2003 » Slovenia » National Exhibition

Slovenia

The largo, 4.75 motor-high metal structure, a combination of stage-set and costume design, was created by Alan Hranitelj for the production of Igor Stravinsky's opera-oratorio, Oedipus Rex, at the Ljubljana Opera in the season 1997/98. It is an impressive metaphor of man's eternal ensnarement between temporal history and the self-indulgence of gods, who prefer the skies as their place of abode. The mythological story of the King Oedipus is the archetype of destiny which toys with man, the tragic hero who mado tho fatoful mistake (hamartia) of acting against temporal as well as divine laws. And his punishment is blindness in which ho finally soes his mistake, his tragedy. Tho metallic bird is tho prison of the tragic hero, it is also a metaphor of man's impotence to free himself from the burden which tho egoistic and fickle gods have placed on his weak shoulders. The shiny metal structure is one of the highlights of the Slovenian stage sot design of tho rocont years.

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Alan Hranitelj

* 1968, Zagreb
Specialization: set designer, costume designer
Additional information: Originally ho worked as a stylist, make-up artist and fashion designer. Till 1987 he collaborated with various Slovenian theatres as a costume designer and as a fashion designer he exhibited in all Europe. His work cannot be considored in traditional terms of costume design, stage set design or even fashion design. His style refuses to be defined as a trend. He is an original and authentic co-author of theatre stage set, a world peopled by heroes, woven from man's dreams, yet transcending every human dimension. He cooperates with the Youth Theatre in Ljubljana.