Marko Pogačnik (born 11 August 1944) is a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n artist and author.

Background

Sankt Paul Lithopunktur Marko Pogacnik 10052008 64

Pogačnik studied at the

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, the capital of Slovenia, where he graduated in 1967. He was a co-founder of the neo-avantgarde artistic movement OHO, members of which were also

Tomaž Šalamun Tomaž Šalamun (July 4, 1941 – December 27, 2014) was a Slovenian poet who was a leading figure of postwar neo-avant-garde poetry in Central EuropeColm Tóibín (2004The comet's trail Guardian and an internationally acclaimed absurdist. Martín ...

and

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...

. From the 1980s, he embraced a

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...

vision of art. He claims to have developed a method of earth healing similar to

acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientifi ...

by using pillars and positioning them on so called 'lithopuncture' points of the landscape. In 1991, he designed the official

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the newly constituted Republic of Slovenia. In the year 2006, he joined the Movement for Justice and Development led by

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (200 ...

, the

President of Slovenia The president of Slovenia, officially the president of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Predsednik Republike Slovenije), is the head of state of the Republic of Slovenia. The position was established on 23 December 1991 when the National Assembly (S ...

at the time. In 1998, together with his daughter Ana, he founded the Lifenet movement, which has been described by scholars as a "typical

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

" group.Nikola Pešić
Marko Pogačnik (and the OHO Group)
'' World Religions and Spirituality Project'', April 30, 2017. He lives and works in the village of

Šempas Šempas ( or ; in older sources also ''Šenpas,''Navratil, J. 1894. "Slovenske národne vraže in prazne vére (Dalje)." ''Letopis Matice slovenske'' 138–201, p. 184. it, Sambasso, german: Schönpass) is a village in the Vipava Valley in the Mu ...

in the lower

Vipava Valley The Vipava Valley (; sl, Vipavska dolina, german: Wippachtal, it, Valle del Vipacco) is a valley in the Slovenian Littoral, roughly between the village of Podnanos to the east and the border with Italy to the west. The main towns are Ajdovš ...

. In the last decade, the town of

Nova Gorica A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

, in which municipal territory he resides, has commissioned a number of public monuments from Pogačnik, most notably the monument to the 1000 years of the first mention of Gorica and

Solkan Solkan ( or ; it, Salcano, german: link=no, Sollingen or ''Salcano'') is a settlement in the Municipality of Nova Gorica in the Gorizia region of western Slovenia, at the border with Italy. Although it forms a single urban area with the city of N ...

, which stands in the town's central public square. Since 2008, a group of his monuments and birch trees, titled the ''

Hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...

of Europe'' ( sl, Hologram Evrope), stands at the crossroad of Tivoli Street () and Slovene Street () in Ljubljana.

Awards

In 1991, Marko Pogačnik received the Prešeren Fund Award for his work. In 2008, he received the Jakopič Award, the central Slovenian fine arts award. He was nominated two times for the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob v ...

Publications

*''Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings - Working with the Intelligence in Nature'' (Findhorn Press, Scotland, 1996).

References

External links

Personal site
Markopogacnik.com. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pogacnik 1944 births Writers from Kranj Spiritual writers Findhorn community 20th-century Slovenian sculptors 20th-century Slovenian male artists 21st-century Slovenian sculptors Jakopič Award laureates Artists from Kranj Slovenian environmentalists Living people