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Best wishes for a journey!
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"Culture – this is what art is all
about." A few years ago that was the slogan of one
of the central Slovenian cultural institutions. Indeed:
while speaking of culture we do not necessarily consider
art, on the other hand we can not contemplate art without
keeping culture in mind. Like in all other European countries
both are flurishing in Slovenia; |
even though the abundancy does not grow abundantly, culture
and art have been until the independence in 1991 of the utmost
importance to Slovenians, almost a crucial point of national
identification. If art and culture have been nurturing Slovenians
with much needed self esteem to provide them with the strength
to survive as a nation (nevertheless the early scripts in Slovenian
language are one of the oldest written monuments in Europe),
now, with Slovenia joining the European Union, they have acquired
another dimension: in the family of numerous and very different
cultures, which are doing away with the rough geographical borders,
they have become a clear point of identification even from abroad.
Not only are they enriched by the colourful European cultural
diversity, they too, small as they are, have the possibility
to act as an integral part and to influence other European cultural
milieus. As the most prominent Slovenian daily newspaper we
are proud to contribute to the best of our ability at the presentation
of our culture and art in this on-growing familiy of states,
even more so because this year’s cultural capital, the Irish
city of Cork, will be visited by a team of outstanding young
artists. Not to forget the fact that a lot of them have been
publicly introduced for the first time through the articles
in our newspaper which considers cultural pages as one of its
constitutive parts (in addition to politics, economy and sports)
and daily edits articles with cultural content. We are well
aware that in the contemporary world, when media have crucial
influence on all other realities and pragmatic aspects, this
should not be ignored. As long as proverbially ephemeral newspaper
pages keep score of, present and try to contemplate this segment
of social life, as in that which is everlasting or at least
larger than human life, there is no fear of culture losing its
character as one of the most basic needs of the individual.
Good luck!
Darijan Košir,
Editor in chief, Delo newspaper
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