Jože Barši has degrees in architecture and sculpture; not surprisingly, his practice meanders across many fields: from the deconstruction of the sculptural object in the mid-1990s, to a shift to some sort of architectural explorations of space and their subseguent expansion into installations, the use value of an artwork, and its social and relational value, to more conceptual practices, such as walking, sound, conversations, readings, and registers of knowledge. More recently Barši has focused most of his interest on forgotten or ignored texts of political philosophy and art. The copies of texts (whole books, chapters, or shorter texts) appear not only as an art form but as content that Barši analyses and then presents to the public.
In 1997, Barši represented Slovenia at the Venice Biennale. Two years later his functional sculpture Public Toilet was included in the first public presentation of the international Arteast 2000+ collection at Metelkova; there the structure actually served its purpose. Barši had several other presentations of his work under the auspices of Moderna galerija: at the U3 Triennials of Contemporary Slovenian Art in 1997 and 2010 and at group shows 7Sins:Ljubljana-Moscow (2004/05) and Oscillations: 30 Days of Sound (Mala galerija, 2005), a solo exhibition House (Mala galerija, 1999), and in 2013 a retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Al t Metelkova (+MSUM). In addition to this, Bara's work has been featured at the Istanbul Biennial (1995), the 24th International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana (2001), as part of the project Unusual Pairs in Celje (2001), the exhibitions Walking (2001), and Conversations (2006) at the Škuc Gallery, and at numerous other international and Slovenian exhibitions, artist-in-residence programs, workshops, and conferences. He has won the Golden Bird award for visual inter-media art and works asa full-time professor at the Academy of Pine Arts and Design in Ljubljana.
