PUBLIC CONVERSATION: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART COLLECTIVES, Tuesday 28.07.2020. at 7PM CET

PUBLIC CONVERSATION: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART COLLECTIVES, Tuesday 28.07.2020. at 7PM CET

PUBLIC CONVERSATION: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART COLLECTIVES

 

TUESDAY 28.07.2020. at 7PM CET

Speakers: Sezgin Bojnik (KOS/FL) and Katja Praznik (SL/USA)

Moderation: Ana Vilenica and Darija Medić

 

The conversation series Vectors of Collective Imagination in Arts will be conducted through the Zoom platform, within which the audience will have the opportunity to actively participate through a chat discussion.

VIDEO DOKUMENT: UMETNIČKE GRUPE I DRUŠTVENO-POLITIČKI ANGAŽMAN

VIDEO DOKUMENT: UMETNIČKE GRUPE I DRUŠTVENO-POLITIČKI ANGAŽMAN

VIDEO DOKUMENT: UMETNIČKE GRUPE I DRUŠTVENO-POLITIČKI ANGAŽMAN u okviru programa VEKTORI KOLEKTIVNE IMAGINACIJE U UMETNOSTI, 18.07.2020. 

 

 

Umetničke grupe i društveno-politički angažman

Govornici: Vida Knežević (SR) i Jacopo Galimberti (I)

Moderacija: Ana Vilenica i Darija Medić

 

VIDEO DOCUMENT: ART GROUPS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

VIDEO DOCUMENT: ART GROUPS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

VIDEO DOCUMENT: ART GROUPS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT within the programe VECTORS OF COLLECTIVE IMAGINATION IN ART, 18.07.2020. 

 

Art Groups and Socio-Political Engagement

Speakers: Vida Knežević (SR) and Jacopo Galimberti (I)

Art organization: interview with Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Ljubljana, 2019

Art organization: interview with Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Ljubljana, 2019

Biography: 

 

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša

In 2007, three Slovenian artists joined the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and officially changed their names to that of the leader of the party, the Prime Minister of Slovenia at the time, Janez Janša. While they renamed themselves for personal reasons, the boundaries between their lives and their art began to blur in numerous and unforeseen ways. Since then, they have been living their private and public lives, working individually and collectively under the same name, and exploring the philosophical, psychological, political, biopolitical, historical, legal, economic, linguistic, and social implications of the name change; turning their lives into an ongoing performance and their art into a powerful means to question rituals and conventions, and to discuss the status and function of identity-related objects such as signatures, passports, ID cards, credit and debit 

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša

Art organization: interview with Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Ljubljana, 2019

 

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša

In 2007, three Slovenian artists joined the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and officially changed their names to that of the leader of the party, the Prime Minister of Slovenia at the time, Janez Janša. While they renamed themselves for personal reasons, the boundaries between their lives and their art began to blur in numerous and unforeseen ways. Since then, they have been living their private and public lives, working individually and collectively under the same name, and exploring the philosophical, psychological, political, biopolitical, historical, legal, economic, linguistic, and social implications of the name change; turning their lives into an ongoing performance and their art into a powerful means to question rituals and conventions, and to discuss the status and function of identity-related objects such as signatures, passports, ID cards, credit and debit cards.

 

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).

 

Art organization: interview with Nebojsa Vilić (Небојша Вилиќ), about the group DENES and ZERO, Skopje, 2019

Art organization: interview with Nebojsa Vilić (Небојша Вилиќ), about the group DENES and ZERO, Skopje, 2019

Biography: 

Nebojsa Vilik, Skopje, theorist, writer, art historian, lecturer at the University of Skopje at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts and the first director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art Skopje.

Nebojša Vilić, theorist, writer, art historian

Art organization: interview with Nebojsa Vilik about the group DENES and ZERO, Skopje, 2019

Nebojsa Vilik (Небојша Вилиќ), Skopje, theorist, writer, art historian, lecturer at the University of Skopje at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts and the first director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art Skopje.

 

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).

