Marjetica Potrc
Encyclopedia
Marjetica Potrč is an artist and architect
based in Ljubljana
, Slovenia
. Her interdisciplinary practice includes on-site projects, research, architectural case studies, and series of drawings. Her work documents and interprets contemporary architectural practices (in particular, with regard to energy infrastructure and water use) and the ways people live together.
, capital of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia
, which was then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
. Her parents were both writers. Her father, Ivan Potrč
, was a well-known Slovene social realist novelist and playwright from Lower Styria
, and the main editor of the publishing house Mladinska Knjiga. Her mother, Branka Jurca, was a teacher and magazine editor and also a famous author of children's literature
, who was born in the Kras region of western Slovenia but moved to Maribor
, where she met Marjetica's father.
Marjetica Potrč received degrees in architecture (1978) and sculpture (1986, 1988) from the University of Ljubljana
. In 1990, she moved to the USA. Her installations from this period often involved walls of various kinds, e.g. Two Faces of Utopia (1993, made for the Slovene Pavilion at the Venice Biennial), and the series Theatrum Mundi: Territories (1993–1996). A statement she made at the time - "I don't make objects. I build walls" - positions her work against object-based sculpture. In 1994, she moved back to Ljubljana. Since then, her work has developed at the intersection of visual art, architecture, and social science.
In 2003, Potrč was invited to spend six months in Caracas
, Venezuela, as part of the Caracas Case Project, and carry out research on the informal city. There, in collaboration with the Israel
i architect Liyat Esakov and the residents of the La Vega barrio
, she developed the project Dry Toilet: an ecologically safe, waterless toilet was installed in the upper part of the La Vega barrio, a district in Caracas that has no access to the municipal water grid. Dry Toilet is one of a series of community-focused on-site projects by Potrč that are characterized by participatory design
and a concern with sustainability
issues, particularly in relation to energy and water infrastructures. Other important projects are Balcony with Wind Turbine (Liverpool, 2004), Power from Nature (Barefoot College
, Rajasthan, India, and the Catherine Ferguson Academy, Detroit, Mich., USA, 2005), and A Farm in Murcia: Rainwater Harvesting (Murcia
, Spain, 2007). In Potrč's view, the sustainable solutions that are implemented and disseminated by communities serve to empower these communities and help create a democracy built from below.
Potrč's large gallery installations
, which she calls "architectural case studies," are a unique practice and have long been a central part of her work; they aim to translate into the gallery space her view of contemporary architectural practices and their relationship to issues of energy, water use, and communication. For example, soon after the Dry Toilet project, she created Hybrid House: Caracas, West Bank, West Palm Beach at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art in Lake Worth, Fla., in 2003 (the following year, the installation traveled to the List Visual Arts Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.). The installation represents a case study of three contemporary communities in conflict - the Caracas barrio, the West Bank
, and West Palm Beach, Florida
- and illustrates how they negotiate issues of space, security, energy, water, and communications, bringing to the fore the uneasy coexistence of different communities in 21st-century societies. In one of her most controversial and most often quoted statements, Potrč has observed: "There are two urban forms in the global city that I consider to be most successful - after all, they are growing the fastest - namely, gated communities
and shantytowns
."
Beginning with her six-month-long research in Caracas in 2003, Potrč's practice has been distinguished by extended research projects in regions that are reinventing themselves after the decline of 20th-century modernism. Most significant have been her projects in the Amazonian state of Acre
in western Brazil in 2006 (in conjunction with the São Paulo Art Biennial
); the Lost Highway Expedition in nine cities in the Western Balkans (Ljubljana, Zagreb
, Novi Sad
, Belgrade
, Skopje
, Pristina
, Tirana
, Podgorica
, and Sarajevo
), which she co-organized in collaboration with a group of artists and architects; and her research project on water issues in post-Katrina
New Orleans, in which she collaborated with the design consultancy FutureProof in 2007-2008. Collaboration with local individuals, groups, and organizations is a significant aspect of nearly all her research projects.
These research projects provide the basis for later drawing series and architectural case studies, which translate her findings to wider audiences. Potrč constructs her drawings as narratives that present and interpret with simple images and text the challenges and strategies of the communities she has studied. Her drawing series include, among others, The Struggle for Spacial Justice (2005), Florestania (2006), and The Great Republic of New Orleans (2007).
in New York (2001), the List Visual Arts Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2004), the Portikus in Frankfurt am Main (2006), and the Curve at the Barbican Art Gallery in London (2007), among others.
