Eta Sadar Breznik: Seize the Storm
Rotunda SNG Nova Gorica, SI
17.09.2024 — 18.09.2025

The exhibition "Seize the Storm" at the Slovenian National Theatre Nova Gorica is interconnected by a diverse selection of works by one of the most important artists on the Slovenian textile art scene.

Eta's textiles tell the story of a captured moment, which she successfully translates into a visual language through weaving, recording it as part of her artistic achievements. The harmony of colour and form is reflected in the compositions with a distinctly atmospheric identity, reminiscent of natural phenomena. Their goal is to captivate and lead the viewer into a fantastical world of the imagination, a world beyond our everyday reality. The artist has been building this world since childhood, as dreams and ideas have continuously emerged throughout her creative process as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The interpretations of her works are countless – they always remind us of something, yet they leave space for each observer to form their own image of what they see.

The textile works tell the tale of the time needed for the countless interweavings of warp and weft on the loom to take on their final shape. But it is precisely this movement through time, which is difficult to grasp and understand, that is so distinctly present in Eta's work. Perhaps it is most evident in the forms, whose dynamism creates a sense of movement.

Textile practices would not exist without planning, which becomes very clear in Eta's work through her thoughts on space, dimension, technique and so on. Nowadays we understand weaving as a complex process and a precursor to programming, as successfully elaborated by the first programmer Ada Lovelace. This speaks of the complexity of weaving practice and the effort, motivation and patience required to produce a handwoven tapestry. This complex logical approach to creating is seemingly juxtaposed with the tool that Eta skillfully uses in her process – intuition.

With an emotionally charged approach, the artist chooses colours and materials that make her tapestries authentic and sincere, which adds to their appeal. There is something primal, essential, about them. They hover, they glow, they are translucent. They remind us of desert sand dunes, ocean waves, clouds and the swaying of golden fields of rape mustard blossoms in the wind. They are the flow of air and sea, the flight of birds and the movement of schools of fish, and everything else one might imagine – or not – from their own perspective of existence, while nature subtly offers it all as the backdrop to our daily lives. Eta skilfully translates these phenomena into a unique product that always occupies exhibition spaces with sovereignty, assuring an atmospheric effect, where no context is required. In her later works, this approach is even clearer, the messages of the works are more robust and sturdy, as if their tension contradicts the forms into which they are placed. This makes their freezing in movement through time even more unambiguous.

Unusually for an architect, who might consider textiles as a decorative or functional element of an interior, she gives textiles primary importance and understands them in a sculptural way that is more focused on the viewer's experience. Although they are thin and translucent, Eta's textiles, almost like building elements, create their own space, independent of the one they inhabit. This merely serves as a backdrop, a kind of scenography.

The organically distributed spatial composition of Eta's textiles opposes the monumental and sterile volume of the white cylinder of the theatre's utilitarian space. It creates the impression of a natural intervention and dynamic that could automatically disperse across the white volume. It lends a liveliness and warmth that seem to have merged with the oversized format. Despite their size, Eta's tapestries fill the space of the theatre in a completely different way than we might initially expect. In a constant interplay with each other, through the eyes of the viewer, who changes their perspective as they move around the space, the textiles take on a volume that appears to move on a spiralling path. Like merging water currents, the textile elements intertwine and create dynamic images that are further emphasised by their transparency.

The textiles cut horizontally through the space of the rotunda and create the image of a water surface collected in an imaginary well. The water in it is not calm but has created a whirlpool due to the speed of movement, opening up the path of the gaze towards the heights of the space, where the glass dome is located. This conical shape, dividing the cylinder, simultaneously represents the starting point of the spiralling path along which the textile elements descend towards the observer. At this point, we can see the dynamic play of Eta's textile elements – butterflies drawn inwards by the current. Looking upward reveals a new perspective – a ceiling resembling a mechanical element, like an engine, into which a foreign object catches itself in motion. The dome is also a source of natural light, illuminating the path to the geometric depths of the space. In contrast to the circle, which is also dynamic, the spiral has no end – it is in constant motion. Such are also Eta's tapestries at a glance, even though they seem very static. Their transparency, shadows, layers and graphically striking language give the impression of activity – movement.

The exhibition brings together three opposites: geometry is softened by natural organicity, intuition is complemented by a programme logic, the uncontrollable becomes controllable again.

Is it possible to capture time, a moment or a natural phenomenon? It is certainly possible to drift off in thought, to recall what we have experienced or to imagine what we have not yet lived through. And is that not what makes for a successful practice – to encourage one to think?

Eta's story today speaks of work and dedication, various interests, enjoyment, respect, trust, understanding, partnership, support and complementarity. She grew up with a father who worked professionally in the textile industry. He provided her with her first weaving machine, which she learned to use in her room as a young woman, marking the beginning of her creative expression after having decided to abandon architecture as her chosen career path. This shift was further supported by her move to the Academy in Łódź, Poland, and since then, she has been an active player on the local and global textile scene. Her dedication and desire for expression and work have resulted in a unique signature that is easy to recognise and remember. Such an expression is only possible as the product of a sincere desire to create and an intuitive commitment to one's ambitions.

Although it could be said that her journey, like any other, was difficult, she now portrays it as light and breezy, brimming with optimism. As she says: "I only think forwards, never backwards". It is probably possible to look at life in this way, but context certainly makes a difference to the situations we find ourselves in. Eta's reality is that she has a life partner, Uroš, the father of her beloved daughter Špela and grandfather of her adored grandchildren Anže and Ajda, with whom she has shared ideas from an early age, who understands them unconditionally, helps her to achieve her desired goals and represents the eternal moral, or any other, support that she could ever wish for.

Perhaps this retrospective exhibition is actually a story of love – for oneself and others, for movement and exploration, for material and expression, and for nature!

Text: Lovro Ivančić, the curator; translation: Arven Šakti Kralj

Eta Sadar Breznik

After completing her studies in architecture in Ljubljana, Eta Sadar Breznik fully dedicated herself to design, weaving, and the study of textile art. She furthered her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Poland. Since 1978, her works have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions and selected group exhibitions in the field of textile art across Europe, Asia, and America. Her works are also included in many public collections as well as in professional overviews of global achievements in textile art. Among other accolades, Eta Sadar Breznik is the recipient of the Bronze Medal at the International Tapestry Festival in Beauvais, France (1996), and the Slovenian national Prešeren Fund Award (1998).

More information: layer.si