Art organization: interview with Božidar Mandić, Porodica bistrih potoka (Family of clear streams), Rudnik Mountain, 2019

Art organization: interview with Božidar Mandić, Porodica bistrih potoka (Family of clear streams), Rudnik Mountain, 2019

Biography: 

Božidar Mandić, founder of the Porodica bistrih potoka (Family of clear streams), Rudnik Mountain
In May 1977, Božidar founded the commune Porodica bistrih potoka in the hamlet of Brezovica, at the foot of the Rudnik mountain. The principles of the commune are: Philosophy of the Country, Open Home, Poor Economy and Art. This is where Mandic's life and artistic work begins. Implementing the concept of non-enlightenment enlightenment, the Family of Clear Streams lives a real utopia of realizing an island on which, as part of the struggle for the Planet and the Individual, it opposes globalism, technology, progress and profit ...

Božidar Mandić, founder of the Porodica bistrih potoka (Family of clear streams), Rudnik Mountain

Art organization: interview with Božidar Mandić, Porodica bistrih potoka (Family of clear streams), Rudnik mountain, 2019

 

Božidar Mandić, founder of the Porodica bistrih potoka (Family of clear streams), Rudnik Mountain
In May 1977, Božidar founded the commune Porodica bistrih potoka in the hamlet of Brezovica, at the foot of the Rudnik mountain. The principles of the commune are: Philosophy of the Country, Open Home, Poor Economy and Art. This is where Mandic's life and artistic work begins. Implementing the concept of non-enlightenment enlightenment, the Family of Clear Streams lives a real utopia of realizing an island on which, as part of the struggle for the Planet and the Individual, it opposes globalism, technology, progress and profit ...

 

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).

 

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

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

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).

Art organization: interview with members of the curatorial collective What, How & for Whom / WHW, Zagreb

Art organization: interview with members of the curatorial collective What, How & for Whom / WHW, Zagreb

Biography: 

Ivet Ćurlin i Ana Dević

What, How & for Whom/WHW, Zagreb

WHW projects are conceived as platforms for socially engaged models of cultural production and reflection of social reality. WHW was named after its first exhibition: What, How and for Whom, on the occasion of the 152nd anniversary of the Communist Manifesto, held in 2000 in Zagreb. What, how and for whom are the three fundamental issues of every economic organization concerning the planning, concept and realization of exhibitions, as well as the production and distribution of works of art and the artistic position in the labor market. These questions became the motto of WHW’s work and a source of inspiration for all subsequent projects.

What, How & for Whom / WHW

Art organization: interview with members of the curatorial collective What, How & for Whom / WHW, Zagreb

Ivet Ćurlin i Ana Dević

What, How & for Whom/WHW, Zagreb

WHW projects are conceived as platforms for socially engaged models of cultural production and reflection of social reality. WHW was named after its first exhibition: What, How and for Whom, on the occasion of the 152nd anniversary of the Communist Manifesto, held in 2000 in Zagreb. What, how and for whom are the three fundamental issues of every economic organization concerning the planning, concept and realization of exhibitions, as well as the production and distribution of works of art and the artistic position in the labor market. These questions became the motto of WHW’s work and a source of inspiration for all subsequent projects.

 

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).

 

 

Art organization: interview with Zdenka Badovinac, Ljubljana, October 2018.

Art organization: interview with Zdenka Badovinac, Ljubljana, October 2018.

Biography: 

Zdenka Badovinac, theorist and curator, director of the Modern Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana (MG + MSUM). In her research so far, she has covered a large part of the practice of contemporary art in Slovenia, which includes the work of art groups.

Zdenka Badovinac, theorist and curator, director of the Modern Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana (MG + MSUM)

Art organization: interview with Zdenko Badovinac, Ljubljana, October 2018.

 

Zdenka Badovinac, theorist and curator, director of the Modern Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana (MG + MSUM). In her research so far, she has covered a large part of the practice of contemporary art in Slovenia, which includes the work of art groups.

 

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).

