Cankarjev dom (CD Congress Centre Ljubljana) presents the focal point of the Slovenian culture as well as of the meetings industry. Therfore, the CD is the place that strongly co-creates Slovenian history. Nowadays, a meeting planner can not imagine Ljubljana without the Cankarjev dom for the Slovenian meetings industry has been born and been growing with it for almost 40 years. From a meetings industry’s point of view, the Cankarjev dom is undoubtedly for Slovenian history and culture just as important as the writer whose name the congress centre bears is.
Indeed, Ivan Cankar from the turn of the 20th Century is the most celebrated Slovenian writer, playwright and poet. He was not only the giant of written Slovenian word and the central figure of the modern Slovenian literature, but was also a socially committed political activist and one of the greatest speakers of his time.
As Ivan Cankar was instrumental in raising the Slovenian literature to the global level, Slovenia’s largest cultural and congress centre proudly bears his name and recognises Ivan Cankar’s enduring cultural legacy and pursues the mission of presenting it also to future generations. Cankarjev Dom Congress Centre thus in May 2017 celebrated the 141st anniversary of Ivan Cankar’s birth, while this year it acknowledges the centenary of his passing with a special all-year-round programme under the name of »Festival Cankar on Cankar«.
Cankar’s plays are the cornerstone of the repertoire of Slovenian theatres. His dramatic composition touch on universal concerns, addressing topics that have contemporary resonance, and whose characters remain one of the greatest acting challenges in Slovenian literary history. The events falling under the Cankar on Cankar Festival aim to address many compelling issues of the connection between the modern-day perception of his literary agency and how have his works impacted our understanding of the world and society around us.
The Festival began with a large-scale theatre co-production and will conclude with an extensive overview exhibition, to be launched in June 2018. The City Museum of Ljubljana’s show will chronicle the writer’s life and times, and the exhibition at the CD Gallery will focus on the philosophical and literary influences on his work, which testify to the fact that Ivan Cankar is unquestionably a major Central European author whose output reflects the prevailing trends of his time.
Delegates of 24 international conferences and congresses that have already been announced for this year at the CD Congress Centre Ljubljana will, while strolling down the many of the centre’s venues, get a first-hand opportunity to experience the taste of the Cankar’s word and spirit that is so deeply embedded in Slovenian mind and soul.
