Zornica

Zornica
27 May–6 September 2020

Participating artists: Janez Jocif & Cappella Carniola, Agata Pavlovec, Andrej Perko, Tone Štamcar, Maja Šubic
Exhibition curators: Barbara Sterle Vurnik, Janez Jocif

The Zornica exhibition project is founded on the concept of linking the rich local cultural heritage and the vibrant contemporary art production of the area. Both are well represented in Škofja Loka and its surroundings and form an inseparable image of the centuries-old and continuous art tradition here. The latter has shaped many a contemporary creator and has had an impact on their work. But a truly collective response in this regard took place last year. A group of (mostly local) creators sought inspiration in one of the most significant and most beautiful art monuments from the Middle Ages – not only in the Loka area but throughout Slovenia – in the Church of the Annunciation at Crngrob. It carried out the Zornica (or Rorate coeli) interactive and intermedia project in-situ. This was a unique event of a performative nature, which took place at an unusual time, at dawn. Through a ritual implementation of live music, dance performance and visual artistic intervention, the participants paid tribute to the heritage of Crngrob, while they also illuminated the significance of the cosmic forces of darkness on a symbolic level. The event accompanied night into day, highlighting the magic of the natural cycles that define our universe.

Since only few people managed to see this interesting project, the idea sprung forth to present it to the general public in the form of an ambient exhibition in a gallery – but not as an re-enactment of the event, as its upgrade and expanded view of the influence of the Crngrob church on the art production of today. This is also the way in which the exhibition layout has been conceived since it seeks to create an atmosphere as experienced by the protagonists of the event at the time, while also conjuring up the atmosphere felt by artists when they come into contact with this church otherwise.