Art organization: interview with members of the MAGNET group, Novi Sad

Art organization: interview with members of the MAGNET group, Novi Sad

Biography: 

MAGNET Group, Belgrade / Novi Sad

The "Magnet" group was founded in 1996 by scholars from the "Tradition of the Avant-Garde" Literary School, which was initiated and led by Vujica Rešin Tucić from 1993 to 1995 in Belgrade, Palić and Ečka. The core of the group consisted of Nune Popović, Ivan Pravdić and Jelena Marjanov, and Siniša Tucić, Nikola Popović, Marija Lončar, Vladimir Acan and Mina Vuletić participated in the work, as well as other associates of different professions and ages. The group "Magnet" operated until 1998, with the goal of finding and presenting a creative and non-violent way for a mass fight against the totalitarian regime of Slobodan Milošević.

MAGNET group, Jelena Marjanov, Ivan Pravdić and Siniša Rešin-Tucić

Art organization: interview with members of the MAGNET group, Novi Sad  

Jelena Marjanov, Ivan Pravdić and Siniša Rešin-Tucić

 

MAGNET Group, Belgrade / Novi Sad

The "Magnet" group was founded in 1996 by scholars from the "Tradition of the Avant-Garde" Literary School, which was initiated and led by Vujica Rešin Tucić from 1993 to 1995 in Belgrade, Palić and Ečka. The core of the group consisted of Nune Popović, Ivan Pravdić and Jelena Marjanov, and Siniša Tucić, Nikola Popović, Marija Lončar, Vladimir Acan and Mina Vuletić participated in the work, as well as other associates of different professions and ages. The group "Magnet" operated until 1998, with the goal of finding and presenting a creative and non-violent way for a mass fight against the totalitarian regime of Slobodan Milošević.

 

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).

 

Art organization: interview with Marko Pogačnik (OHO group), Ljubljana, October 2018.

Art organization: interview with Marko Pogačnik (OHO group), Ljubljana, October 2018.

Biography: 

Marko Pogačnik, artist, founder of the movement and art group OHO, Kranj-Ljubljana, after which the initiator of the transformation of this group into a new artistic initiative Družina v Šempasu (Družina v Šempasu), is today an active research artist in the international network.

The OHO Group, a Slovene art collective active from 1966-1971 in Ljubljana. Members included Marko Pogačnik, Iztok Geister Plamen, Marjana Ciglič, Milenko Matanović, Andraž Šalamun, Tomaž Šalamun, David Nez, Matjaž Hanšek, Naško Križnar, Vojin Kovač Chubby, Aleš Kermavner, Franci Zagoričnik, Marika Pogačnik, Zvona Ciglič, Nuša and Srečo Dragan, a.o.

The members of the OHO group developed various strategies and approaches that they first called “reism,” a type of arte povera, land art and body art, processual and conceptual art. They aspired to “liberate” situations and objects and present them to the public outside of their fixed functions. The term “Oho” refers to the observation of forms (with the eye, “oko”, and ear, “uho”) in their immediate presence, and is also an exclamation of astonishment, said Marko Pogačnik, the group’s leader: “Because when we uncover the essence of a thing, that is when we exclaim ‘oho’.” A specific approach toward objects, a distancing from the weight of meaning, is apparent in Edicija Oho (Oho Edition), where literature and visual art are reduced to objectivity. Artists such as Pogačnik, Geister, Hanžek, Matanović, Dreja and others created their “books” by printing objects, drawings and sentences on single pages placed in small boxes. These books are objects, with their pages being various forms that can be handled, jumbled letters that must be arranged to form a sentence. A book should be heard, looked through. It is an “open work,” one which, demonstrating “reistic” tautology, suggests a game.

Marko Pogačnik, artist, founder of the OHO movement and art group

Art organization: interview with Marko Pogačnik (OHO group), Ljubljana, October 2018.

 

 

Marko Pogačnik umetnik, osnivač pokreta i umetničke grupe OHO, Kranj-Ljubljana, nakon toga inicijator transformacije ove grupe u novu umetničku inicijativu Družina u Šempasu (Družina v Šempasu), danas je umetnik istraživač aktivan u internacionalnoj mreži.

The OHO Group, a Slovene art collective active from 1966-1971 in Ljubljana. Members included Marko Pogačnik, Iztok Geister Plamen, Marjana Ciglič, Milenko Matanović, Andraž Šalamun, Tomaž Šalamun, David Nez, Matjaž Hanšek, Naško Križnar, Vojin Kovač Chubby, Aleš Kermavner, Franci Zagoričnik, Marika Pogačnik, Zvona Ciglič, Nuša and Srečo Dragan, a.o.

