For the exhibition “New Geographies” at Galerija Ravne, Polonca Lovšin will present balls and atlases overgrown with fungi, along with a video documenting the growth of the fungi. In a language entirely her own, she prompts the viewer to reflect on ecology, geography, and the origin of species. In this context, balls and atlases are, first and foremost, geographic instruments before they become metaphors for human error. Balls can be globes, and together with atlases they point to the fragile natural balance subjected to the ever-changing cultural-political image of the world. The artist’s sensitivity to the dangers lurking over humanity is expressed here through her subtle humour. Yet this is not unambiguous, for it also carries a threat — whether ecological or political — that hangs over us like the sword of Damocles.

Polonca Lovšin is an architect and artist. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in 1996, and from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Ljubljana in 2001. In 2015 she completed her doctoral studies in visual arts at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Germany. Her artistic work explores alternative ways of human dwelling and action at a time of existential threat to the planet, and is grounded in research while embracing interdisciplinarity and collaboration. Lovšin has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in Slovenia and internationally. She has been awarded several artist residencies in Europe and the USA. In 2011 she received the Liberal Academy’s Golden Bird Award, and in 2018 the Rihard Jakopič Award, one of the highest recognitions for visual art in Slovenia. She is a co-founder of the KUD Obrat association, which focuses on policies related to public space. Their most notable project is the long-term community project Onkraj gradbišča (Beyond the Construction Site) (Ljubljana, 2010–2022). Polonca Lovšin is an associate professor of visual arts at the University of Primorska.