Number of titles published: more than 4,000 annually
Number of general public libraries, 2004: 61
Collections in public libraries (1000 units), 2003: 8,148
Number of books borrowed: is approaching 20 million per year
Number of professional theatres, 2006: 12
Number of people who attended performances in professional theatres, 2004/2005 season: 1.029 million spectators
Number of professional orchestras, 2006: 7
Number of museums, 2006: 121
Galleries and exhibition grounds, 2006: 136
National budget for culture as % of GDP, 2006: 0.87
Source: Statistical Office of the RS
If Today we were to put a Slovene crew into a space capsule to take the top-class products of cultural, artistic and intellectual creation to distant planets, there would at least be no doubt about who should be the pilot … Read an interesting short essay on Slovenian culture.
In modern times, the earliest signs of the Slovenian spirit have surfaced in the field of culture. Ever since the poetry of France Prešeren, culture has formed the heart of our national being.
Urban culture has developed in Slovenia over the last two centuries, which has also seen the gradual evolution of fundamental institutions such as the National Museum, and the Slovenian Philharmonic.
Nowadays, Slovenia has a myriad of theatres, cinemas, libraries and educational facilities and is well known abroad by its current cultural export.
Literature
Slovene literature and poetry is mostly very traditional, but international translations of the literary works of Drago Jančar, Tomaž Šalamun and Aleš Debeljak prove that even the smallest cultures can create work of high quality and also contribute to the most current global literary tendencies. Lojze Kovačič (1928–2004) made a significant contribution to Slovenian literature, mostly with his distinctly autobiographical work.
Music
In the field of music the band Laibach is absolutely pivotal. Their early industrial sound from the 1980s still has a cult following around the world. Lately, Siddharta is the most popular Slovenian band, who excite not only teenagers, but also their parents.
Contemporary Slovenian composers and performers have not escaped the international spotlight. Vinko Globokar and Aldo Kumar have introduced Slovenian works to wider European audiences. Young composer Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar is establishing himself as a very reputable composer of theatre music.
Among eminent musical performers, the pianist Dubravka Tomšič, the flute player Irena Grafenauer, 2005 Preseren Award laureate, and the mezzo-soprano Marjana Lipovšek, all of whom perform mainly abroad, have received the highest acclaim.
A special musical phenomenon are the world famous founders of traditional popular music The Avseniki .
Visual Arts
The history of our country's visual arts is rich with important artists.
Although talented artisans and painters were already working and refining their craft as early as the 12th century, there were Slovenian impressionists whose works finally placed Slovenian painting firmly on the European cultural map. With the development of the Slovenian Academy of Art after the Second World War, a much wider circle of painters emerged, including Gabriel Stupica, Riko Debenjak, Maksim Sedej, Božidar Jakac, Veno Pilon and France Mihelič. The most prominent Slovenian painter, Zoran Mušič, worked in Paris and exhibited throughout the continent.
The painters of the group Irwin have gained an international reputation. Their work is presented in all relevant overviews of worldwide contemporary art.
Architecture
Architecture has a special place in Slovenia’s cultural heritage, and the most famous Slovene architect is Jože Plečnik (1872-1957), a pioneer of Slovene and European modern architecture. Numerous exhibitions abroad have attracted considerable interest in Plečnik.
Nowadays the Slovenian architect and sculptor Marjetica Potrč has succeeded in making a break-through into international artistic circles. As a winner of the significant Hugo Boss Prize 2000, she had a solo exhibition in the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2001. She is very active on the international scene (in 2003 she exhibited in Valencia, Salzburg, Bern). In 2003 she received the Jakopič award, the highest national award in fine arts.
Digital Media
The emerging field of digital media arts has its own eco-system, and the development of this particular field of art on a global scale was partly enabled through the work of Marko Peljhan and Vuk Ćosić.
Video art has been around in our country for thirty years; its most notable practitioners in the last two decades are Marina Gržinić and Aina Šmid.
Dance
Dance theatre has a disproportionately active centre in Ljubljana and its most notable representative in Slovenia is Iztok Kovač, whose performances are constantly admired at international festivals.
Slovenia celebrated some important cultural anniversaries in the recent years:
2008 - The year 2008 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Primož Trubar (1508–1586), a Protestant reformer and the consolidator of the Slovenian literary language.
2007 - The Year of Plečnik
The famous Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik (1872 - 1957) left a lasting mark on the appearance of Vienna, Prague and, in particular, his native Ljubljana. 2007, which marks the 50th anniversary of his death, has been announced Plečnik Year.
More links:
-Celebrating the "architect of the future"
-Jože Plečnik (Wikipedia)
100 years since the birth of the poet Srečko Kosovel (1904-1926) , an exceptional visionary and contributor to the creation of the European avant-garde. (March 2004)
100 anniversary of Vladimir Bartol, the author of Alamut (February 2003), the novel, that was written 65 years ago, but the questions that it raises astonishingly gained a very realistic dimension after 11 September.
300 years since the Academia Philharmonicorum – the Slovenian Philharmonic was established (September 2001)
450 years since Primož Trubar published the first book in Slovene (in the year 2000)
200 years since the birth of France Prešeren, the most important Slovenian poet (in the year 2000).
1000 years since the oldest known writings in Slovene - The Freising Manuscripts (Brižinski spomeniki) (in the year 2000)