Love it or hate it, but Laibach are an important part of Slovenian culture. They cross the boundaries between the different art disciplins, mix music and multimedia performances, work on graphic design and video installations, bottom line: they create a whole art universe around themselves and let the visitor be part of it.

Laibach is a very political and controversial group. The group has frequently been accused of both far left and far right political stances due to their use of uniforms and totalitarian-style aesthetics. Formed the same year longtime Yugoslavian leader Marshall Josip Broz Tito died, Laibach started activity in 1980 in the industrial coal-mining town of Trbovlje in the center of what is now Slovenia. They took their name from the nearby city Ljubljana's title during Nazi occupation.

In the beginning, they were often in trouble with the local authorithies, because they did not know how to deal with them. Dressed in military (also Nazi) uniforms, they played aggressive, industrial noise music, later with influences of early electronic music. But their main goal was always to fight against any kind of totalitarianism, and they often showed to similarities within fascism and communism in their art in a very subversive way.

Laibach can be seen as part of the latest Slovenian contemporary history, also because of their involvement in the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) movement. It is worth seeing one of their shows, they are still bombastic and play with the symbols of totalitarianism to get people start thinking about certain politic and social issues.
 

The concert is on the 16.5.2014 at Križanke, Tickets here