The graffiti tour will reveal the colourful side of Ljubljana in a unique way and show the city’s history through the medium of street art. Book your spot >>

FORM(AT) | PANEL 3 | Challenging the Ephemeral

1) Adris Díaz Fernández, Rodrigo Ledesma Gómez & Ana Cristina García Luna: The Systematization and Classification of the Mural Works Produced by the CALLEGENERA Urban Expressions Festival: A Case Study
2) Maria Udovydchenko: Street Art and Graffiti Archives in Private and Institutional Collections: Ephemeral Documentation
3) Gabriele Boero: The Restoration of 1984 Pieces by Delta 2 and Phase 2 in Quattordio, Italy: A Burning Debate

FORM(AT) | PANEL 4 | Archiving Street Art in Contested Spaces

1) Heather Shirey, Todd Lawrence & Paul Lorah: Archiving and Activism in Theory and in Practice: The George Floyd and Anti-Racist Street Art Database
2) Adem Ojulu, Frederica Simmons & Rachel Weiher: Memorializing a Movement: Making Permanent the Ephemeral
3) Alexander Paulsson: Of Tags and Trains: Graffiti as Edgework in Subterranean Stockholm
4) Panos Leventis: Re/Telling Di/Visions: Creative Urban Practices in the Contested Eastern Mediterranean
4) Enrico Bonadio: Preservation of Street Art and Graffiti under Copyright Law

FORM(AT) | PANEL 5 | Pandemic Public Space

During the COVID-19 pandemic, any “rules” for creating, viewing, documenting, and sharing street art and public art went out the window. Constrained to our homes, the internet became more of a public space than ever before. The first piece that Banksy created during lockdown looks to be in his studio’s bathroom. With advertisers abandoning their billboards, New York City’s near-empty Times Square was covered in artists’ messages to essential workers. Ground murals claimed enormous swaths of physical space for Black Lives Matter activists, before primarily being documented by drones and shared online. Public artists turned to making posters to be shared at protests, but also on Instagram. In many cities, the streets were suddenly overwhelmed with fresh graffiti, but the empty streets meant fewer eyeballs. The greatest acts of street art in the last 12 months have almost certainly been fleeting moments of destruction, captured by frontline photographers and videographers. The relationship between physical public space, the internet, documentation, and the art itself is now blurrier than ever. This discussion will cover the blurring of those lines, with a combination of firsthand perspective and highlighting the clever ways other artists and activists responded to an audience suddenly locked down but online.

POP-UP: BRAM

During a short artist residency In Ljubljana, Bram “Baroem” Wildenburg will have the opportunity to follow a few local graffiti writers. He will look for cultural differences and scenery in graffiti culture that will lead to an interesting photo series. With the help of the Kela collaborative artist space in Ljubljana, he will create a zine from this series and present it at the DobraVaga Gallery during the festival.

FORM(AT) | PANEL 6 | Archival Methods Hit the Streets

1) Konstantinos Avramidis: The Politics of Collecting and Preserving Architecture and Graffiti: Notes on an Atlas of Drawings and Writings
2) Laura Luque Rodrigo & Carmen Moral Ruiz: The Complex Task of Cataloguing Street and Public Art: A Methodology Applied In Works in Jaén (Spain)
3) Ljiljana Radosević: Urban Heritage Hub Case Study: New Life of Street Art in Virtual Reality

FORM(AT) | PANEL 7 | Street Art in the Art World

FORM(AT) | SCREENING | The Man Who Stole Banksy (2018)

“The Man Who Stole Banksy” directed by Marco Proserpio starts as the story of the Palestinian perspective on the most important street artist in the world and soon turns into the discovery of an extensive secret market of masonry stolen from city streets around the world, of cultures meeting and clashing in the face of an unsustainable political situation, and of the ongoing debate of commercialization versus preservation in Street Art. It’s not a single story, but many.

FORM(AT) | PANEL 8 | Exhibiting Street Art

The screening of The Man Who Stole Banksy will be followed by a discussion with curator Stefano S. Antonelli and the director of the film, moderated by Good Guy Boris.

MOSAICS WORKSHOP FOR ADULTS

At a creative workshop inspired by the recent visit of the street artist Invader, you will learn how to make a mosaic. We will also briefly introduce the history of mosaic art and the contemporary uses of mosaic art. Under the guidance of an experienced mentor, you will make your own pixelated mosaic to take home. Book your spot >>

EXHIBITION OPENING - name:: Time will tell

The artist that goes by the name name: explores the graffiti subculture and the wider cultural environment through a variety of approaches by thematising the relation between legal and illegal interventions. His works are, in a conceptual sense, based on a critique of the (mis)use of public space with an emphasis on the impact and effect that such works have on the audience or on social change while they address specific political, social and economic conditions in which we currently live. More>>

LJSAF x OPEN/ODPRTO: STRATEGIA TENSIE

The Metelkova courtyard will be packed by dirty beats and sharp lyrics from the Strategia Tensie collective (drill trap). Too political for the local trap scene, global when it comes to engaging lyrics. The enfants terribles of Metelkova bring trap back to the streets as the voice of the oppressed and the angry. Part of concert series Open/Odprto.

GRAFFITI & STENCIL WORKSHOP

All budding beginners between 15 and 29 years of age are welcome to participate in the graffiti and stencil workshop, where masters of spray-painting will teach you the practical aspects of the stencil process. Book your spot >>

STREET ART WORKSHOP

Under the guidance of seasoned street artists, you’ll learn all the basics of street art. The workshop encompasses both the basics and the unwritten street rules, encouraging you to develop your own artistic style. Book your spot >>

DECONTRAMINATION WORKSHOP

The DecontRamination workshop explores the strategies for changing and subverting hate speech in graffiti, stickers or any other kind of street art. Book your spot >>

MOSAICS WORKSHOP

At a creative workshop inspired by the recent visit of the street artist Invader, you will learn how to make a mosaic. Under the guidance of an experienced mentor, you will make your own pixelated mosaic, which will be incorporated onto Metelkova’s walls as a permanent installation. Book your spot >>

GUIDED WALK OF GESAMTKUNSTWERK METELKOVA

Join us for a guided tour and a closer look at the latest artistic interventions at Gesamtkunstwerk Metelkova. Nataša Serec will reveal the backstories of the artistic projects, meet some of the authors, and of course peek into the windows of the Pešak Night Gallery. Book your spot >>

LJSAF x OPEN/ODPRTO: GAŠPER LETONJA

This time around, Gašper Letonja, a member of The Canyon Observer and Marta Fakuch and an eclectic artist under the moniker Warlord Chipmonk (folk/experimental) dropped an album of saturated layers of sound. Ivy is a collection of morbid musical stories. The acoustic songs also touch on mankind’s political polarization, where a fellow human being is viewed through a black-and-white filter, blind to other colours, shades, nuances. But from the ashes of suffering always sprout the flowers of the most beautiful art. Part of concert series Open/Odprto.

OUTRO: 'LEFT OVER' GRAFFITI JAM

The Hall of Fame is ordinarily reserved only for the most artistically and technically sophisticated graffiti art. At the same time, it is a historic place, as it is the first legal wall in Ljubljana, which offered graffiti writers a chance to establish themselves. This time, the rules of the subculture will be bent a bit – the Hall of Fame will be occupied by the new generation of aspiring writers, who rarely have the chance to create on these walls. This time the rules of subculture will be bent a bit - the Hall of Fame will be occupied by the new generation of aspiring writers who rarely have the chance to create on these walls. The Left Over Graffiti Jam will give a chance to empty the leftover spray cans and hand the walls over to new generations to add to the layers of paint and subculture.