PASOLINI REVISITED – photo exhibition of the UNG School of Arts students

Inspired by Pier Paolo Pasolini – 100!, we joined in the year 2022 the 100th birthday celebration of the great Italian artist and cultural icon of Italian cinema. The students of the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts (Nova Gorica, Slovenia) have created an exhibition of photographic works under the title PASOLINI REVISITED.

Bachelor’s and master’s degree students of photography and videofilm through their own photo creations think about Pasolini as a poet, filmmaker and as an artist who was torn between religion, entertainment and left-wing politics. In getting to know this inspiring creator, we collaborated with Majda Širca, a well-versed in Italian film and wider Italian culture, who gave an overview lecture at the School, and we also watched some of Pasolini’s films, especially Mamma Roma (1962). The mentor of the photo workshop was Tanja Verlak.

In the photo workshop, students summarized a film frame or story segment and explored it
through a series of photographs. We introduced the methodology of art research.

^{We tend to think about the world in terms of is. Being certain about its presence we say, ‘that which is, is that which exists.’ There is no need to question the obvious, evident world as it gives itself to us. If we see a man, there is a man and if we see a flame, there is one. Such a direct, phenomenological proximity is at the heart of photographic images. However, seeing a tree in the distance, for instance, or even walking around it, one does not see the line separating the tree from the ground and the sky but one constructs it intellectually. Knowing how to look in this sense is a means of inventing. The rational distinction or separation between what we see in the world and what we imagine in our minds tends to disappear and the line between the real and the imaginary suddenly seems more imaginary than real.} (Tanja Verlak)

Authors (students): Milena Brkić, Tamara Kirina, Anastasija Kojić, Arta Kroni, Ana Logar, Martin Lozej, Primož Lukežič, Luka Mavrič, Kristian Petrovčič, Una Savić, Renee Stanič, Staš Zupanc. Their art works we present below and at the beginning (Renee Stanič).

Mentor of the photography exhibition: Tanja Verlak
Concept and realization: Rene Rusjan, Rok Govednik, Urša Bonelli, Tina Smrekar
Production: UNG Academy, Idrija City Library, Institute GO! 2025 – European capital of culture Nova Gorica