Interview

CULTURE, / By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

Cankarjev dom cultural and congress centre is Slovenia's largest cultural institution, built between 1982 and 1983 and designed by the architect, Edvard Ravnikar. Ravnikar’s Line exhibition has recently been unveiled in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone. Annually, the centre attracts 500,000 visitors and hosts approximately 18,000 performers. This year, the centre will organise around 1,100 artistic performances, with the program of the Events and Congress Management Department listing as many as 850 events.



Uršula Cetinski, General Director, Cankarjev dom

Cankarjev dom combines various genres of art under one roof: music, film, fine arts, theatre and dance, humanist arts and cultural education. Can you share some facts and figures about your international cooperation?

Uršula Cetinski: In the 2017/2018 season, the Golden Series presents some major international orchestras, including the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Young German Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The outstanding ballet adaptation of The Glembays by the Ballet of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, has already featured as part of The Magnificent 7 Series, as has the sublime Tristan and Isolde, choreographed by Japanese dance and visual artist, Saburo Teshigawara. We are eagerly anticipating Romeo and Juliet, an exquisite ballet by the masterly French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, for one of our New Year’s Eve shows. In 2018, two more companies will no doubt mesmerise us: the Sydney Dance Company and Compagnie Käfig from France.

In cooperation with the Ivan Meštrović Gallery in Split and the Atelier Meštrović in Zagreb, the centre will launch Corporeality and Eroticism in Sculpture, an exhibition of more than 60 sculptures and drawings, on 9 February 2018.

The traditional 59th Jazz Festival Ljubljana will be held in late June. It is the oldest in Europe with ongoing, uninterrupted activity. Last September, the centre was greatly honoured to act as the host of the 4th European Jazz Conference, a prestigious event bringing together over 200 eminent professionals. We have achieved widespread recognition with our International Film Festival Liffe as well as a smaller festival of Documentary Film, to be held for the twentieth time next year. In April, we keenly await the concert by art-pop star and iconic voice of the new French chanson, Camille, and our invitation for an April visit to our centre is being strongly considered by Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

As the forecasts state, the global MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Events) market is expected to reach US $1.59bn by 2021 from US $1.11bn in 2016. What role does the centre play in congress activity?

While primarily an arts centre due to its strong congress activity, Cankarjev dom also enjoys a significant regional and global presence as an important scientific centre. In line with the centre’s strategy, our Events and Congress Management Department covers between 20% to 25% of our program and in view of our limited spatial and personnel capacities, we have no plans to expand the congress activity. In this regard, we are doing extremely well and we are fully booked for 2018. It gives me great pleasure to announce that in August 2018, Cankarjev dom will proudly host the 15th International DOCOMOMO Conference (DOcumentation and COnservation of MOdern MOvement), which will bring together 600 delegates from 70 countries.

What are your feelings toward Virtual Reality in connection with MICE? Do you think it will become a feasible feature of most MICE operators?

Virtual reality and its endless possibilities are undoubtedly changing our lives. Digitalisation of society has introduced numerous changes, changes for which the effects are, for the most part, positive. However, as mankind will not renounce the privilege of meeting in real space, the areas that refuse to be robotic – which includes the arts – will enjoy a very promising and prosperous future.

What are the highlights for 2018?

In 2018, Cankarjev dom will place special emphasis on marking the centenary of the death of Ivan Cankar (1876–1918), the illustrious writer after whom the centre has been named. Within the context of the Cankar on Cankar Festival, to be launched in January 2018, is Scandal in St Florian Valley. Directed by Eduard Miler, the production will feature some of the most accomplished actors engaged by the Drama National Theatre and the City Theatre Ljubljana. In cooperation with the City Museum of Ljubljana, the centre is planning a large-scale exhibition dedicated to the writer. The show, at the City Museum of Ljubljana, will chronicle the writer’s life and times, and the comparative exhibition at the Cankarjev dom Gallery will focus on the influences on his work, an output testifying to the fact that Ivan Cankar is unquestionably a major Central European author. The exhibition is titled Cankar and Europe. From Shakespeare to Kafka. Cankar’s works will be compared to those of European literary giants, names as illustrious as Gorki, Shaw, Jarry, Mann, Rilke, Joyce, Gide, Kafka, etc.

