The project Prints and Poetry: A Dialogue explores ways of communicating with former “brotherly” nations more than thirty years after the breakup of the shared state of Yugoslavia.
Young artists from Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina today often communicate in English, even though their languages remain related and mutually intelligible. The starting point of the project was the question of how art can transcend linguistic boundaries and create a new, visual space of understanding.
At its core lies the interweaving of word and image. Students experimented with how poetry can be translated into visual expression, opening up additional meanings and associations. Using deep printing techniques, students of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Ljubljana (ALUO UL) created prints inspired by Bosnian poetry, while students of the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Sarajevo (ALU US) interpreted three poems by a Slovenian poet. They read the poetry in its original language, without translation, in order to explore the similarities and differences among Slavic languages and to engage with diverse cultural rhythms and sensibilities.
For the Slovenian starting point, they selected three poems by Anja Zag Golob from the collection da ne: če čaj nato, oblaki ognji oceani, and nenadoma. The Bosnian side of the project is represented by Faruk Šehić’s poem Auslenderska berlinologija. Participants included students of printmaking at ALU US under the mentorship of Prof. Renata Papišta and students from various departments at ALUO UL under the guidance of Assoc. Prof. Mag. Zora Stančič. The project thus reconnected two institutions united by a long shared tradition of fine art printmaking.
The resulting prints were first presented at the ALU Gallery in Sarajevo (6–11 October 2025).
All of the works are gathered in a print portfolio in three copies. This portfolio embodies a dialogue between word and image, and between languages that recall a shared past and young voices that articulate it anew.
Participants:
ALUO UL: Manuel Brajnik, Julija Brajnik Volčič, Medina Djukić, Lara Frelih, Emili Jenko, Maks Jeriha, Ajda Kalan, Eva Maria Kostanjevec, Zoja Maučec, Nina Munih, Zoia Khivrenko, Maruša Pajnič, Pia Prebil, Lucija Sabolić, Sara Stevanović
ALU US: Tarik Barčić, Džavid Berberović, Arijana Hodžić, Maja Hodžić, Zorana Jakovljević, Emina Jelešković, Eldina Kožljak, Renata Papista, Berina Vatreš, Ajla Talović
Mentors: Asst. Prof. Dr. Jana Kenda FF UL, Prof. Renata Papišta ALU US, Anja Zag Golob, Marjetica Potrč, Faruk Šehić, Assoc. Prof. Mag. Zora Stančič ALUO UL
Translation and proofreading: Asst. Prof. Dr. Jana Kenda FF UL
Expert advisors: Admir Ganić and Helena B. Tahir
Design: Ana Rogač
Portfolios: Marko Drpić, TipoRenesansa
Project manager and exhibition curator: Assoc. Prof. Mag. Zora Stančič ALUO UL
Free admission.
4. 11.–29. 11. 2025
Organisation: Arts Council of the University of Ljubljana, ALUO UL, FF UL, ALU US and DobraVaga / Kino Šiška.
