Mit - Index

Mit - SINFO 2008 04 - 8 - Index

s o C i e t y
ExHIbItIoN of tHE cHaNcEllorS
of tHE uNIvErSIty of ljubljaNa IN
vIENNa
The visit of Dr Andreja KocijanËiË, Chancellor of the University
of Ljubljana, to the Slovenian Korotan Center in Vienna, marked
the opening of an exhibition pertaining to the lives, work and
accomplishments of the university’s 40 Chancellors to date,
and through this, the development of Slovenia’s first, and still
foremost, university. Jože Ciprle, the author of the exhibition,
which with certain works was already presented in 2001, notes
in the programme booklet that through the exhibition, the
university wishes to emphasize the Chancellor’s function as a
synonym for the autonomy of scientific pedagogical university
activities that have contributed to the high reputation which this
institution enjoys today. The exhibition will be on display until
tHE NEw PrESIDENt of SaZu IS Dr
joŽE troNtElj
The most prestigious scientific and artistic institution, the
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, will be led, from
May 6th onward, by Dr Jože Trontelj, Professor of Neurology
at the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Ljubljana and
President of the National Medical Ethics Committee. It is perhaps
no coincidence that, upon taking over this responsibility, Dr
Trontelj declared that, in coming years SAZU will need to place a
particularly great emphasis on ethics, and suggested that under
the sponsorship of the Academy, there be established in Slovenia
a special National Council for Ethics, through which SAZU could
become substantially more active in its response to ethical issues.
To this, he added that the widest field in this area is undoubtedly
occupied by bioethics, where new questions are constantly
emerging: questions on human rights with respect to medicine
and biology, or rather, questions pertaining to the pragmatic use
of these two professions. The new president stipulated that how
human beings deal with nature and with other beings on the
planet is not inconsequential, for we have sinned much in these
areas. The direction of the European Union as a single entity was
also recently confirmed at the forum meeting of National Ethics
Councils in Brdo pri Kranju.
The second issue that interests Dr Trontelj is the necessity
of developing greater Academy responses to relevant social
questions. On this topic, he stipulated that the independence
and autonomy of the Academy Members is a distinctive feature of
the institution and that this actually becomes problematic when
the institution wishes to reach a consensus. Precisely because of
the time that the Academy takes to react, the pragmatic actuality
of its perspective often fades.
flota DaNcE GrouP IN auStrIa
The Flota dance group, led by renowned Slovenian choreographer,
Matjaž FariË, performed in Oberwart, in the GradišËansko
region of Austria, during the Days of Dance Festival, ‘Tanztag’.
At the invitation of festival organizer Liz King, Flota hosted its
performance of ‘Nemotelonemepesmi’. Representative dancers
from Austria, Italy, Spain, Finland, Poland, Canada and Slovenia
performed at the three-day festival.
sinfo april 08 28
coNDuctor uroš KrEK HaS DIED
One of the most productive and well-known Slovenian conductors,
academician Uroš Krek, has died at the age of 86. Krek graduated
in Composition and Conducting from the Faculty of Music in
the University of Ljubljana, was for many years the editor of the
national radio network’s music programme, and following this,
Professor of Composition at the Faculty of Music. For a number of
years, he was the President of the Society of Slovene Composers,
and was named by the Slovenian Philharmonic as an honorary
member in 1988. Krek composed vocal-instrumental and vocal
works, as well as theme, drama and film music. Even though
he was predominantly an instrumental composer, Krek shaped
his most characteristic works and adaptations in connection with
the folk tradition.
booK oN acHIEvEmENtS aND tHE bESt
of SlovENIa
An interesting book with a very beautiful cover, which presents
the best things in Slovenia, namely the oldest, the most beautiful,
the exceptional, by one of the most famous photographers, Tomo
JeseniËnik, who is also a permanent contributor to our magazine,
was published by the publishing house Mladinska knjiga. It
is a combination of photographs and texts, because of which
JeseniËnik, as he said, travelled over 65,000 km and took 30,000
photographs (!), of which ≈only« 303 were selected for the
book. He went 164m underwater and climbed 3,028 m higher
from this lowest point, and “had fun” at -27 degrees Celsius of
cold and 41.5 degrees Celsius of heat, which are the extreme
points of the Slovenian climate. JeseniËnik described 101 best
things in the book, but he left out around 50 of the best known
(the largest Slovenia mammal, the bear; the highest-lying village;
the oldest bicycle), so a sequel might follow.