CV
Nataša Skušek (1967) studied Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, where she graduated in 2002 and received her master’s degree three years later. During her studies, she received the University Prešeren Award. She has presented her work in numerous international exhibitions, most notably the International Festival of March 8th in Yerevan (2005), the 2nd FemFest Feminist Festival in Zagreb (2007), the 2009 Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale in South Korea (2009), Feminist Art in Slovenia in Ljubljana (2010), the 25th City of Women International Festival of Contemporary Arts in Ljubljana (2019), and in many solo exhibitions, the most prominent being Mommy, Wet Nurse, Caregiver, Wife, P74 Center and Gallery, Ljubljana (2006), Insideout, House of Culture in Pivka (2013), Real Man, Alkatraz Gallery in Ljubljana (2014) and BED in Krško (2019). Her works are also part of many private and several important public collections. She lives and works in Ljubljana.
TEXTS
“BED”
Nataša Skušek is a visual artist of the middle generation, who is already established on the Slovenian art scene and occasionally also exhibits abroad. Although she is essentially a sculptor by education, her art practice passes between different mediums and practices. She works in sculpture, installation, video, photography, printmaking, performance and interventions into the public space. Her work is concerned with the exploration of the basic positions of the Western cultural paradigm, especially those related to reproduction – that is, gender relations, eroticism, sexuality, the body, motherhood, family, feeding, food production and similar – and in this regard, especially the issues related to the possibility of the self-realisation of women through social, cultural and personal accomplishment.
This time, the set-up, specifically conceived for the space of the Krško Gallery, which is a former church, bears the title Bed and consists of three parts. The central part of the installation, positioned where the altar usually stands in a church, is represented by a wooden bed. The mattress is dressed in a bedsheet with hand-embroidered short stories on it and covered with white bedlinen, scented with a refreshing aroma. The installation is complemented by two separate sections, installed in the apses, where the side altars usually stood in churches. On one side, there is a simple cupboard with a bowl of water, jug and towel, and on the other, a stand with a glass, filled with red wine.
As the title suggests, the bed is the key part of the installation, which also represents the starting point for interpretation. It is a French bed, therefore intended for two people, who are intimate enough to lie closely together. In contrast, there is enough bedding just for one, with one pillow and one blanket, and this ambiguity is also accentuated by the other two parts of the installation. One bowl, one towel and one glass are ready for either two, who are so intimate with each other that they can share everything, or just one. And if we go back to the bed again as the key element for interpretation, we notice that the bedding is unmade, which means that someone is using it. Given these ambiguities, we naturally wonder if the bed is used by one person or two. And we wonder, for what purpose? To sleep, lie down, take an afternoon nap? Or something fourth?
The answer lies in the short stories embroidered on the bottom sheet. Already at first glance, one can see that these are erotic stories, which address sexuality in more or less explicit ways. However, an in-depth reading shows that they speak primarily of mutual affection, attraction, seduction, even infatuation. That is to say, anything that would sooner or later lead to an intimate relationship. However, this never happens in stories. And if it does, it happens, coincidentally, by accident, with the wrong person, therefore – as a mistake, a lapse, a slip-up. The implied sexual desire is thus never realised in action and the fantasy of an intimate relationship remains an eternal potentiality.
In light of the short stories, the whole set-up turns out to be a space ready for an intimate (sexual) relationship. Here stands a bed with clean white sheets and a pleasant scent, simple aids to cleanse the body and a glass of wine to purify the spirit. However, all this is just a phantasm. What appears at first glance to be a love nest, in fact, turns out to be a single apartment. What could be the symbol of a close union of two, is actually a sign of the yearning loneliness of one. The person who is using the bed, therefore, lies there on their own and dreams of a relationship that cannot happen. The water remains clean, the towels unused, the wine undrunk.
From all of the above, it is obvious that the exhibition as a whole essentially speaks about the possibility and impossibility of an intimate (sexual) relationship. And indirectly, through this, it also raises many questions about mutual relations within contemporary Western society. Strolling through the minimalistically conceived and simply furnished space, imbued with aromatic scent and subdued lighting, leads us to think about how little it takes for two people to become intimate, yet this is nevertheless so difficult to achieve, about instant relationships without intimacy, responsibility, mutual understanding, even without knowing anything about each other, about sexuality as a one-off act with no obligation, about bodies being offered as objects at every step, about alienation and the extreme individualism of people today, about the loneliness of present-day men and women. And this thinking is finally recognised in one of the short stories: They look at each other when they meet. He is a juggler and she is a fire-eater. They look at each other even though they do not know each other, and they look at each other as if they were one.
