Between 25 March and 3April 2022, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška is hosting the International Traveling Art Competition Exhibition and the cultural event “Play with me” for the fourth time alerady, organized by the Janez Levec Center Ljubljana and the Association for the Culture of Inclusion. The exhibition will be on view from 25 March 2022, from 1 PM onwards.

Previously, the gallery hosted the final event and exhibition of this event for five years, but last year the event was held in a virtual format due to the covid-19 epidemic. The purpose of the project is to enable children and adults with special needs to integrate into the wider society and to offer them opportunities where they can show the virtues, abilities, skills and knowledge that they excel in.

This year, 340 schools, kindergartens, institutions and welfare work centres participated in the project, sending a total of 4,260 works of art to the competition. 622 mentors and 235 mentors from a total of 7 countries participated (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Hong Kong, North Macedonia, Italy, Ukraine). The selection of artworks included in the exhibition was made by the curator Nina Popič from Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška and the art educator Kaja Jeseničnik, and the selection was based on the excellence of the selected art technique and on the variety and originality of the motifs. The themes of this year’s competition, “Play with me” and “Zdravko Lidl”, were equally represented, but they also intertwined in terms of motifs. In the first, there were motifs of spending free time in nature, scenes of playing sports and various board games, while in the second, the importance of active free time and concern for a healthy diet were also emphasized.

At the opening of the exhibition and the accompanying cultural event, visitors will be “exhibitors” and at the same time curators of the exhibition. The participants will set up an exhibition together, take part in art workshops and socialize. The aim of the competition and the exhibition is to promote social integration or inclusion among children, adolescents and adults with special needs and the majority population of all generations.
The works will be on display at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška until 3 April 2022. After the opening of the exhibition, the works will travel to various institutions throughout Slovenia.