February 8, 2021 is just around the corner, when the temples of culture will reopen, offering free tours, especially online. Where to celebrate Prešeren's Day, the Slovenian festival of culture, this year?
Where to on February 8, 2021? This year, the holiday will definitely not be the same as we are used to. We can expect a lot more online events and a lot less events in physical form, such as free tours of exhibitions in our cultural institutions.
February 8, the day Dr. said goodbye to us in 1849. France Prešeren is traditionally reserved for culture, which is why the name Slovenian cultural (and national) holiday sticks to it. Prešeren's Day has been celebrated since 1945, but it became a public holiday only after independence. And February 8 in 2021 falls right on a Monday, which no one defends, right? See how you can get the most out of the holiday of Slovenian culture and the memory of France Prešerno in 2021.
Prešeren's shift 2021
February 6-8, 2021, Kranj
Prešeren's shift in Kranj, which revives the memory of our greatest poet dr. Franceta Prešerna, is one of the most recognizable Slovenian cultural holiday events. This year, it will take place from February 6 to 8 and invites you to virtual events, a street gallery and a fair offer.
The cultural event will come to life on websites and social networks. Listen to the recitation of Zdravljica performed by the Prešeren Theater in Kranj and a lecture by dr. Verena Vidrih Perko about archaeological finds that confirmed France Prešern's poetic vision of the Slovenian past. Nik Škrlec will introduce young people to the professions and people behind this year's Prešeren prize winners. The Prešeren Theater in Kranj invites you to a cultural holiday viewing the performances of Dr. Prešeren and Rajzefiber. There will also be a virtual exhibition of various depictions of France Prešeren, as many painters, sculptors, illustrators, caricaturists and even comic book creators tried to portray him after his death.
The streets of Kranj will become a gallery of Kranj cultural temples, which unfortunately cannot open their doors wide. Street exhibition in memory of France Prešeren, which will be on view in the city center, is co-created by the Prešeren Theater Kranj, the City Library Kranj, the Gorenjski Museum, Layer's House and the Institute for Tourism and Culture Kranj. Art project Culture on hold, which will present cultural contents that were created during the closed institutions, and you will be able to see them on the advertising surfaces in Kranj and the surrounding area until March.
The cultural festival in Kranj is accompanied by a prestigious event every year Gathering of the Muses on Parnassus in Carniola or meeting with Prešeren award winners and Prešeren Fund awardees. The portraits of the prize winners, as captured by Tone Stojko's photographic lens, will be presented at the street gallery Galerija on the spot in front of the Kranj City Library and in the Gallery of Prešeren Prize Winners. This time, you are invited to a sparkling conversation with Prešeren's prize winners, which Patricija Maličev leads every year, via small screens.
While viewing cultural events around the city, stop at the fair's offer, which will be on a reduced scale on all days of the event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Music and song recitations will be heard from loudspeakers throughout the city, and the city will be festively illuminated and decorated until the cultural holiday.
Vlado Kreslin POETRY with the acoustic band Mali bogovi
February 8, home recliner
This year's cultural day brings Vlad Kreslin's concert, the likes of which you have never experienced before. This time, everyone who is close to our most famous poet, as well as the poetic rocker of the Prekmurje plains, will especially come to your account, because the red thread of the evening will be the search for related messages in the works of the giant of romanticism and the modern bard, who each made their mark in their own way Slovenian culture and Slovenians.
Musical and literary performance POETRY Vlada Kreslina will introduce the author in the closest frame ever. In an intimate evening, international hits will be alternated with old pieces that you haven't heard in ages, and the music will be interrupted by a challenging mix of Prešeren's and Kreslin's poetry. You've never been this close to Kreslin - and if you miss this evening, you won't be!
A virtual hike along the Žirovnica Cultural Heritage Trail
February 8, home recliner
The traditional hike along the Žirovnica Cultural Heritage Trail, which is organized on the occasion of the Slovenian cultural holiday in the birthplaces of the poet Prešeren, will take place virtually this year. On February 8, 2021, you will be able to go on a hike along one of the oldest Slovenian themed trails from the comfort of your armchair. With a key ring #kulturadialoga but in Žirovnica they invite you to solidarity and a friendly cultural dialogue with which we would like to honor the memory of the greatest Slovenian poet.
Dr. himself will guide you along the way. France Prešeren – in the form of an animated character. Are you ready to wander from Vrba to the village under Stolom; to the places where, in addition to the great poet, a whole series of important Slovenians were born? Find out who was in the company of France Prešeren and who knows, maybe you will be surprised by a beautiful Slovenian song along the way.
There will certainly be no shortage of exciting events, as France has invited established artists to their hometowns, who have prepared a varied cultural program for us. They will be with you Aleksander Mežek, Boštjan Gorenc-Pižama, Rok Terkaj-Trkaj, Irena and Leon Leskovšek and Mixed singing group Dr. France Prešeren Žirovnica.
Prešeren's Day in the National Gallery
February 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., National Gallery in Ljubljana
On Prešeren's Day, a Slovenian cultural holiday, the National Gallery offers free entry to the exhibition Permanent collection Art in Slovenia and Permanent exhibition Zoran Mušič (1909–2005).
You are invited to see the exhibition at your own pace. You can borrow it from the gallery shop audio guide or access the descriptions of the artworks via the barcode reader on your mobile phone. New in the offer are audio guides and QR codes with a presentation of the life and work of Zoran Mušič and his selected works of art.
