News

The exhibition Catlands Politics, which will run at the Customs House from 16 May 2025 to 21 June 2025, reveals the harsh reality of Europe's exclusive politics through the humorous cat-like symbolism of national flags, state institutions and signage. Filmmaker and visual artist Ana Čigon weaves elements of her latest animation, Catlands, and video interviews in which she discusses refugee policy with female experts.

The spatial installation in the Carinarnica is framed by a panel image of the European Commission building, which offers the opportunity to watch animation inserts and interviews with Aigul Haikimova, a member of the Infokolpa initiative, and Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik, a sociologist and scientific advisor at the Institute for Slovenian Emigration and Migration of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

More about the exhibition: https://www.go2025.eu/en/whats-up/events/ana-cigon-catlands-politics

Are TV-shows and newspaper articles causing upset stomach? Is the Internet even worse? Fem TV: a bouquet of feminists for efficient calming of media reflux.

Kindly invited to the burlesque-cabaret show Fem TV, which returns to Cerkno after six years. In its current, seventh version, it parodies television shows and news programs and sharply criticizes current topics related to gender, sexuality, and the intersections between various forms of discrimination.

The Fem TV collective consists of diverse, changing individuals who create in a non-hierarchical feminist and queer spirit. They have been politicizing ignored topics with humor since 2012.

The collective includes Eva Jus, Danijela Zajc, Pia S. Skušek, Ana Grobler, Ana Čigon, Vasja Progar, Jaka Andrej Vojevec, Slobodan Malić, Tadeja Pirih, Bernarda Kristan, Avalon, Lucija Zajc and Hay.

More about the eevent: https://cmakcerkno.net/burleskno-kabaretna-predstava-fem-tv-7-0/

Review of the animated film Catlands by Ana Čigon

Catlands is a short animated film by director Ana Čigon, which premiered last year at the 34th Animafest in Zagreb. Last December, it was included in the program of the 21st Animateka, where we also watched it. It is a sharp satire that reflects a sharp commentary on European border policy through the microcosm of three feline neighbors. /.../

Review available only in Slovene: https://radiostudent.si/kultura/kinobar/macje-meje-in-pasji-zakoni

The second exhibition of the International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns, taking place in April and organised in collaboration with the Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture – City of Women, features two of the key artists who have been working independently and together in many fields of art in Slovenia for more than two decades. Social criticism, more specifically, feminist art, is an important foundation of Vesna Bukovec's and Ana Čigon's artistic practice.

More about the exhibition: https://galerijalkatraz.org/?p=20974

The animation Catlands will be screened in the competition programme of ClujShorts International Short Film Festival in Romania.

More about the event: https://clujshorts.ro/cluj-shorts-2025-official-selection/

The animation Catlands will have its Polish premiere at Animocje International Animation Film Festival. The fil will be shown in the competition programme Films for Children and Young Adults Competition 15+.

More about the event: https://www.animocje.com/events/films-for-children-and-young-adults-competition-15-18

The animation Catlands will be screened in the competition programme of Athens International Film + Video Festival.

More about the event: https://athensfilmfest.org/full-schedule-2025/

My animation Catlands is continuing its festival tour. In March it will have its UK premiere at Glasgow Short Film Festival. The film will be shown in the programme Welcome to the Multiverse: Dystopia Now.

More about the event: https://gsff.filmchief.com/shop/tickets?v=1055

The exhibition Picture (a) City displays works of art that depict and critically reflect on various periods in the life of the city of Ljubljana.

Artists: Igor Andjelić, Architect's bulletin; Jože Barši & Martina Bastarda, Mateja Ocepek, Nataša Skušek; Eva Bevec, Biancoshock, Fabian Brunsing, Klara Debeljak, DNLM, Leon Dolinšek, Kostja Gatnik, IRWIN, Lado Jakša, Zmago Jeraj, Staš Kleindienst, Future 14b Collective, Neven Korda, France Kralj, Krater, KUD Obrat / Obrat Culture (Stefan Doepner, Urška Jurman, Polonca Lovšin, Apolonija Šušteršič), Kvadratni meter (Teja Miholič, Urša Rahne, Anne Elisabeth Tassel), Gašper Lešnik, Miha Maleš, Metod, Rastko Močnik, Amir Muratović, Ivana Müller & Bojana Kunst in collaboration with Ana Čigon, Ajda Bračič, Urban Belina, Klara Drnovšek Solina; The Most Beautiful City in the World, David Nez (OHO), Nonument Group, Nikolaj Omersa, Tadej Pogačar & P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art, Marko Pogačnik, Marjetica Potrč, Marij Pregelj, Matjaž Rušt, Jakob Savinšek, Željko Stevanić, Iva Suhadolnik Gregorin; Inštitut Egon March (Urška Kristina Škerl, Domen Kosmač, Marko Košnik); Nika Špan, Miha Štrukelj, Vladimir Turner, Sašo Vrabič, Peter Žargi, The Wa

