Alenka Bartl, Costume Designer

Virtual exhibition - Slovene Theatre Museum and Novi ZATO.

Slovene Theatre Museum and Novi ZATO.
Alenka Bartl, Costume Designer
Virtual exhibition

"Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame.”
(Thomas Moore)

Alenka Bartl, one of the most renowned Slovenian costume designers, has devised more than 500 theatre costume designs, took part in over 40 film and TV productions, set the ground for the Slovenian Department of Costume Design and significantly contributed to the establishing of costume design as an independent artistic discipline in Slovenia and in the former Yugoslavia as well.

Her costume sketches reveal an intelligent, instinctive, often witty and joyous but, above all, curious and investigative artist; she was able to be faithful to the idea of the text, directorial interpretation, psychology i.e. dramaturgical characterisation and at once to capture the character of the interpreter, that is, one who is "carrying” the costume. In her sketches (and costumes as well) she has always skilfully and deliberately amalgamated (artistic) historical styles dictated by the text with the aesthetics of the moment in which the creation was made.

Slovene Theatre Museum has recently prepared a retrospective Alenka Bartl, Costume Designer – that took place from April to June this year in the National Gallery in Ljubljana. The outstanding artist’s opus and the audience turnout combined with the possibilities of World Wide Web have incited the authors of the project to "extend the life of the exhibition” by preparing its virtual continuation.

The virtual exhibition doubtlessly cannot substitute the spectator’s unique and unrepeatable experience made possible only by the "physical” setting and viewing original artworks in real time and space. But it also has its advantages: it offers a distant and time-flexible access to artworks; it usually reaches a larger audience (often those users who are no regular museum and gallery visitors); it offers the comfort of viewing the exhibition "from the armchair”; the authors of the project may infinitely complement the exhibition, by further building it and linking its elements to other web contents. The digitised sketches remain part of world web collections. Through their wide (we might even say, democratic) accessibility they contribute to spreading the knowledge and awareness on Slovenian theatrical and cultural heritage in general connecting it to other creative achievements at present and in the future.

Tea Rogelj,
Curator of the exhibition

From 25 October on, the exhibition is accessible at www.sigledal.org
Computer programming of digital collections and the virtual exhibition at www.sigledal.org: Gregor Matevc
Identification and the list of sketches: Ana Perne and Tea Rogelj
Digitalisation: Dušan Nelec