The Oracle: On Fantasy and Freedom

On the potential regeneration of democracy: how artists can work toward a sense of collective relevance required to face the future’s dark challenges.

The Oracle names and honors the symbolic place from where all beings wonder about the course of life. Because we care about tomorrow, we should assume we care about staying alive, about a world in peaceful coexistence. Times of increasing insecurity and the experience of living in a world that refuses to acknowledge our needs give rise to various forms of escapism and misguided decision-making. Searching for big answers and expecting significant movements capable of undoing the damage of wars and dark forces seems unrealistic. Art assumes the existence of a tiny but meaningful spot from which to dream and demand freedom and peace. The Oracle is about this spot.

The Oracle has been published on the occasion of the 36th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts.

Contributors
Maja Petrović-Šteger, Sadie Plant, Manca G. Renko, Renata Saleci, Svetlana Slapšak

Copublished by International Centre for Graphic Arts (MGLC)

Ajda Ana Kocutar is a curator, writer, and editor based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is a co-founder and member of the curatorial team of ETC. Magazine, showcasing art “from the Balkans to the Baltic” in both printed and exhibition formats. She was the assistant curator of the 36th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts: The Oracle, curated by Chus Martínez. 

Born in Spain, Chus Martínez has a background in philosophy and art history. She is Head of the Institute Art Gender Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW (Switzerland), associate curator of TBA21 (Madrid/Venice), and Artistic Director of the 36th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts. She has been the Chief Curator at El Museo Del Barrio, New York, dOCUMENTA (13) Head of Department, Chief Curator at MACBA, Barcelona, and Director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Recent publications include The Complex Answer: On Art as a Non-Binary Intelligence (Sternberg Press, 2023), Like This: Natural Intelligence As Seen by Art (2022), and Coding Care (edited with Sabine Himmelsbach) (Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2022).