They also invite you to you come to the National Gallery with Prešeren's Poems and read or recite a selected Prešeren poem in front of your favorite piece of art, take a picture with your phone and share it on social networks with #national gallery.
Online Youth Theatre: Republic of Slovenia
February 8, home recliner
On the cultural holiday, February 8, online Mladinsko will broadcast a recording of the play Republika Slovenija, for which there is still great interest. As written on the theater's website: "Our civic duty is to look back on the post-independence period; to the time when dreams were no longer enough."
Prešeren's Day at UGM
February 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Maribor and the domestic armchair
Maribor Art Gallery opens its virtual doors wide on Prešeren Day and invites restless souls, art lovers and all other visitors to the shelter of visual art.
Visitors will be able to visit all current exhibitions for free between 10:00 and 18:00. When entering the exhibition space, gallery etiquette and the following safety measures will continue to apply: wearing a mask, disinfecting hands, keeping a 2 m distance, and sneezing and coughing hygiene.
There is an exhibition on display 100+ Highlights from the UGM Collection in UGM and the exhibition Saša Bezjak / Embroidery and Postal art in UGM Šop. You can also visit the museum shop, where you can choose from postcards, leaflets, catalogs and UGM publications.
All events will still be held online on this day. On the occasion of Prešeren Day, they have also prepared a varied online cultural program that you can follow in your slippers from the comfort of your home armchair. More about the program here connection.
An evening dedicated to the Slovenian cultural holiday: Nuška Drašček with the band
February 8 at 20:00, home armchair
They will be in the studio on February 8, the Slovenian festival of culture Cultural Center Izola hosted the excellent singer Nuška Drašček with her band. Nuška Drašček became known to the wider Slovenian public after winning the second season of the TV singing competition Be an idol (2004), and to this day she has performed at many Slovenian and foreign festivals, where she has been awarded quite a few times. In the Slovenian dubbed version of the animated film Frozen, she lent her voice to the main character Elsa and sang the song Let It Go in Slovenian.
The event will also be broadcast via the FB page of the Municipality of Izola, the Art Cinema Odeon Izola, the Cultural Center Izola, Studio Parametrik.
On the cultural holiday - What would FP say?
February 8 from 12:00 to 00:00, home armchair
Photo: Slovenian Film Center
On the occasion of the cultural holiday, the Slovenian Film Center will offer you two films from 2019 for viewing on a special web link of the Slovenian Film Database: Bik directed by Bojan Labovič (2019), Huntress directed by Urška Djukić (2019), and two films made in the previous decade: Hi Sarah, a study film by director and this year's Prešeren Fund laureate Matjaž Ivanišin (2002) and Made in Slovenia directed by Miran Zupanič (2007).
Why these films? Because each of them in their own way shows the spirit of today in our immediate surroundings, which is also influenced by global phenomena. They come to life in front of us as full-blooded characters, and they are all connected by a common desire to be accepted by those around them as they are.
On the cultural holiday, films will be available from noon until midnight.
Prešeren's Day in Prešeren's Theater Kranj
February 8, home recliner
Photo: Nada Žgank
Cultural Day, February 8, 2021, will be officially opened at 11:00 a.m. with recitation of the Hail Mary performed by the house acting ensemble, which will be recorded via Zoom. At 5:00 p.m., you will also be able to watch conversations with Prešeren awardees and awardees of the Prešeren Foundation online.
At 19:00 they will broadcast a recording of Neda R. Bric's performance dr. Overwhelmed, which premiered in December 2019 and brings France Prešeren closer to us through the eyes of the women close to him. At 9:00 p.m., a recording of Goran Vojnović's contemporary drama follows Rajzefiber, which premiered in September 2019 and was created in a co-production between Prešeren's Theater of Kranj and the Slovenian People's Theater of Celje. Recordings will be available on the YouTube channel Prešeren Theater Kranj only for the duration of the performance.
Open day at Ljubljana Castle
February 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Ljubljana Castle
On February 8, the Slovenian cultural holiday, the castle gates will be opened wide and on that day, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., the castle contents will be offered free of charge: Puppet Museum, permanent layouts Slovenian history, Penitentiary, Castle weapons. Also, on this day, a thematic exhibition about the Slovenian storytelling tradition will be open to the public for free Behind the nine mountains, on the last day there will be an exhibition of posters Laibach: freedom leads the people. While walking around the castle, you can also visit the exhibition of Marija Prelog with the title Live list or climb the Observation Tower.
Online premiere of the play Elvis Škorc, the genius stump
February 8 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., home recliner
SNG Maribor is preparing an online premiere of the performance for the cultural holiday Elvis Škorc, the genius stump. The performance was based on the latest novel by one of the most recognizable and widely read Slovenian youth writers, Janja Vidmar.
The dramatization of the novel was based on the conceptual concept of the playwright and co-author of the dramatization, Maja Borin. Staging through contemporary theater practices for teenagers presents the "confused" world of a thirteen-year-old in a witty way. The production, signed by the young Maribor director Mateja Kokol, will show teenagers through many dramatic, comedic, romantic, dreamy, experimental, musical and movement elements that there are many bright and positive things in the world of complex problems of various teenage conundrums.
The online premiere of Elvis Škorec, the genius stump will be shown on Facebook page Drama SNG Maribor, and the premiere on the Small Stage will take place as soon as spectators can enter the halls again.
