Petra Berčan, as the winner of the 10th International Zine Open Call by the DobraVaga Gallery, presents her solo exhibition titled Auto Body Repairers. The exhibition is based on the eponymous zine, which the artist created using waste paper from an auto body repair workshop – a space where noise, dampened by Slovenian music, dust, and work form a distinct, familiar atmosphere.
The workshop, with its functional rawness, represents the central field of the artist’s exploration. It is not merely a workspace but also a place of contemplation, where each object that might lose its purpose outside this environment finds its essence. With each tear of the protective paper, carefully stored before eventual disposal, the repeating sanding of car parts, and the smell of the paints and solvents, the workshop becomes the primary terrain for assembling these fragments into a zine. These fragments manifest either as physical objects or, more often, as memories captured in images.
The Auto Body Repairers zine is made from materials that reinterpret residual products. Paper torn from cars, crumpled and covered in paint, becomes, through the artist’s intervention, a reflection on the value of imperfect, neglected, and discarded elements. On its surfaces, images from the documentary process reveal themselves as part of the workshop, capturing moments of quiet and rawness. With its directness, combined with the simplicity of the idea, the zine embodies the core qualities of this medium – accessibility, sincerity, and an experimental nature.
The exhibition will feature works originating from the artist’s documentation of her time in the auto body workshop, as well as other zines made from discarded materials and objects representing the fundamental elements of the workshop environment.
Through the Auto Body Repairers project, the artist creates a subtle and personal narrative that explores the power of everyday surroundings, spontaneity, and material rawness. It invites us to seek aesthetics in the irregular, the simple, and the often overlooked.
Petra Berčan (1998) is a multimedia artist and a graduate designer of unique objects who completed her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2022. She works across various fields, with a continuous and enduring interest in photography, inspired by scenes characterised by accidental order. During her studies, she participated in several group exhibitions, but Auto Body Repairers will be her first solo exhibition and also her first photographic showcase. She lives and works in Ljubljana.
Curated by: Špela Pečjak
Free admission.
13. 1.–10. 2. 2025
Organization: Kino Šiška.
