Galery Kresija, Ljubljana

6. 3.-30.3.2025

“Grdači”, or “uglies”, is a term coined with a good deal of humour by the Croatian erudite artist Zlatko Bourek to describe his unusual puppets. One of the most prominent Croatian visual artists and puppet makers, Bourek left an indelible mark on Slovenian puppetry. His uglies leave no one indifferent, inviting us into a world of the aesthetics of ugliness, the grotesque, but also of expressive, lascivious sexuality – a world that both repels and attracts. 

For the first time, the exhibition presents, tête-à-tête, Bourek's outstanding puppet oeuvre from the countries he worked in – Slovenia, Croatia and Germany. In the gallery space where they have been transferred from various museums and private collections, these extraordinary puppets unexpectedly raise some of the most vital questions about how heritage and the past can communicate with us today and what role (puppet) museums play in this as guardians and interpreters of this heritage. Even if the exhibition has no pretension to be a comprehensive or retrospective presentation of Bourek's work, it does aim to answer the question of what (or who) constitutes the essence of his puppetry and how it can speak to the gallery and museum visitor today. 

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 Photo: Tadej Čaušević