The members of the OHO group developed various strategies and approaches that they first called “reism,” a type of arte povera, land art and body art, processual and conceptual art. They aspired to “liberate” situations and objects and present them to the public outside of their fixed functions. The term “Oho” refers to the observation of forms (with the eye, “oko”, and ear, “uho”) in their immediate presence, and is also an exclamation of astonishment, said Marko Pogačnik, the group’s leader: “Because when we uncover the essence of a thing, that is when we exclaim ‘oho’.” A specific approach toward objects, a distancing from the weight of meaning, is apparent in Edicija Oho (Oho Edition), where literature and visual art are reduced to objectivity. Artists such as Pogačnik, Geister, Hanžek, Matanović, Dreja and others created their “books” by printing objects, drawings and sentences on single pages placed in small boxes. These books are objects, with their pages being various forms that can be handled, jumbled letters that must be arranged to form a sentence. A book should be heard, looked through. It is an “open work,” one which, demonstrating “reistic” tautology, suggests a game.

 

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).

Art organization: conversation with members of the Multimedia Institute mi2: Tomislav Medak and Petar Milat, Zagreb

Art organization: conversation with members of the Multimedia Institute mi2: Tomislav Medak and Petar Milat, Zagreb

Biography: 

 

Multimedijalni institut (MI2) is a non-profit association working at the intersections of culture, arts, technology and activism. Since its early days it has organized around a multi-facetted community that weaves together interests in diverse cultural and social fields: 1) critically inflected digital arts, film, music and literature; 2) digital commons: free software, free culture and open access; 3) philosophy and theory; 4) cultural networking, advocacy and grass-root organizing; 5) protection of public domain and struggles for spatial justice.

Locally it is mostly identified with the social and cultural center MaMa in Zagreb, where it’s organizing cutting-edge cultural, educational and technology programs, hosting a local hacker community and providing an open venue for other cultural initiatives. But it is also the co-organizer of Human Rights Film Festival, electronic music events, publishing activities and the Croatian localizer of Creative Commons licenses.

MI2 is a catalyst for cultural collaboration and grassroots political activism both locally and throughout the former Yugoslav region. In early 2000s it was instrumental in initiating the Clubture network and a number of other cultural policy initiatives. In the latter part of 2000s it was part of the alliance that initiated the Right to the City Zagreb, which it still supports. It has also helped initiate and support the series of un-conferences “Nothing will happen“, bringigt together hackers from throughout the former Yugoslav countries and beyond.

 

Multimedia Institute mi2: Tomislav Medak and Petar Milat

Art organization: conversation with members of the Multimedia Institute mi2: Tomislav Medak and Petar Milat, Zagreb

 

Multimedijalni institut (MI2) is a non-profit association working at the intersections of culture, arts, technology and activism. Since its early days it has organized around a multi-facetted community that weaves together interests in diverse cultural and social fields: 1) critically inflected digital arts, film, music and literature; 2) digital commons: free software, free culture and open access; 3) philosophy and theory; 4) cultural networking, advocacy and grass-root organizing; 5) protection of public domain and struggles for spatial justice.

Locally it is mostly identified with the social and cultural center MaMa in Zagreb, where it’s organizing cutting-edge cultural, educational and technology programs, hosting a local hacker community and providing an open venue for other cultural initiatives. But it is also the co-organizer of Human Rights Film Festival, electronic music events, publishing activities and the Croatian localizer of Creative Commons licenses.

MI2 is a catalyst for cultural collaboration and grassroots political activism both locally and throughout the former Yugoslav region. In early 2000s it was instrumental in initiating the Clubture network and a number of other cultural policy initiatives. In the latter part of 2000s it was part of the alliance that initiated the Right to the City Zagreb, which it still supports. It has also helped initiate and support the series of un-conferences “Nothing will happen“, bringigt together hackers from throughout the former Yugoslav countries and beyond.

 

 

 

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

The research within the Art Organization project is focused on group and collective processes, within the relationship between artists and other participants in them. The aim of the research is to investigate a specific shift towards self-organized initiatives outside the framework of official institutions, and its consequences in the distribution of roles in the world of art. The research is partly conducted through interviewing participants and protagonists of the contemporary art scene from Yugoslavia.

