Ptuj Castle, Mihelič Gallery, Ptuj City Gallery
The May Salon, running uninterrupted since 1909, is the exhibition with the longest tradition in Slovenia and offers a survey of contemporary Slovenian visual art. This year’s exhibition features 134 visual artists. The curators of this year’s Salon are Stanka Gačnik (PMPO), Doroteja Kotnik (Ptuj City Gallery), and Jure Kirbiš (UGM). The project lead is Petra Kosi.
Exhibiting artists: Bagrat Arazyan, Lela B. Njatin, Vladimir Bačič, Igor Banfi, Jani Bavčer, Boris Beja, Lavoslava Benčić, Bojan Bensa, Marin Berovič, Iztok Bobić, Katja Bogataj, Suzana Brborović, Brut Carniollus, Bernarda Conič, Tjaša Tia Cusch, Dragica Čadež, Sara Čeh, Mojca Černič Pretnar, Miloš Dekić, Boge Dimovski, Domen Dimovski, Jurij Dobrila, Marjan Drev, Vesna Drnovšek, Patrik Dvorščak, Andreja Džakušič, Miha Erič, Erna Ferjanič, Dušan Fišer, Pavel Florjančič, Jože Foltin, Črtomir Frelih, Andrej Furlan, Maša Gala, Milena Gregorčič, Aleksandra Saška Gruden, Đejmi Hadrović, Cvetka Hojnik, Irena Horvat Gayatri, Svetlana Jakimovska Rodić, Evgenija Jarc Zaletel, Lea Jazbec, Brane Širca, Anja Jerčič Jakob, Klavdija Jeršinovec, Duša Jesih, Natalija Juhart Brglez, Barbara Jurkovšek, Barbara Kastelec, Meta Kastelic, Boštjan Kavčič, Mateja Kavčič, Metka Kavčič, Ana Kavčnik Jamnik, Dušan Kirbiš, Lenart Kirbiš, Staš Kleindienst, Janez Mišo Knez, Aleksij Kobal, Brane Korez, Alja Košar, Pšenica Kovačič, Nina Koželj, Andreja Kranjec, Anka Krašna, Igor Kregar, Blažka Križan, Nuša Lapajne, Gani Llalloshi, Robert Lozar, Aprilija Lužar, Katja Majer, Ksenija Makarovič, Katarina Marov, Slađana Matić Trstenjak, Goran Medjugorac, Vanja Mervič, Tamara Mihalič, Nevenka Miklič Perne, Tomaž Milač, Marijan Mirt, Simon Mlakar, Rok Mohar, Jasmina Nedanovski, Zoran Ogrinc, Silvan Omerzu, Marko Pak, Lana Pastirk, Metka Pepelnak, Andrej Perko, Polona Petek, Silvester Sicoe Plotajs, Anja Podreka, Uroš Potočnik, Arjan Pregl, Marija Prelog, Tanja Prušnik, Natalija R. Črnčec, Aljaž Rendla, Sandi Renko, Janez Rotman, Petra Ružić, Jasna Samarin, Aleš Sedmak, Nataša Segulin, Mojca Senegačnik, Brane Sever, Apolonija Simon, Saba Skaberne, Darko Slavec, Katja Smerdu, Alenka Spacal, Katarina Spacal, Evelin Stermitz, Lucija Stramec, Božidar Svetek, Meta Šolar, Tanja Špenko, Maruša Štibelj, Arijel Štrukelj, Jože Šubic, Simona Šuc, Zvonka T. Simčič, Urša Toman, Nejc Trampuž, Iva-Anasirma Tratnik, Alenka Venišnik, Uroš Weinberger, Matjaš Diego Zadel Dellamorte, Mojca Zlokarnik, Matej Zorec, Klemen Zupanc, Dani Žbontar, and Ivan Žerjal.
For more than a century, the May Salon has annually brought together a distinguished selection of artists—members of the Slovenian Association of Fine Artists (ZDSLU) and of local artists’ associations across Slovenia. In 2025 the May Salon occupies three venues in Ptuj from mid-May to early July: Ptuj Castle, the Ptuj City Gallery, and the Mihelič Gallery. Titled Soft Power, the May Salon 2025 questions the role of artists today and, in dialogue with the rich collections of the Ptuj–Ormož Regional Museum, reflects on the art of our time as the cultural heritage of the future. The presentation of contemporary artists at the May Salon 2025 in Ptuj—especially at Ptuj Castle—has been set in dialogue with the museum’s collections. This juxtaposition with art from the past centuries enables a deeper, more layered consideration of art created in Slovenia over the last few years through contrasts and affinities.
This year’s poster image is the votive painting Ex voto by the painter Franz Josef Fellner from 1766. It depicts the city of Ptuj at a time when the Drava River froze and there was a danger that ice floes would destroy the wooden bridge. Today, the painting is part of the permanent display of the Ptuj–Ormož Regional Museum, where it functions as a museum object, a witness to history, an illustration of a chapter in art history, and a source of aesthetic enjoyment and didactic mediation. When it was commissioned by the city magistrate and dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows for St George’s Church, however, its role was different. One could say that the city authorities believed that, by commissioning the painting, they were interceding with divine authority and influencing the saving of the wooden bridge. Do the public today—and those acting in its name—believe that art has the power to change the world? What is the power of art today? In political terms, under the cloak of culture art is often used and misused as cultural diplomacy, the so-called soft power—a term coined by political scientist Joseph Nye in the late 1980s. At the May Salon 2025, however, we propose a different reading of the phrase. We believe that in a raw and rough time, when many see the world only in black and white, artists possess a power that softens sharp edges and colors life in all the shades between darkness and light.
The display at the Ptuj City Gallery follows the salon format, befitting this very manifestation. A salon is a celebration of art, but it is also a competition of art—both metaphorically and literally, as this year again a jury composed of the chairs of the artistic councils and the curatorial team will select the May Salon prize recipients. While masterpieces compete through the lenses of history at Ptuj Castle, the concentrated display at the Ptuj City Gallery sees works contend with one another for dominance in the exhibition space and on the gallery walls. Each, with its own means, wrestles for the attention of the Salon’s visitors. Which work possesses the most “wall power”? Let the battle—in the venerable tradition of the salon—ignite full-blooded debates among the public and spark stimulating critical analysis!
At the Mihelič Gallery—formerly a defensive tower of the old town walls by the Drava—works on view are authored exclusively by women artists. At the first art exhibition in the Rihard Jakopič Pavilion in 1909—considered the first May Salon—only six of the 28 exhibitors were women; at the May Salon 2025, 74 of 134 exhibitors are women. In 116 years, the dominance of male authors at just under 80% has leveled out to a little over 55% women participants. This is an occasion for celebration; for the duration of the Salon we have therefore renamed the Mihelič Gallery to A Room of One’s Tower. In doing so, we invoke Virginia Woolf’s 1929 essay A Room of One’s Own. In that text the author argued for women’s economic independence as a condition for free creative work. A Room of One’s Tower thus becomes, for at least a month and a half, a pavilion where we can enjoy the fruits of the rights won by women artists. (From a text by Jure Kirbiš, curator of the May Salon.)
Press Release