Woodcut / Lesorez

In May 2014, the artist Ištvan Išt Huzjan was invited to participate at the MGLC International Centre of Graphic Arts in the Ljubljana graphic prints collection at an exhibition entitled Crossings, curated by Tevž Logar. He called his performative intervention Woodcut. A tilia tree in front of the 19th century mansion hosting the International Centre of Graphic Arts had dried out due to disease and a recent natural disaster called glaze ice and had become dangerous, so it had to come down. The tree was about 100 years old and about 30 m tall. The Tisa company, which is responsible for maintaining Tivoli Park, was asked by the artist to cut down the tree as a performative act on the opening day. Part of felled tree trunk was taken to the front of the castle, where it was cut into smaller pieces, 70 x 50 cm, slightly varying in size. These blocks of wood were then taken into the exhibition and displayed as sculptural objects.

By the end of the exhibition, the blocks had been prepared for woodcut printing, which Huzjan did at the Graphic Art Centre, one after another, separated only by a perforation every meter in length, on a sheet of newsprint paper 20 m long by 70 cm wide. The surface of the blocks had not been artistically modified, so the images are only of the structure of the wood. There are 10 copies of these prints, eachof which is in a box designed by the artist, which also contains two of the wooden blocks.٭

* The new work by Ištvan Išt Huzjan is a result of collaboration between artist, DUM Association of artists and MGLC. It is one of DUM’s projects that focuses on researching feasible models of longterm cooperation with younger artists. For the project, which will be implemented between 2014 and 2017, several younger-generation artists have been selected to try to present their work locally and internationally in partnership with the curator, DUM and other project partners. The project has two main goals. Firstly, to enable the production and distribution of new art works, which seeks to bring attention to the lack of institutional support to the younger generation of artists. Secondly, to establish long-term professional dialogue with artists and connect them with institutions (public institutes and NGOs). This is by far the most “invisible” part of the project, which provides an opportunity for the much needed reflection to everyone involved and provides a basis for high-quality evolution of artistic work and institutional operation.