Exhibition curator: Igor Španjol

More about the event: https://www.mg-lj.si/en/exhibitions/4066/exhibition-picture-a-city/

Work in Progress is a multi-year artistic-curational research and fluid process that explores our relationship to work, community, and the experiences and practices of others. By cooperating, we highlight the precarious position of modern workers. The special feature of the process is the use of different media, group work and learning. We include colleagues from various fields who co-shape the project with their considerations, and we explore ways of sharing knowledge and involving female participants and visitors.

Deceptive Working Time thus originates from several years of research and also flows back into it. At the reading group*, we talked about the book Bulshit Jobs by David Graeber and thought about how the views on the value and evaluation of work in the book resonate with our lives. In addition to Graeber, we also read the books Restavracija kapitalizma: repatriarhalizacija družbe (Restoration of Capitalism: Repatriarchalization of Society) by Lilijana Burcar and the book Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era, authors: Giacomo D'Alisa, Federico Demaria, Giorgos Kallis and others. In doing so, we were interested in what solutions socialism offered for the organization of work and the relief of women's reproductive work, and how degrowth deals with the issue of working hours.

At the event, we will present a video in which mag. Ajda Pistotnik from the Policy Lab organization presented the views on organizing work and society proposed by the degrowth movement. Dr. Lilijana Burcar will address the historical differences in working conditions for women in socialism and capitalism and will present the importance of the systemic emancipation of women.

More about the event: https://www.galerijaskuc.si/si/event/delo-v-nastajanju-varljivi-delovni-cas/

At Video Evenings with Station DIVA Photon Gallery host artists who are part of the Station DIVA archive to talk about their work and the background of their video projects. At the Video Evening, video artist, director and performer Ana Čigon will present her feminist artistic practice of the last ten years. She will show selected excerpts from video documentation of her performances. She has thematised several artworks by different female artists, individual female artists and some essential female figures from the past. She will present a selection of audiovisual works, reflecting on the transitions between the different genres in which she works, such as video art, documentary and experimental film, and animation. She will conclude by presenting the practice of long-term research and collective reflection on selected topics through video talks and artistic collaborations.

More about the event: https://photon.si/video-evening-with-diva-station-ana-cigon/?lang=en

At the beginning of December, two of my films will be shown at the Animateka International Animated Film Festival. On Tuesday at 11:00 p.m., the first Slovenian animation with LGBTIQ+ content, Rebellious Essence, will be shown as part of the programme The Team Has Spoken. On Friday at 5:00 p.m., as part of Kinotrip's Best of the World programme, my newest satirical animation criticizing the inhumane European refugee policy, Catlands, will be shown. Both screenings will be in Kinodvor cinema.

More about the programme The Team Has Spoken: https://www.animateka.si/2024/en/the-team-has-spoken/
More about the programme Kinotrip’s Best of the World: https://www.animateka.si/2024/en/kinotrips-best-of-the-world/

Format Court published an interview with Ana Čigon: J’adore utiliser la satire, l’ironie et l’humour, where she talks with Laure Dion about Catlands, her art and the use of humor.

Article: https://www.formatcourt.com/2024/11/ana-cigon-jadore-utiliser-la-satire-lironie-et-lhumour/

Catlands continues its Portugese tour at the 48th International Animated Film Festival - Cinanima 24 in Espinho. The film will be shown in the programme Grand Panorama Short Film 2.

More about the festival: https://cinanima.pt/en/international-grand-panorama/

Catlands will be shown as one of the nominated films at the Awarding ceremony for the best Slovenian short animated films created in the last two years chosen by* Slovene Animated Film Association - DSAF*. The event is part of the celebration of the International Day of Animated Film.

More about the event: https://dsaf.si/asset/yLJ5e6iFjBpfR8Azk