The five-person Slovenian artists’ collective IRWIN has produced numerous ground-breaking projects, both within and beyond the group, since 1983. IRWIN connects art and ideology and brings together art historical references with symbols taken from religion or totalitarian political systems. IRWIN also co-founded the collective Neue Slowenische Kunst in 1984, along with the musical group Laibach and the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre, to process the complex relationship of Slovenia with Germany through art. Over time, IRWIN has built up a complex system of cross-references between their works and the works of other artists. After more than forty years of artistic activity, it is one of the most celebrated artists’ collectives active in Europe today. Recent exhibitions and projects include collaborations with institutions and galleries like the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Moderna galerija, Ljubljana; Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; Galleria Civica di Modena; House of World Cultures (HKW), Berlin; Tate Modern, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre for Art and Media (ZKM), Karlsruhe; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Taipei Biennial; and many others.

One of IRWIN’s most important projects was the series Was ist Kunst?, which was begun soon after the group was established in 1983. Over time, Was ist Kunst? has developed into a series of more than a hundred framed oil paintings, which contain montages of Socialist Realist, Agitprop and motifs quoted from the Slovenian modernist art of the 1960’s. IRWIN adds to these archetypal figures from the Laibach music group, including metal worker, deer, antlers, axes, the image of a coffee drinker, cogs, and a black Malevic cross. Striking are the materials used on the paintings: blood, tar, animal skin, coal, wood, gold-leaf and other metals, while the paintings heavy corner frames consist of black tar, wood, and coal. Paintings from IRWIN’s Was is Kunst series are painted by one of the five members and then framed in heavy black frames that unite the individual works in a single whole and the narrative of the collective.