On Friday and Saturday, 20 and 21 October, we invite you to a lecture about the history of tattooing and a linocut workshop. The Friday lecture about the histories of “sicing”, “bocing”, tattooing in the Balkans and tattooing in Victorian London will be followed by a workshop on linocut printmaking on Saturday, led by Lan Breški.

The workshop is organised in the framework of the European project EMPACT – Empathy and Sustainability: The Art of Thinking like a Mountain. In EMPACT we’ve set out to tackle the themes of empathy and sustainability and the relationship between them under the slogan «The art of thinking like a mountain». The lecture and workshop will address society’s attitudes towards seemingly permanent symbolic markings of the body – they are only as permanent as the body – and talk about tattoos as a direct indicator of one’s relationship to the environment.

Lan Breški will speak about the culture of Catholic tattooing and the symbolism of tattoos in the Balkans. These folk traditions will be put in contrast with the tattooing culture of Victorian England. The lecture will be followed by a linocut workshop, in which participants will begin with a drawing, which is the departure point for both – tattooing and printmaking – while at the same time, we can understand tattooing as a permanent imprint on the body. In their designs, participants will be encouraged to relate to the themes of EMPACT and the themes of next years’ EKO 9 Triennial: the environmental crisis through the prism of the horror genre. Lan Breški will guide participants through the process of searching for a motif based on examples from his own drawing, graphic and tattoo practice.

Participants will create a design on a linoleum plate and print it on a tote bag. No prior knowledge of the linocut technique is required to participate in the workshop. Participants will receive material for work and refreshments during the workshop. To attend, please apply by 15 October 2023 at: ziva.kleindienst@ugm.si

Programme:

Friday, 20 October 2023

16:00-17:00 Lecture

17:00-18:00 Bubbles with Lan Breški

Saturday, 21 October 2023

12:00-14:00 Linocut workshop led by Lan Breški

14:00-14:30 Refreshments

14:30-16:30 Printing on tote bags

Lan Breški (b. 2000, Maribor) works in tattooing, drawing, linocut, printmaking and textiles. He attended the fashion design programme at the School of Design in Maribor and later became self-taught in tattooing. He currently tattoos at the Mak Tattoo Studio in Ljubljana. His love of antiques, Catholic imagery and unconventional beauty has been a great influence on his work. Feeling out of place in the environment he grew up in, he found his escape in the world of history. Through years of research into Victorian clothing, customs and photographs, he has found a way of drawing that aims to evoke feelings of nostalgia for a time we have never experienced. More precisely, in his drawings and prints he wants to express, through surreal elements and the contrasts of white and black, beauty where unexpected, to see a line in empty space. He views tattooing as analogue to clothing, dressing the body in permanent ink, and allowing the wearer to affect the beauty of their body’s proportions and their self-image. He began tattooing when he noticed the similarity between the way the body is clothed and the way in which tattooing, through permanent ink, can affect the beauty of the body’s proportions and their self-image.

EMPACT workshops facilitate and encourage creative discussion and support informal learning about compassion and sustainability through diverse artistic and environmental practices. The EMPACT project is supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

The workshop is free of charge.

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Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.