2025, samostojna razstava, MuzaTR2, Ljubljana/ 2025, solo Exhibition, MuzaTR2, Ljubljana

Come to my mouth little fish, 2023, oil in canvas, enamel, 115cm x 160cm

Foto: Varja Jovanović Trobec

Baked Alaska; French dessert, 2025, oil on canvas, enamel, 120cm x 110cm

Would you buy someone else’s memories?, 2024, oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm

Adaptive slime, 2024, oil on canvas, enamel, 100cm x 100cm

Umetnost Ulle Žibert izhaja iz napetosti med željo po obvladovanju in zavedanjem, da je to skoraj nemogoče. V iskanju stabilnosti vztrajno iščemo univerzalni red, sistem pravil, ki naj bi nam pomagal prebroditi kaos vsakdana-če ne drugače pa vsaj navidezno. Dela umetnice govorijo prav v jeziku vsakdanjega: nagovarjajo nas s podobami vzglavnikov in cvetličnih aranžmajev na okenskih policah z rastlinami in geometričnimi fragmenti, ki tvorijo hkrati znane a izmuzljive prizore. Realistični detajli se na slikah stapljajo z abstraktnimi površinami, sence so prevelike in napačno usmerjene, odsevi prihajajo od nekod drugod. Kotičke naslikanih prizorov preveva drugačna logika in zdi se, da podobe nastopajo v neznanih situacijah, kjer platno zajame le delček resničnosti, prizor pa se širi daleč izven svojih okvirjev ter deluje kot iztočnica, ki odstira drobce banalnosti sveta.

V teh zamikih resničnosti in nežnih zasukih pogleda nastajajo svetovi med tem kar poznamo in česar ne. Na slike se prikradejo slutnje, ironični zasuki in sence tistega kar je prisotno in tistega kar manjka. Ostajajo neizrečene sledi, morda celo namerno spregledane, a prav zato še toliko bolj temeljne. V umetničinih delih se odpirajo teme potrošništva, izumiranja vrst, podnebnih paradoksov in individualne nemoči, ki v vizualno estetskih prizorih prežijo v razpokah in sencah. Z besednimi poudarki, drobnimi napisi in citati nas slike vodijo v razmislek o tem, kaj ostaja onkraj pogleda in kako nas potreba po urejenosti vedno znova privede do spoznanja, da je fraza “Vse je pod kontrolo” pogosto le prazna tolažba.

Umetničin svet vizualno spretno prepleta domišljijsko z realnim in hkrati optimizem z razočaranjem. Kljub tematski teži slike preveva svojevrstna lahkotnost, saj ironija nikoli ne zdrsne v cinizem, kot, da bi obstajala možnost, da smer distopičnega toka sveta vendarle zasukamo ali vsaj prepoznamo.

Obrazstavno besedilo: Kustosinja Tina Fortič Jakopič
Kustosinja razstave: Tina Fortič Jakopič

Ulla Žibert’s artistic practice emerges from the tension between the desire for control and the awareness that such control is almost impossible to attain. In our search for stability, we persistently seek a universal order—a system of rules meant to help us navigate the chaos of everyday life, if not in reality, then at least on the surface. The artist’s works speak in the language of the everyday: they address us through images of pillows and floral arrangements on windowsills, alongside plants and geometric fragments that together form scenes that are at once familiar and elusive. Realistic details merge with abstract surfaces, shadows are oversized and misdirected, and reflections seem to originate elsewhere. The corners of these painted scenes are imbued with a different logic, and the images appear to unfold in unfamiliar situations, where the canvas captures only a fragment of reality while the scene extends far beyond its frame, functioning as a point of departure that reveals fragments of the world’s banality.

Within these shifts of reality and subtle turns of perspective, worlds emerge between what we know and what we do not. Hints, ironic twists, and shadows of what is present—and what is absent—slip into the images. Unspoken traces remain, perhaps even deliberately overlooked, yet precisely for that reason all the more fundamental. The artist’s works open up themes of consumerism, species extinction, climate paradoxes, and individual powerlessness, which lurk in the cracks and shadows of visually aesthetic scenes. Through textual accents, small inscriptions, and quotations, the paintings guide us to reflect on what lies beyond the visible and how our need for order repeatedly leads us to the realization that the phrase “Everything is under control” is often nothing more than an empty consolation.

The artist’s world deftly weaves together the imaginary and the real, as well as optimism and disappointment. Despite the thematic weight, the paintings are imbued with a distinctive lightness: irony never slips into cynicism, as if there remained a possibility of redirecting the course of the world’s dystopian flow—or at least of recognizing it.

Exhibition text: Tina Fortič Jakopič
Exhibition curator: Tina Fortič Jakopič