Potrč has received numerous grants and awards, including two grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
(1993 and 1999); the Hugo Boss Prize
in 2000, administered by the Guggenheim Museum (2000); and the Vera List Center for Arts and Politics Fellowship at The New School
in New York (2007).
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
based in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. Her interdisciplinary practice includes on-site projects, research, architectural case studies, and series of drawings. Her work documents and interprets contemporary architectural practices (in particular, with regard to energy infrastructure and water use) and the ways people live together.
Background and Early Career
Potrč was born in LjubljanaLjubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, capital of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...
, which was then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. Her parents were both writers. Her father, Ivan Potrč
Ivan Potrc
Ivan Potrč was a Slovene writer and playwright.-Biography:Ivan Potrč was born in a poor peasant family in Štuki near Ptuj, in what was then the Duchy of Styria in the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
, was a well-known Slovene social realist novelist and playwright from Lower Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
, and the main editor of the publishing house Mladinska Knjiga. Her mother, Branka Jurca, was a teacher and magazine editor and also a famous author of children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
, who was born in the Kras region of western Slovenia but moved to Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
, where she met Marjetica's father.
Marjetica Potrč received degrees in architecture (1978) and sculpture (1986, 1988) from the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
. In 1990, she moved to the USA. Her installations from this period often involved walls of various kinds, e.g. Two Faces of Utopia (1993, made for the Slovene Pavilion at the Venice Biennial), and the series Theatrum Mundi: Territories (1993–1996). A statement she made at the time - "I don't make objects. I build walls" - positions her work against object-based sculpture. In 1994, she moved back to Ljubljana. Since then, her work has developed at the intersection of visual art, architecture, and social science.
Participatory Design and Sustainable Solutions
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela, as part of the Caracas Case Project, and carry out research on the informal city. There, in collaboration with the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i architect Liyat Esakov and the residents of the La Vega barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
, she developed the project Dry Toilet: an ecologically safe, waterless toilet was installed in the upper part of the La Vega barrio, a district in Caracas that has no access to the municipal water grid. Dry Toilet is one of a series of community-focused on-site projects by Potrč that are characterized by participatory design
Participatory design
Participatory design is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders in the design process in order to help ensure the product designed meets their needs and is usable. The term is used in a variety of fields e.g...
and a concern with sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
issues, particularly in relation to energy and water infrastructures. Other important projects are Balcony with Wind Turbine (Liverpool, 2004), Power from Nature (Barefoot College
Barefoot College
Barefoot college known as Social Work and Research Centre is an Non-governmental organization founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate women from impoverished villages to become doctors, solar engineers, architects, and other such professions. The school...
, Rajasthan, India, and the Catherine Ferguson Academy, Detroit, Mich., USA, 2005), and A Farm in Murcia: Rainwater Harvesting (Murcia
Murcia
-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...
, Spain, 2007). In Potrč's view, the sustainable solutions that are implemented and disseminated by communities serve to empower these communities and help create a democracy built from below.
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, which she calls "architectural case studies," are a unique practice and have long been a central part of her work; they aim to translate into the gallery space her view of contemporary architectural practices and their relationship to issues of energy, water use, and communication. For example, soon after the Dry Toilet project, she created Hybrid House: Caracas, West Bank, West Palm Beach at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art in Lake Worth, Fla., in 2003 (the following year, the installation traveled to the List Visual Arts Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.). The installation represents a case study of three contemporary communities in conflict - the Caracas barrio, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
- and illustrates how they negotiate issues of space, security, energy, water, and communications, bringing to the fore the uneasy coexistence of different communities in 21st-century societies. In one of her most controversial and most often quoted statements, Potrč has observed: "There are two urban forms in the global city that I consider to be most successful - after all, they are growing the fastest - namely, gated communities
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
and shantytowns
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
."
Acre (state)
Acre is one of the 27 states of Brazil. It is situated in the southwest of the Northern Region, bordering Amazonas to the north, Rondônia to the east, Bolivia to the southeast and the Ucayali Region of Peru to the south and west. It occupies an area of 152,581.4 km2, being slightly smaller...
in western Brazil in 2006 (in conjunction with the São Paulo Art Biennial
São Paulo Art Biennial
The São Paulo Art Biennial was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial , which serves as its role model....
