Monika Plemen is one of the most prominent artists of the younger generation working in the field of printmaking. Her work is concerned with the concept of the graphic matrix and its place in the field of contemporary art. Traditionally, the central function of the graphic matrix is of a purely reproductive nature and serves to reproduce graphic prints. Accordingly, matrices were never exhibited together with their prints, as they were merely a means of production and were often destroyed after the print edition was completed. This view began to change towards the end of the 20th century when graphic matrices began to appear in gallery spaces alongside prints. Their presence provides an insight into the process of creating the prints, especially the part that is only visible on the matrix. Moreover, this demonstrates the presence of the person who intervened in the process and at the same time the absence of the impression that came about as a result of this intervention. From this perspective, the graphic matrix is the central work of its creator, whereas the graphic print produced is its by-product.

The artist presents two projects in the exhibition, which explore the concept of the graphic matrix in various ways. In the project entitled Outline (2022–2023), based on the artist's experimental approach to the linocut, the matrix already wavers on the edge of classical definition since it functions as an independent unit and is also exhibited as such. The graphic print presented alongside it merely serves to emphasise its primary role – as an illustration of the fact that a further print edition is still possible. The project entitled 365 (2021–2022) comes from the aluminium plates that the artist carried around with her every day for a year as a kind of sketchbook. She used them in conjunction with the drypoint technique to draw images that fascinated her most on a particular day. Every day, she took a photo of the resulting matrix and posted it on social media. She then used a computer programme to create a »digital matrix« from the statistics of users' views and reactions. The project’s final product was created from a print of the analogue and a print of the "digital matrix", which the artist combined into a single print showing a selected image from a particular day and the statistics of the views and reactions to it.

The exhibition as a whole explores the identity of the graphic matrix, which in contemporary art is primarily associated with its (un)stable nature. On the one hand, it still clings to materiality and physical processing; on the other, it seeks new transformations that can also encompass the materially non-existent.

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Monika Plemen (1994) completed her master studies in Printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2022 and is currently pursuing her doctorate at the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana. She furthered her studies at Kunsthochschule Burg Giebichenstein in Halle (Saale), Germany, at the Fish Factory art centre in Stoeđvarfjoerður, Iceland, and at an artist residency in Zadar. Her work has been presented in several solo shows including at MGLC Ljubljana (2022), as well as in numerous group exhibitions at home and abroad. She is the recipient of a special award for the development of world graphic thought and aesthetic art movements at the 10th International Triennial of Graphic Art in Bitola, Macedonia (2021). She lives and works in Mežica and Ljubljana.