Eva Riečanská
Sloverige is a word you will not find in vocabularies. It has been formed by combining names of two countries: Slovakia and Sverige. It is the name the ÚĽUV and Swedish organisation Svensk Slöjd (the Swedish craft) use to introduce an exhibition of the Slovak and Swedish craft traditions. Sloverige is the name that refers to a playful type and special content of the exhibition. The exhibition presents traditional artistic crafts and their contemporary transformation. However, it is a unique exhibition that highlights similarities and parallels of the two countries with different location and culture. Exhibition displays are located side by side, without indicating, deliberately, the country of origin. The purpose of the exhibition is to emphasize the similarities of materials and creative ideas. The exhibition invites to look differently at what we have in common and at universality of craft skills, sense of material and aesthetics. Anna Åhlin has selected 26 Swedish and 28 Slovak artists. In 2009, the exhibition successfully travelled around several locations in Sweden. This, year, visitors in Slovakia may compare Swedish and Slovak craft traditions. After Bratislava, the exhibition will be reinstalled in the ÚĽUV galleries in Tatranská Lomnica and Banská Bystrica.