MONSTERS ARE HUMAN –
Group exhibition |
Loža Gallery, Koper, 13.03.2026–7.06.2026 –
Opening: Friday, March 13, 2026, at 7 p. m. |
Curated by: Nina Jeza,
Coordination: Ana Papež.
“All monsters are human”.
(Sister Jude Martin, American Horror Story).
In its third installment, the exhibition Monsters Are Human continues to explore the monstrous as a social and psychological construct. Rather than treating monsters as exceptions, anomalies, or mythological figures, the exhibition focuses on the human being—on fear, projection, violence, and the inability to accept otherness. Monstrosity does not appear as something external or extraordinary, but as the outcome of social mechanisms, ideologies, and collective obsessions which, in contemporary life, are easily normalized and become part of the everyday order.
The “monster” is thus understood as a projection of what exceeds the boundaries of the acceptable, the comprehensible, or the controllable. It is therefore not a question of abnormality, but of power relations: of processes of exclusion, stigmatization, and dehumanization that often hide behind rational explanations, moral norms, or seemingly neutral discourses. The monstrous is not something that happens at society’s margins—it is born at its very center.
In the 21st century, despite scientific and technological progress, we continue to confront persistent stereotypes and prejudices tied to identities, embodiment, mental health, migration, sexuality, and social minorities. Social networks and digital media do not function merely as carriers of information, but as spaces where fear, disinformation, and ideological constructs are produced—where the boundaries between scientific discourse, personal belief, and fiction are increasingly blurred.
Through visual artistic practices, the exhibition seeks to open up a space for confronting the grotesque, the unsettling, and the traumatic—not as sensational effect, but as a reflection of real social conditions. Images of demons, monsters, fools, freaks, and anxious scenes operate as metaphors for a contemporary world marked by the experiences of the pandemic, war, economic uncertainty, and constant exposure to images of violence, confronting the viewer with discomfort as an integral part of understanding the world.
This edition expands the temporal and thematic scope by connecting contemporary artistic practices with works by artists of an earlier generation whose oeuvres are shaped by existential questions, motifs of death, decay, anxiety, and human vulnerability. This dialogue between generations further deepens the understanding of the monstrous as a universal and enduring element of human experience.
Monsters Are Human does not offer unambiguous answers; instead, it establishes a space for critical and ethical reflection on a society in which monsters are no longer outside of us, but are often the result of our own actions, fears, and collective delusions. It opens a space where the boundaries between observation and involvement gradually blur, and the monstrous is revealed as something that is never entirely outside the shared human experience.
Artists exhibiting:
Mirsad Begić, Goran Bertok, Andrej Brumen Čop, Matej Čepin, Tina Dobrajc, Mito Gegič, Milan Golob, Natalija Šeruga Golob, Zdenko Huzjan, Marko Jakše, Janez Kardelj, Mateja Kavčič, Ira Marušič, Matjaš Diego Zadel Dellamorte, Betina Habjanič, Karin Vrbek, Jože Tisnikar, France Mihelič, Zoran Mušič.
