Iceberg

Hashtag Ugly Duckling

10. 5.—16. 6., Racka Gallery

Artists: Uroš Abram, Jaka Babnik, Urška Premik, Ana Straže, Tadej Vaukman.

Photographic works from the collection Ugly Duckling: Arnož Božic, Tomaž Crnej, Tomaž Milac in Nuša Ofentavšek, Katja Goljat, Žiga Gricnik, Robert Hutinski.

Curator: Maja Antoncic

ABOUT RACKA GALLERY AND COLLECTION UGLY DUCKLING

The Racka Gallery was opened in December 2005. We transformed the peep show that used to be quite a rage among its users, into a gallery space with minimal interventions, thus creating a space that still has many elements – the peep show cabins, the stage with the dance pole, etc. – that mark its former activity. Since its inception, the Racka Gallery has been designed primarily for art that in one way or another deals with eroticism, challenges contemporary sexual (im)morality, comments on it, depicts, indicates and displays it without reservation, or shyly conceals it in order to make it even more attractive.

Since eroticism is an activity to which many physical and mental energies, experimentations, desires, hopes, dreams, projections are dedicated … and because there is simply not a single person without any erotic experience, we have decided to create the Ugly Duckling, a collection of erotic objects. Its concept is based on creating a collection through the participation of individuals and on the idea that we can keep track of the various games, emotions and memories associated with people’s erotic feats, slip-ups, intentions and expectations through the donated items and disclose through them the ingenuity (or lack thereof), as well as diversity of the most varied intimate worlds. The collection is a project in progress, characterised by an open-ended structure, as it is supplemented and constructed by ever-new objects. Some will leave, others will remain permanently, and new ones will always be coming. The acquisitions of the Ugly Duckling Collection, which was first set up in December 2009, and is increasing in number from year to year with new contributions, also include the artworks by Slovenian and international artists, many of which have been produced especially for it.

Most of the exhibited items, from photographs, videos, letters, souvenirs to private gifts, which have for one reason or another been nominated a place in the collection by their former owners, have mostly been sent in anonymously. They are also accompanied by their explanations as to why a particular item was chosen.