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).

Interview with Dejan Sretenović (Autopsia Group)

Interview with Dejan Sretenović (Autopsia Group)

Biography: 

Dejan Sretenović, art historian, theorist and curator of the Center for Visual Culture at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, previously director and program editor of the Center for Contemporary Art Belgrade (1994-2000)

Autopsia is a depersonalized art projection that deals with music, art and film production. Autopsia brings together authors of different professions in the realization of their projects. The artistic practice began in London in the late 1970s, and was continued in the 1980s in the art centers of the former Yugoslavia. Since 1990, Autopsia has been operating from Prague. At the beginning of its operation, Autopsia released a dozen MCs, and in the period after 1989, about twenty CDs. The compositions of the Autopsy can also be found on numerous compilations published by various publishers around the world. The music production is accompanied by extensive visual production that includes original graphic objects, design of flyers, booklets, CDs, books and movies, as well as the website autopsia.net and its branches "Autopsia TV" and "Illuminating Technologies".

Dejan Sretenović, art historian and theorist

 

Interview with Dejan Sretenović (Autopsia Group), Belgrade, 2017

 

Dejan Sretenović, art historian, theorist and curator of the Center for Visual Culture at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, previously director and program editor of the Center for Contemporary Art Belgrade (1994-2000)

Autopsia is a depersonalized art projection that deals with music, art and film production. Autopsia brings together authors of different professions in the realization of their projects. The artistic practice began in London in the late 1970s, and was continued in the 1980s in the art centers of the former Yugoslavia. Since 1990, Autopsia has been operating from Prague. At the beginning of its operation, Autopsia released a dozen MCs, and in the period after 1989, about twenty CDs. The compositions of the Autopsy can also be found on numerous compilations published by various publishers around the world. The music production is accompanied by extensive visual production that includes original graphic objects, design of flyers, booklets, CDs, books and movies, as well as the website autopsia.net and its branches "Autopsia TV" and "Illuminating Technologies".

www.autopsia.net
www.illuminating-technologies.com

 

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).

Interview with Dunja Blažević (ZVONO Group)

Interview with Dunja Blažević (ZVONO Group)

Biography: 

Dunja Blažević, art historian , curator, editor of the visual program of the Gallery of the Student Cultural Center (SKC) in Belgrade from 1970 to 1976 and director of the SKC from 1976-1979 and director of the Center for Contemporary Art / SCCA / pro.ba in Sarajevo since 1996 -2010.

 

Group Zvono (Sarajevo, 1982-1992) Its members were Sead Čizmić, Biljana Gavranović, Kemal Hadzić, Sadko Hadžihasanović, Narcis Kantardžić and Aleksandar Sasa-Bukvić, the initiators of the joint work of the group and the driving force of its organization and promotion. As newly graduated students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, familiar with contemporary art trends, they do not wait to be recognized in the existing system of art. Eager for change, they form a group that will operate outside the institutions and in a way hitherto unknown and unrecognized in our artistic environment. They organize art actions, performances, exhibitions in the most unusual places: bars, streets, shop windows, in nature. This was until then the most radical behavior in modern art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their group actions (stadium games, parodies and parties) are an expression of generational self-identification, while each of them in his individual work seeks and develops his own plastic form and poetics in a wide range of "New Images" of the eighties. The activity of the Zvono group (especially its extremely activist attitude towards the cultural space in which it operates) represents the most radical 'behavior' on the art scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina at that time.

According to the Zvono art group, the SCCA Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art established the ZVONO Award for Young Fine Artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2006.

Dunja Blažević, art historian and curator

Interview with Dunja Blažević (ZVONO Group), Belgrade, November 2017.

 

Dunja Blažević, art historian , curator, editor of the visual program of the Gallery of the Student Cultural Center (SKC) in Belgrade from 1970 to 1976 and director of the SKC from 1976-1979 and director of the Center for Contemporary Art / SCCA / pro.ba in Sarajevo since 1996 -2010.

