Corneous Stories

Corneous Stories
Exhibition opening with guided tour and performances

Free entrance
In English

Corneous Stories is an interdisciplinary and intergenerational artistic research project that asks the question "What do we see if we look at society and history through nail care and cosmetics?" 

Corneous Stories reveals surprising links between different work regimes, migrations, genders, social classes, identities and their aesthetic coding, as well as connections of the chemical, film, auto and war industries with forced labor, exoticism, marginalization and racism. Departing from an artistic research and art collective initiated in 2018 in Berlin (n * a * i * l * s hacks facts fictions), Corneous Stories opens up and further develops towards a sedimentary historical experience from the Southeast European perspective. 

At the intersection of methods of artistic research, artistic production and pedagogy, as well as humanities and social research approaches, the aim of Corneous Stories is to create through a collaborative and collective practice, different formats of participation, representation and transfer of knowledge. The project thus includes a fieldwork research phase led by Katja Kobolt, a four months transdisciplinary research with and by students of various faculties (in the frame of ŠIPK program), four creative workshops with highschool students, new local and international artistic productions, an international group exhibition with a discursive program and a collective publication. 

The project is being developed within the European project Be Part and will be presented to the public at the 26th International Festival of Contemporary Arts - City of Women (Ljubljana, October 2020).

Members of the N*A*I*L*S hacks*facts*fictions collaborative platform are going to host a walk-through conversation within the framework of the Corneous Stories exhibition. At 20.00, a performative reading entitled Dialogue of the Objects/Komische Fragmente will be conducted by Jinran Ha and Johanna Käthe Michel.

Jinran Ha and Johanna Käthe Michel: Dialogue of the Objects/Komische Fragmente
Performative reading

The artists will invite the audience to take on the role of the objects and read out the script of the Dialogue of the Objects/Komische Fragmente. By scanning the name tag of a character (object), the visitors can download the script of the selected object onto their device and step into roles that represent or speak about various biopolitical and social positions. Thus, the bodies coming from diverse backgrounds will be experiencing an interchange of positions during this participatory performative reading.

Produced by: City of Women, in the framework of European project BE PART, supported by the Creative Europe Programme. Partners: Goethe-Institut Ljubljana, District Berlin, Škuc Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts and Design – University of Ljubljana. Supported by: Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Science and Sport – Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund (ŠIPK student research project “Project Work with the Non-Economic and Non-Profit Sector – Students Innovative Projects for the Benefit of Society 2019/2020”), Ministry of Public Administration, City of Ljubljana, Goethe-Institut Ljubljana.