new media center_kuda.org

Youth Center CK13, Vojvode Bojovića 13, Novi Sad, www.ck13.org

Tuesday, December 2, 7 p.m.
Presentation of the publication "Contemporary Art and Nationalism - A Critical Reader" and a conversation with the guests

The guests are the editor of the publication:
Sezgin Boynik (Turkey, Kosovo) and Minna L. Henriksson (Finland)

From the introduction to the publication: "... Although nationalism is an abstract determinant of modern life, its consequences are very effective and powerful. The reason for this is that the materialization of nationalism in everyday life and its current politics, rooted in many practices and rituals, in both spaces, in private, and in the space of official institutions.

The idea of ​​nationalism can also be materialized through the practices of "alternative" institutions or movements. Our goal as the editor of "Contemporary Art and Nationalism - A Critical Reader" was to collect texts that would critically discuss the relationship between nationalism and contemporary art. we are to analyze the situation, economic and political aspects, in which contemporary art serves as a mechanism for the materialization of nationalist ideas.

Due to the non-reflexivity and non-criticism of artistic practice within the institutions that represent it, the connections between contemporary art and nationalism prove to be very latent. In countries where representative national contemporary art is lacking, and where nationalist problems are also visible, this connection is more direct and vulgar than in countries with established cultural institutions. Our goal was to point out this problem, which is not too discussed but is crucial in understanding current political and aesthetic ties. In this case, contemporary art, which has always been perceived as critical and anti-traditionalist, is seen in relation to the regressive movements of authenticity and originality of nationalism .... "

Contemporary Art and Nationalism - A Critical Reader was published by MM Publications and Missing Identities Project, Pristina Kosovo, in August 2007. The book contains previously unpublished texts by the following authors: Boris Buden, Suzana Milevska, Miško Šuvaković, Ivor Stodolsky, Marita Muukkonen, Mika Hannula, Nebojša Jovanović, Rastko Močnik, Marina Gržnić, Margaret Tali, Sarat Maharaj, Branislav Dimitrijević and Sezgin Boynik, as and previously published texts by Kobena Mercer, Simon Sheik, Erden Kosova, and Paul Wilson.

The presentation of the book is organized by the Center for New Media_kuda.org, Novi Sad (www.kuda.org), and the Youth Center Belgrade.