Lara Žagar/ Herbarij: leto 2188

Lara Žagar
Herbarij: leto 2188
25. 9.–2. 11. 2025
Stekleni atrij ljubljanske Mestne hiše

📌Odprtje razstave: četrtek, 25. 9. 2025, ob 18. uri

Življenje želi preživeti. Sledeč samosvoji logiki prve celice, ki že 4 milijarde let ni umrla , se informacije o njeni zgodovini – prek celične delitve – prenašajo naprej. Obenem je napor (želja sama) preživetja tolikšen, da je življenje preneslo informacijo o svojem obstoju v drugo obliko. Če Miroslav Griško piše o eshatološki vojni (seriji vizij smrti), ki je inherenten del življenja, delo Herbarij Lare Žagar to izpostavlja na način, ki je za človeški um še otipljiv. To stori s fosili – časovnimi fragmenti preteklosti –, ki pričajo o tovrstni kozmični transformaciji. Želja po zapisu je tolikšna, da življenje z vsako ekstinkcijo najde način, da ne le preživi, temveč gre še korak dlje. Žrtvuje organskost s tem, ko svoje padle kompresira, informacije o tem pa pošlje v prihodnost. A čemu življenje sploh stremi k fosilizaciji?

O fosilu lahko razmišljamo kot o eksperimentu. Fosil »nam« ne sporoča le informacij o preteklem življenju, temveč tudi prihodnjem, saj je iz prihodnosti, kajti uteleša zapis v tej obliki. Fosil je mini časovni stroj, entropija v kompresirani obliki, primer dokončne preobrazbe oziroma mutacije iz organskega v anorgansko. Je pravzaprav anti-teleološka oblika postajanja, pri kateri materija začne sanjati lasten konec. Na nek način s tem Zemlja sama razmišlja o svoji preteklosti; prek mineralizacije in kompresije življenja.
(Enea Kavčič, izsek iz obrazstavnega besedila)

Lara Žagar (1993) je vizualna in sodobna umetnica, ki trenutno živi v Ljubljani. Zaključuje magistrski študij na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje. Zanimajo jo različni pristopi k novomedijski umetnosti, v katerih združuje instalacije, video, fotografijo, svetlobo in zvok. V svojih projektih raziskuje žive sisteme, okoljske in družbene spremembe ter s fikcijo kot metodo oblikuje distopične in utopične scenarije prihodnosti.

Foto: Tine Lisjak
______________________
=EN
Lara Žagar
Herbarium: Year 2188
25. 9.–2. 11. 2025
Glass Atrium, Ljubljana Town Hall

📌Exhibition opening: Thursday, 25 September 2025, 6 pm

Life aims to survive. Following the peculiar logic of the first cell, which has managed to stay alive for 4 billion years, information about its history is passed on through cell division. That said, the effort (or the desire) to survive is such that life has also transferred information about its existence into another form. If Miroslav Griško writes about eschatological war (a series of visions of death) as an inherent part of life, Lara Žagar’s Herbarium highlights this in a way that remains tangible for the human mind. It does so through fossils – time fragments of the past that testify to such cosmic transformation. The desire for inscription is so strong that, with each extinction, life finds a way not only to survive but to take a step further. It sacrifices its organicity by compressing its casualties and conveying information about this into the future. But why does life strive for fossilisation in the first place?

Fossils can be conceived of as experiments. They provide information not only about past life, but also about future life, as the future is where they originate from, embodying a record in this form. A fossil is a miniature time machine, entropy in compressed form, an example of complete transformation or mutation from the organic to the inorganic. It is, in fact, an anti-teleological form of becoming, where matter begins to dream of its own end. In a way, this is how the Earth reflects on its past: through the mineralisation and compression of life./…/
(Enea Kavčič, excerpt from the curatorial text)

Lara Žagar (b. 1993) is a visual and contemporary artist based in Ljubljana. Currently completing her master’s degree at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Žagar is interested in various approaches to new media art, combining installations, video, photography, light, and sound. In her projects, she explores living systems, environmental and social changes, and uses fiction as a method to create dystopian and utopian scenarios of the future.

Photo: Tine Lisjak