Art organization: interview with Dean Zahtil, founder and member of Labin Art Express (L.A.E.), Labin

Biography: 

 

Deanom Zahtila, founder and member of the association Labin Art Express (L.A.E.), Labin

Labin Art Express (L.A.E.) - independent underground cultural and art association, established in 1991, based in the ex-coal mine in Labin, Region of Istria, Croatia. In 1993 L.A.E., the first independent radio station in Croatia, closed by governmental decision in 1996, and in 1998 the international multimedia Cultural Centre "Lamparna" in one of abandoned ex-coal mine buildings. It was first step in realization of their capital project "Underground City XXI" construction and establishment of the first real futuristic underground town in the world, in abandoned tunnels and halls of ex-coal mine in Labin, 160 m below ground level, with streets, bars, restaurants, galleries, concert halls, children playground, swimming pool, Mueseum of Coal Mining, "red light" district, etc., with its own Government, Mayor, police and laws. L.A.E. is not a clannish group of artists whose creativity is esoteric, but an exoteric cultural and art association cooperating with artists and "non-artists" who share the fundamental idea that "art today must be: young, all-encompassing, universal, modern, fierce, moral, and synthetical."

Dean Zahtila, Labin Art Express (L.A.E.), Labin
Summary: 

Art organization: interview with Dean Zahtil, founder and member of Labin Art Express (L.A.E.), Labin

Deanom Zahtila, founder and member of the association Labin Art Express (L.A.E.), Labin

Labin Art Express (L.A.E.) - independent underground cultural and art association, established in 1991, based in the ex-coal mine in Labin, Region of Istria, Croatia. In 1993 L.A.E., the first independent radio station in Croatia, closed by governmental decision in 1996, and in 1998 the international multimedia Cultural Centre "Lamparna" in one of abandoned ex-coal mine buildings. It was first step in realization of their capital project "Underground City XXI" construction and establishment of the first real futuristic underground town in the world, in abandoned tunnels and halls of ex-coal mine in Labin, 160 m below ground level, with streets, bars, restaurants, galleries, concert halls, children playground, swimming pool, Mueseum of Coal Mining, "red light" district, etc., with its own Government, Mayor, police and laws. L.A.E. is not a clannish group of artists whose creativity is esoteric, but an exoteric cultural and art association cooperating with artists and "non-artists" who share the fundamental idea that "art today must be: young, all-encompassing, universal, modern, fierce, moral, and synthetical."

 

Art organization (review of historical practices through the XX century to the present day), research project kuda.org

Art Organisation analyses the phenomenon of artistic (self)organisation and relations within artistic groups and collectives in the post-Yugoslav region during the last fifty years, and the ways it influenced the profile and quality of their artistic production. Research within the project Art Organisation is aimed at group and collective processes of creation and internal dynamics between artists and other participants in them. The focus is on self-organised initiatives outside the framework of official institutions. Through the phenomena of self-organisation, the project questions the role of civil society organisations as potential progressive places in society through dealing with art.

The introduction to the research of group work, joint authorship, working conditions, was conducted during 2017 through interviewing participants and protagonists of the contemporary art scene from Yugoslavia, and continued during 2018/2019. The research team is composed of members of kuda.org with associates from Belgrade, theoreticians and art historians Milica Pekić and Stevan Vuković and Ana Peraica from Split. During 2019, the interviewed were collectives and groups in the field of contemporary art, theoreticians and art historians, and protagonist artists who realized their practice through group art work.

Art Organisation is part of a wider project Vectors of Collective Imagination where kuda.org cooperates with partners: Multimedia Institute mi2 and Kulturtreger-Books, Zagreb (HR); Glänta Gothenburg  (SE); Kontrapunkt, Skopje (MK) and Berliner Gazette, Berlin (DE).