While the collective is still active today, Neue Slowenische Kunst | Monumental Spectacular is a focused exhibition of 11 prints that are part of a portfolio from our collection and select multimedia elements primarily from the 1980s that meld the group’s many facets of music, art, theater, and graphic design. Together, their work reexamines the complexities around Slovenian, Eastern European, and global history, culture, language, politics, and violence to unearth art’s entanglement with power at a time when Slovenia was held between nationalist, capitalist, and communist ideologies. Highlighting the epic and heroic graphic style of these prints, this exhibition illuminates the purpose, according to IRWIN, “to reassert Slovenian culture in a monumental and spectacular way.”

Image credit:

Neue Slowenische Kunst (Novi kolektivizem), Der NSK Koffer Für Geistigen Gebrauch (The NSK Suitcase for Spiritual Use), 1986, screenprint on paper, Bates Museum of Art, purchase with Elizabeth Gregory MD ’38 Fund, Dorothy Stiles Blankfort Fund, and Robert and Minna Johnson Art Acquisition. 2015.20.3