Ištvan Išt Huzjan’s opening performance at U3
Ištvan Išt Huzjan‘s response to the question launched by the curator of the 9th Triennial of Contemporary Art U3, Vit Havránek – “Is avant-garde dead or alive?” – was a collective performance. Titled The Last Kolo, it is a reference to a traditional folk dance performed in Slovenia, the Bela Krajina region. In terms of art history, the Bela Krajina kolo is best known from Matija Jama’s paintings and from the later appropriations by the avant-gardes and the trans-avantgarde.
Huzjan’s collective performance, which opened the triennial (10 October 2019 – 12 January 2020), involved artists and other experts in the field of visual art from all over Slovenia who have co-shaped the national cultural program. The participants formed an unbroken chain and encircled Moderna galerija’s permanent collection around the gallery building in Ljubljana, as the performance was filmed with a drone.