A conversation with the curators of the ART VITAL exhibition (Marina Abramović’s and Ulay’s retrospective) @ CUKRARNA, Ljubljana, SI

We spoke with Alenka Gregorič and Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein, the curators of the exhibition of its conception, curatorial decisions and journeys. We discussed everything from working with Marina to how one should view the show.

This is the second and last part on the exhibition, the first part with Marina Abramović and Lena Pislak can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHzGYJ2UtWE

Kritiški pose(la)dek IG: https://www.instagram.com/kritiskiposladek/

We run on coffee and desperation, support us: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/posladek

ART VITAL – 12 Years of Ulay / Marina Abramović

On November 30, 2025 — the birthday of Ulay and Marina Abramović — one of the most internationally significant exhibitions about performance to date opened at Cukrarna in Slovenia. For the first time ever, all of their collaborative projects are brought together in one place. The exhibition goes beyond simply presenting art and documentation of their projects; In addition to showing their joint artistic practice it also includes material from their shared life — documents, written agreements with institutions, personal correspondence between the artists, photographs, and even playlists of the music they listened to. The exhibition will be on view until May 3, 2026.

https://cukrarna.art/en/program/exhibitions/33/ulaymarina-abramovic/

Star House https://www.telegraph.co.uk/interiors/inside-marina-abramovics-home/

Bojana Kunst https://mrezni-muzej.mg-lj.si/en/artists/21120/Bojana-Kunst

Micheal Klein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klein_(art_dealer)

Ursula Krinzinger https://www.talkinggalleries.com/project/ursula-krinzinger/

Biljana Tomić Denegri https://monoskop.org/Biljana_Tomić_Denegri

SKC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studentski_kulturni_centar_(Belgrade)

Luther Burbank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Burbank

Lyon museum https://www.mac-lyon.com/en

Night Sea Crossing https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/243/3124

Thomas McEvilley https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7883215-art-love-friendship

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Akademie der bildenden Kübste Wien) https://www.akbild.ac.at/en

Ko gesta postane dogodek (When Gesture Becomes Event) https://mgml.si/en/city-art-gallery/news/893/when-gesture-becomes-event-opened-in-vienna/ and later https://mgml.si/en/city-art-gallery/exhibitions/528/when-gesture-becomes-event/

Katarina Čakš https://www.fa.uni-lj.si/imenik/katarina-caks/

Rok Žnidaršič and Jerneja Fischer Knap (Medprostor) https://medprostor.si/en/about-us/

The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/243/3125

Ajdin Bašić https://vist.si/oddelek-za-fotografijo/sodelavci/strokovni-drugi/ajdin-basic

Alba (Marina’s and Ulay’s dog) https://vimeo.com/165923417

Continental Videoseries https://www.eai.org/titles/continental-videoseries-1983-1986

Katarina Stegnar https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katarina_Stegnar

Primož Bezjak https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo%C5%BE_Bezjak

AAA-AAA (1978) and Breathing In / Breathing Out https://www.sydney-yaeko.com/artsandculture/marina-and-ulay

Light/Dark http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/light-dark/video/1/

Huge thanks to Mojca Podlesek from CUKRARNA ❤️

Music: Ema Kobal, Urška Bajec Košmrlj

(0:00) Initial words

(0:34) Intro

(1:07) Exhibition title?

(3:56) At the Star House working with Marina Abramović

(6:31) Diving into the archive

(8:43) Curatorial journey and digestion

(14:54) Taking care of Luther and the exhibition

(25:51) The Flixbus sacrifice for the privlige OR What it means to work on such a project

(28:25) Working together

(31:30) Working within institutions and relations to crituques

(33:53) Why in Cukrarna, why in Slovenia?

(36:57) Exhibition design and working withing an extended team

(48:46) Exhibition overview

(53:40) Target audience and why art is for everyone!

(57:07) Reperformances

(58:55) Outro