Blog Articles by Marta Stemberger

Slovene drummer and percussionist Marjan Stanić
It was a pleasant weekday late afternoon in early June at the Washington Square Park in New York City. Chess players were engaged in their game close by, as we were sitting on wooden benches, shaded by the green canopy of trees full of birds. People of all types and colors were passing by. And of course, there were always dogs and squirrels running around. “Look! What’s that?” says the ever observant Marjan Stanić, pointing at someone’s carrying case. “Mhm, perhaps, it’s a violin,” I offered. “The shape is very interesting”, he ponders. “Maybe there are two inside.” Then he […]

SINGING BELOVED RHYTHMS: Diversity, Sincerity, Ethnic Music…and Food

Slovene Cinematographer Darko Herič
“Look how the windows are catching the light. It’s beautiful,” said the lanky young man as he stopped on top of the stairs, above the Houston Street’s traffic. “I’ve heard that there’s an avenue in NYC through which you can see the sun setting on a particular day of the year.” “Mhm, the sunset is always beautiful to watch at the Christopher’s street pier in West Village”, I answered. It turns out that on a couple of spring and summer evenings every year “the setting Sun aligns precisely with the Manhattan street grid, creating a radiant glow of light across […]

EMERGING SLOVENE CINEMA: How to Express the Essence through Moving ...

Mapping Slovene Contemporary Art Exchange
I’ve always had an uneasy rapport with contemporary art. I understand it intellectually, but I miss a more organic and deeper connection. Art through the end of 19th century has smooth canvas surfaces. Impressionists, pointillists, expressionists began breaking the continuity of paint, and the deconstruction continues. But what happens after deconstruction? We cannot just stay in the fragmented state. As part of my daily errands, I walk by the New Museum that opened a few years ago on the Bowery in Manhattan. But I never went in; it made me feel uncomfortable. When I was choosing a place to meet […]

LAYERS, SHADOWS, LACES: Mapping Slovene American Contemporary Art Exchange

Ana Jelnikar, 2015 ©Philip A. Smith
“Every language can express anything and everything. Poets are the smiths in the workshop of words and new meanings; they have an enormous role. In a way, poetry writing is a political act—if it continually tests the limits of language. Poetry can breathe new meanings into common words, or gives them a new life by reactivating their old meanings. This is extremely important for the progress of society and individuals; it’s an invisible driving force. True poets are revolutionaries. Poetry writing is a permanent revolution.” (Ana Jelnikar) Ana Jelnikar, PhD, is a scholar and translator of Slovene poetry. Born in […]

POETRY IN TRANSLATION: Vibrant Slovene American Poetic Exchange