The Sublime Object of Idealogy

Apologies in advance for the length of today’s entry! 

Today, we have two main points of interest to focus on, both outside the Old Town of yesterday’s explorations. First, there’s the Orthodox Church of St Cyril and Methodius, built in the Serbs-Byzantine Revival in the 1930s. The exterior is unmistakably Byzantine with its five domes with golden crosses at their top, and every inch of its interior is richly painted by Serbian artists, colours rich  and embellished with the gold of orthodox iconography. I love the darkness of these churches, the overpowering scent of incense, the space offered by the absence of seating - the simple austerity of worship contrasting with the richness of the interior. 

From here we plan to explore the Autonomous Cultural Zone of Metelkova in another part of the city. Here too, a richness of painting and art work characterises the area, but that’s where the similarity ends. 

So far, Ljubljana has been noticeably free of street art - ugly scrawled graffiti being in evidence rather that anything more creative. I know some see this as the art of genuine protest, seeing ‘street art’ as sanitised and artificial, but I just find raw graffiti ugly and senseless. Now we find that all the street art of Ljubljana is concentrated into Metelkova - and it’s certainly not sanitised! 

Walking away from the Old Town, things become less attractive, more aesthetically challenging, edgier and less comfortable, until, following our map, we find ourselves in an amazing world of dreams and  nightmares. Every inch of these old buildings is covered in creativity, ranging from street art underwater visions, to grotesque Gollum-like creatures contorted on poles. Then there are words - protestations, statements, wit - ranging from poetic to political. Recycled rubbish is transformed to spider- like creatures or to screens made out of bike wheels. It’s absolutely fascinating.  

It’s almost deserted, though there’s seems to be some rudimentary building project taking place. There’s a handful of visitors like us, and a few shadowy figures possibly dealing - though there are clear anti-drug messages around. I do feel safe, though I’m not sure how keen I’d be to visit after dark when apparently the whole place comes to life. 

So what’s the story behind Metelkova? Originally these buildings were barracks of the Austria-Hungarian Army , but became a squat back in 1993 when 200 volunteers wanted to stop them from being demolished. Built in the late 19th century, they have now been transformed to this haven of creativity and freedom through interventions by numerous renowned and little known Slovenian artists. I must admit, I absolutely love it - but I have to drag myself away! 

While our day begins in sunshine, by now it’s completely overcast and the forecast rain is threatening. Back in the Old Town we sit outside by the river for warming drinks - hot spiced gin for me, Nutella chocolate for G. We have rugs, and there are gas warmers as well as large parasols - all fresco eating and drinking is very much the thing here even in mid-winter. And then the promised rain descends ……. 

So - a word about my main - and title. So hard to choose a main - even harder than usual - but G and I agreed on this piece of wall art. I discovered that ‘the Sublime Object of Idealogy is the Slovenian writer Slavonic Zizek’s most famous work in which he ….. 

‘……. takes a look at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. From the sinking of the Titanic to Hitchcock’s Rear Window, from the operas of Wagner to science fiction, from Alien to the Jewish joke, Zizek’s acute analyses explore the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion that make up human society.
Linking key psychoanalytical and philosophical concepts to social phenomena such as totalitarianism and racism, the book explores the political significance of these fantasies of control.’ 
(Good Reads - the clearest summits I could find!) 

It seems a fitting philosophical question for today’s explorations. 

And there are extras - all but one of Metelkova, the other being the beautiful interior of the Orthodox Church.