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 IRWIN connects art and ideology and brings together art historical references with symbols taken from religion or totalitarian political systems.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.

Although painting is IRWIN's primary medium, the group also works in other media and forms where collaboration and appropriation are key concepts. Their practice is also based on the tradition of historical avant-gardes. IRWIN operates on the basis that no figure, image, or sign conveys meaning by itself, but is only determined by the context in which it is viewed. For IRWIN, the discussion of the relationship between authority (be it political, economic, military, or ideological) and image systems has affected their own position. Paintings are not merely representations of a subjective view or an illusion of an appearance. Instead, the images in paintings can always acquire an autonomous power of their own. Marketing shows a representational system in which the image is not structured from the viewer’s perspective towards the scene, but from the image outwards.