Mojca Grmek, March 2019
»VRT/GARDEN/GIARDINO«
»…Nataša Skušek’s gardening is not merely a formal conception of a garden. It is above all her research
field and a metaphor of a different way of thinking and acting. The plants so often present in her installations
and performances show something else, something that escapes the formal control of the piece. At the same
time is a reflection of what escapes control in our bodies. Functions that happen all by themselves. Being it
the beating of our harts or juices flowing in our bodies…«
Jože Barši, 2004
“Slogans”
For a while now, over and over again I have been seeing wordings, taglines, slogans which bother me. Often they give advice to women as to how to act,
how to behave (for example, Be sexy in bed, Become Miss Popular, Only perfect bodies get away with mini skirts, If you talk back too much you could
cause a fight …). And then there are words which treat the “male and female role” in a very cliché, stereotypical manner (e.g. A man should act like a man,
a woman should stay feminine above everything else, They like to take charge, Boys will be boys, Competition, controlling and conquest are male
characteristics, Men are better drivers, women are better listeners, Ladies are demanding…) and other statements which are often presented as scientific
fact, or as perpetual, unchangeable truths, or even latest discoveries. All these quotes individually are silly and funny, but when you view them all in one
place, you can’t help but be concerned. You ask yourself if this is even possible in this day and age. And it is.
Nataša Skušek, 2006-
“Fliperautomat”
»Mommy, Wet Nurse, Caregiver, Wife is a rare example of a feminist statement in Slovene contemporary art. In her video installation, Nataša
problematizes the stereotypical roles society ascribes to women (even today). Through her own pregnancy and the bird of her daughter, the
artist had to face new identities and the prevailing expectations of society associated with them. In the project, Nataša Skušek treats this new
situation in a way that is both self-reflaxive and critical.«
Urša Jurman, 2006
“Free Time / Lying”
The authors’ collaborative video project entitled “Free Time” presents and examines a personal
experience from a recent seaside holiday with their young daughters Indija and Izabela. Once the little girls fell asleep, the parents found some time
for themselves, which is normally spread out over the entire day whilst on holidays yet in the artists’ case it was squeezed into just a few blistering
hot hours. In their work the authors examine the issue of compressing available time, including leisure time, a common and often necessary practice
in these modern, rapidly-paced times. the new video works emphasize the continuity of the form and substance of both authors’ works, which often
conjure up a mysterious, surreal ambient through repetition of motion pictures and a sort of video minimalism. This time their video projection
approaches the subject in a somewhat altered manner, more suited to time and space.
Miha Colner – Photon Gallery, 2007
»Wake me up when I fall asleep/Nataša’s version«
»…Background: About a year ago I sent a short message inviting people to see my one-minute video/screensaver called “Wake me up if I fall asleep”.
Under this title, Nataša imagined a performance in her own style (instead of wandering eyes on the screen, Rene is sleeping in a white nightgown,
in the gallery window…) and so we agreed to try out her version one day. Today we present Nataša’s version of the story “Wake me up if I fall asleep”.
To play a role in someone else’s story is a new experience for me. Hmmm…«
Rene Rusjan, 2007
Wake me up if I fall asleep (Nataša’s version)
From Nataša’s dream: “I wake up in the middle of the night. I am lying in bed, wearing a white nightgown, covered with a translucent blanket.
The night is dark, and my bed is illuminated. I feel strange, sheltered yet frightened. The bed is in the middle of an unknown garden …”
Nataša Skušek, 2007
Pink and Light Blue – project
Pink for a girl and blue for a boy? This is what they said even before we were born. And afterwards girls were good and boys were naughty, whereas
parents were considered normal if they followed this pattern. The art installation Light Blue and Pink deals with the differences in upbringing, growing up,
the habits etc. of boys and girls. Its basic platform are light blue and pink shades which – as a stereotype – are respectively assigned to boys and girls.
Pink cakes, blue balloons, active boys and thoughtful girls… Want to know the baby’s gender? Just try the »indisputable« method of our grandmothers:
if a pregnant woman wishes to find out what she is carrying as early as the third month, she should whip-up some egg whites: If they immediately form
stiff, solid peaks, then she is expecting a boy; if they just won’t harden, she is expecting a girl.
Nataša Skušek, 2007
Natasa Skusek 