During the summer months, all Piran Coastal Galleries exhibition venues are hosting interesting recently opened exhibitions and other art projects.
Francesco Bertocco’s exhibition Breaking the Circuit of Control at the Monfort Gallery in Portorož, a video screening at the City Museum of Ljubljana, and an exhibition at Galerija Fotografija in Ljubljana
Italian artist Francesco Bertocco is presenting his solo exhibition at the Monfort exhibition venue until 23 August, entitled Breaking the Circuit of Control. The artist’s work explores the work and influence of Italian psychiatrist and psychiatric reformer Franco Basaglia, focusing in particular on his visit to Brazil in the late 1970s and the impact of that visit. Together with the exhibition curator Gabi Scardi, Bertocco carried out extensive research and fieldwork in Brazil, one result of which is a documentary video work. Alongside the exhibition, Piran Coastal Galleries have prepared an extensive accompanying public programme in Slovenia and abroad. The accompanying programme presents the subject explored in the artist’s work and the research and exhibition project unfolding between Europe and Brazil.
This autumn, the project Francesco Bertocco. Breaking the Circuit of Control will continue in Ljubljana. On 12 September 2026, the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana (MGML) will host a discussion with the artist and other guests, followed by a screening of the film O homem no pelourinh. Also on 12 September, at 6.00 pm, the Galerija Fotografija at Center Rog in Ljubljana will open an exhibition of photographs taken in Brazil, with the launch of the catalogue (published by Humboldt Books).
The programme will subsequently take place in Paris, Gdańsk, Milan, Rovereto and Ticino, Switzerland, prompting new reflections on the links between contemporary art, psychoanalysis, institutional memory and society. Further information will be published on the Piran Coastal Galleries’ website.
The documentary film Breaking the Circuit of Control will continue its international journey in Paris during summer and autumn 2026, with public presentations, screenings and discussions in various European cultural settings. In Paris, the documentary will be presented in cooperation with Université Paris 8 and Association Quai de la Loire. In September, the project will continue in Gdańsk, where Instytut Kultury Miejskiej will host a screening and a discussion with artist Francesco Bertocco on questions of meaning, reality, the inner world and the role of cultural institutions in times of uncertainty. Presentations in Italy will follow at ICA Milano and MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, where the project will also become part of the permanent museum collection.
In autumn, the project will also be hosted in the Canton of Ticino in Switzerland, at the CARL centre, where Francesco Bertocco, Gabi Scardi and Laurent Pellandini will present the project in relation to art, personal memory, institutional transformation and community care inspired by the principles of Franco Basaglia’s psychiatric reform.
Through its international programme, the project opens a critical dialogue on the relationship between art, institutional memory and the future of inclusive cultural spaces. The final programme will soon be available on our website.
Major retrospective exhibition of Bernhard Rüdiger at the Piran City Gallery
A major retrospective exhibition by internationally acclaimed European artist Bernhard Rüdiger, entitled Failed Again (Seventh Trumpet), is on view at the Piran City Gallery until 23 August 2026.
The exhibition presents an extensive overview of the artist’s creative journey between 1985 and 2025 and includes a selection of key works from his rich oeuvre: sculptures, installations, drawings, paintings, sound projections, film and other works. Through his exceptional artistic language, the artist reflects on the relationship between art, society and contemporary history, inviting visitors to experience the artwork in a comprehensive and sensory way.
Free guided tours of exhibitions in Portorož and Piran and free workshops for children
On Thursday, 16 July 2026, at 7 p.m., we are organising a guided tour of Francesco Bertocco’s exhibition Interrupting the Circuit of Control, on view at the Monfort Gallery in Portorož. The tour will be led by PCG curator Tina Jazbec.
It will also be interesting to hear Bernhard Rüdiger during the guided tour of his exhibition on Friday, 24 July 2026, from 7 p.m. onwards at the Piran City Gallery. The tour will be conducted in English and Italian, while the exhibition’s co-curator Matic Bukovec will simultaneously interpret the artist’s words into Slovenian.
On Friday, 24 July, following a prior visit to the exhibition Failed Again ( Seventh Trumpet) at the Piran City Gallery, a free children’s workshop entitled Plants and Traces of Nature will also take place. Using watercolours, children will create plant motifs inspired by the works of acclaimed artist Bernhard Rüdiger, in which plants hold special significance. They will learn a distinctive watercolour technique, layering colours and shapes to create a sense of depth, sensitivity and intertwining plant motifs. The art workshop is suitable for children aged 10 to 15 and will take place from 11.15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Herman Pečarič Gallery Piran. We will meet at 11 a.m. at the Piran City Gallery. The workshop will be led by curator and educator Ana Papež and artist Rihard Lobenwein.
For more information and registration, please contact: ana.papez@obalne-galerije.si
Other temporary exhibitions in Koper, Piran and Portorož
At the Herman Pečarič Gallery Piran, until 16 August 2026, the memorial exhibition Sakan and Piran is on view, dedicated to the renowned designer Dragan Sakan, who also worked in Piran and was deeply attached to the town.
This time, women artists are in the spotlight at the Koper exhibition venues of Piran Coastal Galleries. At the Loža Gallery, internationally acclaimed Slovenian visual artist Tilyen Mucik is presenting a solo exhibition. The exhibition entitled Seeds is based on a collection of seeds that the artist documented photographically. Her fascination soon developed into an extensive photographic project in which a multitude of highly diverse seeds of every conceivable shape and colour, from near and far, passed before her lens.
At the Meduza Gallery in Koper, the international group exhibition Layering is on view. Twenty-two women artists from ten European countries and Japan are united by their work in the specific field of geometric abstract and concrete art. The exhibition premiered in Budapest in 2024, where it was conceived at Gallery 37, and subsequently travelled to Vienna, Cologne, Coaraze in France and, most recently, Sofia this year.
Summer is also an ideal time to visit and stroll through the Forma viva stone sculpture park at Seča near Portorož. In June, the renovated Lucija–Forma viva municipal road, which improves access to the park, was officially opened, and new public lighting was installed. In cooperation with Piran Coastal Galleries, the Municipality of Piran also renovated the park’s entrance point and installed new information panels offering visitors updated information about the sculpture park and the olive grove at Forma viva. One more reason to visit.
Ex-tempore Piran 2026
Preparations for the 61st edition of the International Painting Ex-tempore Piran 2026 are in full swing.
The introduction to Ex-tempore Piran 2026 week, which will take place this year from Saturday, 29 August, to Saturday, 5 September, will be the opening of a solo exhibition by last year’s recipient of the Young Artist Award 2025, the promising student of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, Julija Brajnik Volčič. It will open on Friday, 28 August 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Herman Pečarič Gallery.
A week of registrations and submission of artworks will follow, together with accompanying events for children and adults, intensive preparations for the jury process, and the installation of exhibitions at the Piran City Gallery and the Monfort Gallery in Portorož. The closing event, including a ceremonial awards presentation directed by Igor Jelen – Iggy, will take place on Saturday, 5 September 2026, in the evening at Tartini Square. Further information will be prepared in August; you are already warmly invited to join us in great numbers.
