The Slovenian connection

... And so I landed in Ljubljana on the 29th of January. Gallerist Matija Plevnik and friends Sasha and Blac (Pronounced Blach) were here to welcome me. The next thing we did, and I kid you not, was for us to go pick up a dead pigeon that Blac - who is a Shaman - was to used as an offering to the gods in a special ceremony. For a weird begining, one could not get weirder. I know that stereotyping and generalizing should be avoided, but if I am to describe the Slovenians, I would say: Warm, hospitable and plain eccentric. Take the Plevniks for the example, when it comes to Rock and Roll parents one could not get any higher. The conversation around the table centers around such issues as kitsch, kitsch done in an original way, Pink Floyd/Animals/Rolling Stones, the thickness and colors of auras, and Karma on a personal and national level.... Oh, and if you think you are someone svelte and rather athletic like myself, I would love to see you keep up with Mata and Tomo in their daily hill walking on the snow. Matija's friends - even for the usual eccentric art world - bring things to new heights. Without dismissing any global warming theory, I can however still assert that coldness still exists - temperatures have been hovering between 0 and 1, and it has been snowing with gutso for sometime. Just as reminder, I am here to exhibit my video artworks, at the Plevnik-Kronkowska gallery, a beautiful two storey space with the opening scheduled to be on February 6th.