Photo: Jaka Vatovec
17 – 29 October 2024
KAPSULA
You are cordially invited to attend the opening of the exhibition RIO 2 by Jaka Vatovec on Thursday, 17 October 2024, between 7pm and 9pm at the KAPSULA in Ljubljana.
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The long-term project RIO Rock in Opposition revives the important period of counterculture and alternative culture of the seventies and early eighties, which until now has not been extensively discussed. The project presents a unique and outstanding segment of contemporary culture. The RIO 2 exhibition, following the first RIO exhibition in 1999, which showcased information on its leading local members, represents the second step towards understanding this innovative phenomenon. We have invited Jaka Vatovec, a visual artist of the younger generation, to participate in the exhibition by creating his own intervention. We have provided him with the most essential information from which he is selecting those that he finds as crucial for the development of the local history of Rock in Opposition. This exhibition will also coincide with the release of a new publication, the second in a series of publications related to the significant events of the multi-annual project THE SEVENTIES.
The RIO (Rock in Opposition) movement and international association was established in 1978 at the initiative of the English group Henry Cow as a reaction to the closed and rigid nature of the music industry. The association aimed to provide support for smaller music groups operating outside the dominant distribution channels and economy. The goal of the RIO association was to exchange information, foster collaboration, and organise concerts, with cooperation at the core of its philosophy. Two years after the first international RIO festival in London, Aleks Lenard organised a two-day RIO concert in Ljubljana. The event took place on 20 and 21 June 1980 in the garden of the Rio Inn. The lineup featured SRP (Ljubljana), Art Zoyd (Maubeuge, France), Mamma Non Piagere (Milan, Italy) and Univers Zero (Brussels, Belgium).
In Slovenia, there were three bands active within the RIO movement: Begnagrad, SRP, and D’Pravda. The members of Begnagrad presented themselves as authentic folk musicians, D’Pravda highlighted the social orientation of rock music and guerilla agitprop theatre, and SRP oscillated between different musical genres, from free forms of jazz to contemporary experimental and classical music. These bands have developed a specific visual expression, reflected in their poster designs, album covers, scenography, stage settings, and photography.
RIO in Slovenia was created under the influence of progressive rock music. This is where the young generation in Ljubljana turned away from the singing paradigms of early rock, psychedelic folk music, etc., towards more physical and innovative forms of rock music. The appearance of the Bulldozer group in the early seventies is crucial in this context; the band played a decisive role as a precursor, but also a collaborator, of the Slovenian RIO protagonists in Ljubljana. This created a fertile cultural climate with new artists who shaped the Ljubljana counterculture sphere of the seventies.
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Jaka Vatovec (1989, Postojna) enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana with a major in painting in 2008 after attending the Secondary School for Design and Photography. He graduated in 2016 under the mentorship of Professor Žiga Kariž. He is mainly involved in painting and drawing, and has published several artist books and fanzines. His work is influenced by the visual influences of fringe subcultures and B movies, particularly the European horror films from the 1970s. His main areas of interest are the concept and interpretation of mental health, as well as death and our relationship with it, both in physical and symbolic forms. The latter is often intertwined with religion and obscure spiritual and magical ideas. He is also a musician. Vatovec’s work has been showcased at several solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad, such as False Magic 9, Alkatraz Gallery; False Magic 3, Škuc Gallery (2024); Weeds, Pivka House of Culture, Pivka (2020); Post-Christmas Depression, P74 Gallery, Ljubljana (2017); Inhale Exhale, Nova Gorica Arts Centre, Nova Gorica (2023); Army in the City, Pivka House of Culture, Pivka (2020); Baby Shower, Stiege 13, Vienna, Austria (2019); SAMO group exhibition of graphics, KAPSULA, Ljubljana (2019); Off the Hook, Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2017); Off the Hook, Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor (2016); Motivi di famiglia / Family Reasons, Villa di Toppo Florio, Udine, Italy (2014); EXHIBITION Nr. 23, CAC Landskrona, Landskrona, Sweden (2014). He participated in the fairs of the artist books and art editions Blind Date Convention (P74 Gallery) and Caffeine Hours (Indigo Festival).
