Permanent Vacation

June 5th - October 6th 2024

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The project “Permanent Vacation” by artist Mark Požlep is a story about the construction of a road that influenced the development of a society, its habits, and the image it projected to the world. The road served both as a metaphor and a means for cohesion, uniting various ethnicities into a singular ideal and territory. The development of tourism on the Adriatic was its desired consequence for the region and the country’s economy. 

“When it was built, the experience of riding on it was described as being designed, from a psychological and aesthetic point of view, like a feature-length film that passengers watch on their windscreen and enjoy throughout the journey”, notes Igor Feketija, Mark’s collaborator on this project, in his essay on the political and economic context of the construction of the Adriatic Highway and the development of tourism along the coastline.

Nearly a hundred charcoal drawings created for this exhibition, along with a video performance thematically cover seven segments of the project: “The Adriatic Highway,” “The Dynamite Fishers,” “Hotel Haludovo,” “Nudism,” “The Gastarbeiters,” “Jadrolinija,” and “Refugees.” This fragmentation of a political idea, a utopian ideal, into its cultural manifestations and deviations, as well as the symbols and consequences of its collapse, are the themes around which poet Muanis Sinanović wrote the songs that Požlep performed along the Adriatic coast at selected locations, accompanied by musician Gašper Piano.

(excerpt text: Andreja Drobnjak)

 

Project by Mark Požlep
Lyrics: Muanis Sinanović
Music: Gašper Piano
Voice workshop: Leja Jurišić
Camera and editing: y0yproduction
Sound mastering: Julij Zornik

Produced by CUKRARNA, 2023
With support of Slovenian Ministry of Culture and Urban Municipality of Celje.
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