Suspended Disbelief — Jaka Babnik

Exhibition "SUSPENDED DISBELIEF" by Jaka Babnik

Exhibition "SUSPENDED DISBELIEF" by Jaka Babnik

June 9–26, 2026

• DOB // Gallery

The exhibition "Suspended Disbelief" by the artist Jaka Babnik examines the relationship between reality and its representation through photographs of objects that simulate life — plastic eggs, artificial plants, synthetic Christmas trees and other imitations of nature. Rather than treating photography as proof of truth, Babnik uses it as a space of illusion and a metatext of reality, indicating that every image depends on how we look at and interpret it.

By photographing objects that are already copies of the real world, the artist creates a double simulation: the photograph becomes a depiction of something that is itself an imitation. In this way the work problematizes the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, the original and the reproduction, as well as our trust in what we see.
Relying on postmodern theory of the image and photography, Babnik explores how contemporary culture shapes the perception of truth within consumer society. The exhibition invites the viewer to actively participate in the process of decoding the image and to reconsider their own relationship to visual representations of reality.

Biography
Jaka Babnik (1979) graduated in social sciences and history at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana and has worked as a photographer and cinematographer since 1996. He currently works as a photographer, artist and publisher, and has received local and international recognition for projects such as: We Are Dogs! (2007–2009), Jebodrom (2012–2014), Holy Land (2015–2017), Why So Serious? (2016–2017), Heroes of My Time (2017), Pygmalion (2018–2019), Time Leveling (2020), Photographs for Illustration Purposes Only (2020), Exercises in Style (2021), Moving Pictures (2024), It Matters What Your Eyes Can See (2024–2025) and Spatial Predictability (2025–). He is co-founder and co-owner (together with Boštjan Pavletič) of the independent publishing house Rostfrei Publishing, which has been producing and publishing artists' books and photo-books since 2012. He lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Between 2009 and 2026 he has exhibited solo in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Spain, and in group shows in those countries as well as in Germany. In addition to dozens of realized exhibitions, he has published nine books in the field of visual arts.

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Exhibition SUSPENDED DISBELIEF by Jaka Babnik – CATALOG

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Gallery of Dom omladine Belgrade
Opening hours: Tuesday–Saturday from 12:00 to 21:00; Sundays from 12:00 to 18:00; closed on Mondays.