); the Lost Highway Expedition in nine cities in the Western Balkans (Ljubljana, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
, Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, Pristina
Pristina
Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....
, Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, Podgorica
Podgorica
Podgorica , is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement...
, and Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
), which she co-organized in collaboration with a group of artists and architects; and her research project on water issues in post-Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
New Orleans, in which she collaborated with the design consultancy FutureProof in 2007-2008. Collaboration with local individuals, groups, and organizations is a significant aspect of nearly all her research projects.
These research projects provide the basis for later drawing series and architectural case studies, which translate her findings to wider audiences. Potrč constructs her drawings as narratives that present and interpret with simple images and text the challenges and strategies of the communities she has studied. Her drawing series include, among others, The Struggle for Spacial Justice (2005), Florestania (2006), and The Great Republic of New Orleans (2007).
Notable Exhibitions and Awards
Potrč's work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the Americas, including in such important international shows as the São Paulo Biennial (1996 and 2006), and the Venice Biennial (in the exhibitions The Structure of Survival, 2003, and "Making Worlds", 2009). She has shown her work regularly at the Meulensteen Gallery (formerly the Max Protetch Gallery) in New York since 2002, and at the Nordenhake Gallery in Berlin and Stockholm since 2003, and has also had solo exhibitions at the Guggenheim MuseumSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
in New York (2001), the List Visual Arts Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2004), the Portikus in Frankfurt am Main (2006), and the Curve at the Barbican Art Gallery in London (2007), among others.
Potrč has received numerous grants and awards, including two grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Pollock-Krasner Foundation
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressionist painter and the widow of fellow painter Jackson...
(1993 and 1999); the Hugo Boss Prize
Hugo Boss Prize
The Hugo Boss Prize is awarded every other year to an artist working in any medium, anywhere in the world. Since its establishment in 1996, it has distinguished itself from other art awards because it has no restrictions on nationality or age...
in 2000, administered by the Guggenheim Museum (2000); and the Vera List Center for Arts and Politics Fellowship at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
in New York (2007).
Exhibition Catalogs
- Marjetica Potrč: Urgent Architecture (2003). Edited by Michael Rush with essays by Carlos Basualdo, Liyat Esakov, Marjetica Potrč, Michael Rush, and Eyal Weizman. Lake Worth, Fla.: Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art. Distributed by DAP (http://artbook.com).
- Marjetica Potrč: Next Stop, Kiosk (2003). Edited by Lívia Páldi with essays by Zdenka Badovinac, Hans Ulrich ObristHans Ulrich ObristHans Ulrich Obrist is a contemporary art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London...
, Lívia Páldi, Marjetica Potrč, and Goran Tomčić. Ljubljana: Moderna galerija. Distributed by Revolver Archiv für aktuelle Kunst (http://www.revolverlag.de).
- Marjetica Potrč: Urban Negotiation (2003). Edited by Ana Maria Torres with essays by Kosme de Baranano, Ana Maria Torres, Marjetica Potrč, Max Protetch, and Francesco Careri. Valencia, Spain: Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM). Distributed by Aldeasa, Madrid (e-mail: distribucion-editorial@aldeasa.es).
- Marjetica Potrč: Florestania (2009). Hanover, N.H.: Dartmouth College.
Articles and Reviews
- Blake Gopnik, "The Ten Most Important Artists of Today", Newsweek, 13&20 June 2011.
- Joshua Decter, "Marjetica Potrc at Max Protetch Gallery," Artforum International, April 2008, 371-372.
- Jennifer Higgie, "Form Follows Function," Frieze, May 2006, 136-141.
- Marco Scotini, "Dry Toilet," Domus, no. 891, "Geo-Design" (April 2006): 88-91.
- Carlos Basualdo and Reinaldo Laddaga, "Rules of Engagement," Artforum International, March 2004, 166-170.
- Eleanor Heartney, "A House of Parts," Art in America, May 2004, 140-143.
- Jan Verwoert, "Confessions of a Global Urbanist," Afterall, no. 9 (2004): 47-54.
- Emily Bowles, "Marjetica Potrc at Max Protetch - New York," Art in America, January 2003, 105.