Ajda Kadunc / Propagation
TKALKA, Tkalski prehod 4, Maribor
7 June–26 July 2024
opening: Friday, 7 July 2024, 19:00
opening time: from Thursday to Friday, 16:00–19:00, closed from Saturday to Wednesday.
In partnership with the Tkalka gallery, which opened its doors last year and in the span of a year presented a number of exhibitions that are thematically linked to the themes that we are foregrounding with the EKO Triennial, we are pleased to invite you to a solo exhibition by one of more visible and progressive artists of yournger generation Ajda Kadunc, entitled Propagation.
Pulsating hum, buzz, murmur. Rays of primordial fire permeate through smoke, a veil, a net. From the depths, roots, mycelia, weeds spread, multiply, branch. Relentless, indifferent, they penetrate through obstacles, move, overgrow, decay. They cut, they dig, they gnaw, they carve the way. Weaving, braiding, tangling, knotting a mysterious tissue. Forming the flesh of the world. They inhabit, invade, envelop, mark. A glimpse from a cell to the cosmos through the porous layers of plasma. It seeps, it oozes, it simmers, it erodes. Colliding with the barrier, an enclosure, the grounding point. Soil and clay. Oil and canvas. Carved wood, worm wood, a trunk, a stump. Weeds and mycelia. Electric fence, a net, a tube, zip ties, ironing board foam, sofa lining, epoxy resin. Mycelium sporing in a webbed mould. Thorn-shaped clay, a bud. Digital print on a mycelium block. Dry smudging of oil on canvas, textile. Ink and coloured pencil. Organisms trapped in epoxy resin. Liminal space, the space in between. Structures, patterns, layering, a process. Movement, transition, interruptions and encounters. Wild and domesticated. Meanings lost between representation and what’s invisible to us.”
Ajda Kadunc (b. 1995) graduated in 2018 from the Department of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, and recently completed her master’s degree course at the same institution. In 2020 she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. She has participated in several group exhibitions, including Knifer Gallery (Osijek, 2022), Alkatraz Gallery (Ljubljana, 2021) and the IV International Student Biennial (Split, 2021). Her solo presentations include exhibitions at Layer House (Kranj, 2021) and DobraVaga Gallery (Ljubljana, 2020). In her artistic practice, uncertainty is replaced by the principle of exploring new orders and alternative spaces of communication that transcend our perception of reality and normality. She is interested in the newly established meaning created by the stories of different elements and surfaces in relation to the space in which they land.
Founded in 2023, Tkalka gallery focuses on experimental positions, inviting young emerging artists to present their interdisciplinary, progressive or site-specific visual projects. Gallery program includes solo and group presentations of represented artists and invited curatorial projects with aim to provide longterm support for the local and regional contemporary art scene, as well as to promote local emerging artists internationally. As a platform for emerging artists we would like to set up a dynamic framework for experimental projects and concepts with a novel approach seeking to challenge and redefine conventional notions of exhibitions. While pushing the boundaries of artistic exploration the exhibition program is concentrated on visual art that offers more questions than answers, opens up a dialogue and discourse produced by artists, curators and audience. Tkalka is a gallery space where creativity thrives and new perspectives emerge.
