Images of Collective Engagement in the Photographs by Tone Mlakar

Muzej Žiri, Kulturno središče Stare Žiri

15. 1.–15. 3. 2026

Curators: Saša Nabergoj, Anja Zver (Škofja Loka Museum) and Miha Colner (Božidar Jakac Gallery – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art)
 

The exhibition Building a Better World: Photographs by Tone Mlakar presents a selection of photographs that document things that went on in Škofja Loka and the wider area.

The main focus of the selection is the presentation of Mlakar’s photographic documents from the second half of the 20th century, when local and global social circumstances were distinctly constructive and focused on improving people’s living conditions. In post-war Europe, from the 1950s onward, there prevailed a spirit of modern humanism and thus a positive attitude towards social and economic progress, which promised a favourable and just future for the entire population. Mlakar’s images of construction sites for roads, factories, housing and public infrastructure, of public events, street scenes and landscapes, testify to the immense idealism of people who believed in building the future through collective engagement. Above all, the photographic legacy of Tone Mlakar is an important historical document of a specific place and time, which he managed to record in a direct, lucid, and at times ironic manner.

Tone Mlakar (1921–2020), an architect, set designer and photographer, created an extensive photographic oeuvre. The entire oeuvre is kept by the Škofja Loka Museum and is a source of invaluable information about the history and transformations of Škofja Loka’s old town and the wider Škofja Loka area between 1950 and 2010. Mlakar was an amateur photographer, he was, however, very passionate about photography. This is evidenced also by his contribution to the establishment of the Anton Ažbe Photo Club Škofja Loka, which was founded in November 1985 with Mlakar as its first vice-chairman. He received the 2013 Janez Puhar Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest recognition award presented by the Photographic Federation of Slovenia

The selected photographs were first presented at the exhibition Meetings, which was hosted at Gallery 140 in the Czech town of Tábor as part of the 2025 Tábor Meetings Festival. The selection was created in collaboration between the Škofja Loka Museum, the Anton Ažbe Photography Club and the Tábor City Galleries. The exhibition at the Žiri Museum is further complemented by a selection of six photographs of Žiri and its surroundings.

We thank Gallery 140 in Tábor for supporting the production of most of the photographs on display.