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Centre for Illustration
Exhibitions

Biba buba baja. Creating (for) the Child of Socialism

  • 25. 5. – 14. 7. 2024
  • Center of Illustration, Stritarjeva ulica, Ljubljana

Through the lens of contemporary reflection, the exhibition presents — by means of a selection of publications, illustrations, and positions in contemporary art, as well as a film, educational, and lecture program — the image of the child in the second half of the 20th century, along with selected women creators for children in Slovenia and across the former Yugoslavia.

After the horrors of the Second World War and the determined struggle for freedom within the National Liberation Movement, the idea of childhood as a distinct and valuable stage of life significantly shaped the rebuilding and development of postwar society, both at home and abroad. The “century of the child” coincided with the century of the book. Books, magazines, newspapers — and with them, illustrations — accompanied children as they grew up.

Children of socialism, especially in the rapidly growing cities, after enduring the trials of war, became active participants in the rebuilding of their homeland. They began to play more, attended kindergartens and schools, engaged in sports, visited seaside and mountain colonies, took part in cultural activities, gained broader access to healthcare and social welfare, were visited by Grandfather Frost, and became citizens of the world.

Education, cultural formation, and especially children’s literature — created for an audience that made up nearly half the population — offered many cultural workers a space for their creativity. Indeed, creativity for children (and with them) opened the doors to the world of art — through words, sound, image, puppetry, and movement — for those who had long been excluded from it: women and children from the wider working population.

The peaks of creativity and literature for children of that time — in terms of original production, the establishment of networks and infrastructures for translation and publishing, as well as their broad accessibility — are today viewed from different perspectives. By participating in this development, the creators for children did not merely shape images of childhood; through them, they also helped to shape the ideas of a new society and a new world. These ideas, as torches of a past future, were passed into the hands of the children of that era — when the horizon of the world still shimmered with the promise of the future.

Colophon

  • Curators: dr. Katja Kobolt in Maša Žekš
  • Co-curator of contemporary art positions: Iva Kovač
  • Film and educational program: Vitja Dreu Dominkuš, Sara Šabec, Katja Preša in Katja Kobolt
  • Graphic design: Ajda Fortuna
  • Organization: Gaja Naja Rojec in Eva Prodan
  • Research project supervisor: prof. dr. Tanja Petrović
  • Thanks: Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Mestna knjižnica Ljubljana, Narodna biblioteka Srbije, Mestna galerija Ljubljana (MGML), Lenovo Slovenija, Galerija ŠKUC, Gorana Stevanović, Rastko Ćirić, Eka Vogelnik, Tatjana Pregl Kobe, Barbara Borčić in Mojca Borčić-Razpotnik, Vladana Likar, Dragana in Aleksandar Palavestra, Vesna Lakićević Pavićević, Džoja Ratković Gavela, Ljiljana Manzalović, Jelena Petrović, Jelena Vesić, Ljiljana Ćinkul, Ana in Bojan Popović, Sofija Semenpeeva, Tina Malić-Andonovska, Daniela Weinerová, Olivera Nikolova, Ana Cvetkoska-Panova, Ladislav Cvetkovski, Lenče Lambevska Gulevska, Bistrica Mirkulovska, Simonida Filipova Kitanovska, Dimitar Božikov, Žarko Tunić, Naum Popeski, Natali Nikolovska, Ksenija Makazlieva Trajčeva, Andreja Dugandžić, Danijela Dugandžić, Lala Raščić, Vedran Šolaja, CRVENA, Ferida Duraković, Vesna Radojević Čopra, Xhevat Syla, Qëndresë Deda, Salih Lutolli, Demush R. Avdimetaj, Faton in družina Gervalla, Ibrahim Kadriu, Albert Heta, Isabella Mauro, Annemarie Štimac, Jelka Reichman, Mira Voglar, Ančka Gošnik Godec, Pavle Učakar, Irena Matko, Alenka Veler, Andrej Ilc, Tjaša Nabergoj, Maša P. Žmitek, Gal Kirn, Petja Grafenauer, Milena Mileva Blažić, Natalija Majsova, Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc, Martin Pogačar, Iva Kosmos, Ksenija Bogetić, Ana Hofman
  • Bibliographic and biographical research support: Sabina Potočki
  • Technical support: Matevž Ftičar in Martin Lovšin
  • Administration: Teja Komel Klepec
  • Proofreading: Tadej Turnšek in Nikola Brajnik
  • Cover illustration: Lidija Osterc (Biba Buba Baja, Mira Voglar, 1979, Dopisna delavska univerza Univerzum, Mladinska knjiga)