Mt Triglav on Mt Triglav

On Monday, August 6, 2007, Slovenian artists Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša performed the action entitled Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav, in order to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the death of Jakob Aljaž; the 33rd anniversary of the Footpath from Vrhnika to Mount Triglav; the 5th anniversary of the Footpath from the Wörthersee Lake across Mount Triglav to the Bohinj Lake; the 25th anniversary of the publication of Nova Revija magazine and the 20th anniversary of the 57th issue of Nova Revija, the premiere publication of the SLOVENIAN SPRING; and the 16th anniversary of the independent state of Slovenia.

The action was a re-enactment of the famous work by the OHO group entitled Gora Triglav (Mount Triglav), which was performed by group members Milenko Matanović, David Nez, and Drago Dellabernardina on 30 December, 1968, at the Zvezda Park in Ljubljana. In 2004, the Irwin group performed the piece at the same location as part of their Like to Like series, reinterpreting the individual actions of the OHO group. With their action Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav, Janša, Janša and Janša continue the tradition of conceptual art in Slovenia, but at the same time raise, anew, questions about the ideological associations of the events of, both, distant and more recent history.

Monument to the National Contemporary Art (Golden Triglav)

01_golden-triglav_photo-Peter-Rauch_s

Triglav, the national symbol of Slovenia, which thanks to OHO and Irwin, has also become an emblem of Slovenian art, has completed its process of monumentalization: from object to symbol, from symbol to reinterpreted, subverted icon, to image, to monument.
In the golden sculpture entitled Monument to the National Contemporary Art (Golden Triglav) created by Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša, the mountain is once more an object, not merely a linguistic construct. In Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav, the symbols explode due to their very accumulation. But what emerges at the end, under all the layers, is not a meaningless fetish object, but the hard rock of the mountain.

— Domenico Quaranta

CREDITS

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša
Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav
Performance
Mount Triglav, Slovenia, 6 August 2007
Photo: Gaia Repe
 credits_white-space
Supported by
credits_white-space

Press

Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav, Mount Triglav, 2007
Action
Photo: Gaja Repe
Mount Triglav on Mount Triglav, 2007

Monument to the National Contemporary Art (Golden Triglav),
Gilded sculpture,
Steirischer Herbst, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, 2008
Photo: Peter Rauch
Golden Triglav, 2008
Photo: Peter Rauch

Wording

Layout 1
Mt Triglav on Mt Triglav by Domenico Quaranta
published in RE:akt! Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting

related projects

07_triglav_mala_galerija_Dejan-Habicht_s
OHO, Irwin, Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša
Triglav
Museum of Modern Art/Mala galerija, Ljubljana, 2007
Curated by Zdenka Badovinac