 

Group Zvono (Sarajevo, 1982-1992) Its members were Sead Čizmić, Biljana Gavranović, Kemal Hadzić, Sadko Hadžihasanović, Narcis Kantardžić and Aleksandar Sasa-Bukvić, the initiators of the joint work of the group and the driving force of its organization and promotion. As newly graduated students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, familiar with contemporary art trends, they do not wait to be recognized in the existing system of art. Eager for change, they form a group that will operate outside the institutions and in a way hitherto unknown and unrecognized in our artistic environment. They organize art actions, performances, exhibitions in the most unusual places: bars, streets, shop windows, in nature. This was until then the most radical behavior in modern art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their group actions (stadium games, parodies and parties) are an expression of generational self-identification, while each of them in his individual work seeks and develops his own plastic form and poetics in a wide range of "New Images" of the eighties. The activity of the Zvono group (especially its extremely activist attitude towards the cultural space in which it operates) represents the most radical 'behavior' on the art scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina at that time.

According to the Zvono art group, the SCCA Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art established the ZVONO Award for Young Fine Artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2006.

 

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).

Interview with Branka Stipančić (Group of Aix Artists)

Interview with Branka Stipančić (Group of Aix Artists)

Biography: 

Branka Stipančić, curator and critic in the field of art and the first director and curator of the Center for Contemporary Art Zagreb (SCCA - Zagreb, 1993-1997) and one of the founders of the SCCA network in Amsterdam.

In the late 1970s (1975-1981), the 'Group of Six Artists' (Boris Demur, Željko Jerman, Vlado Martek, Mladen Stilinović, Sven Stilinović and Fedor Vučemilović) began exhibiting in open air spaces in an attempt to circumvent the traps set by art institutions. The young artists displayed their work on sunbathing boards and on the grass between the bathers on the bank of the river Sava (in Zagreb), they projected slides and films on to buildings, exhibited on city squares, in the streets, in universities in Zagreb, on the sea shore of Moščenička Draga, in Belgrade, Venice and elsewhere. They called their shows “exhibition-actions” because, alongside some finished works, most of the work and actions were created on site and in response to the situation. They acted spontaneously, as a loose association of artists who expressed their ideas in works that often challenged the established ethic and aesthetic order and sought to subvert the society in which they lived.

Branka Stipančić, curator and critic in the field of art

Interview with Branka Stipančić (Group of Aix Artists), Zagreb, December 2017

 

Branka Stipančić, curator and critic in the field of art and the first director and curator of the Center for Contemporary Art Zagreb (SCCA - Zagreb, 1993-1997) and one of the founders of the SCCA network in Amsterdam.

In the late 1970s (1975-1981), the 'Group of Six Artists' (Boris Demur, Željko Jerman, Vlado Martek, Mladen Stilinović, Sven Stilinović and Fedor Vučemilović) began exhibiting in open air spaces in an attempt to circumvent the traps set by art institutions. The young artists displayed their work on sunbathing boards and on the grass between the bathers on the bank of the river Sava (in Zagreb), they projected slides and films on to buildings, exhibited on city squares, in the streets, in universities in Zagreb, on the sea shore of Moščenička Draga, in Belgrade, Venice and elsewhere. They called their shows “exhibition-actions” because, alongside some finished works, most of the work and actions were created on site and in response to the situation. They acted spontaneously, as a loose association of artists who expressed their ideas in works that often challenged the established ethic and aesthetic order and sought to subvert the society in which they lived.

BRANKA STIPANČIĆ: GROUP OF SIX ARTISTS AND A TALK WITH MLADEN STILINOVIĆEM, The lecture and the talk in Croatian are part of the Politicization of Friendship exhibition program (MG+MSUM)

 

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).

 

Interview with Dejan Sretenović on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s

Interview with Dejan Sretenović on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s

Biography: 

Dejan Sretenović, art historian, theorist and curator of the Center for Visual Culture at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, previously director and program editor of the Center for Contemporary Art Belgrade (1994-2000)

 

 

Dejan Sretenović art historian and theorist

Interview with Dejan Sretenović on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s

 

Dejan Sretenović, art historian, theorist and curator of the Center for Visual Culture at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, previously director and program editor of the Center for Contemporary Art Belgrade (1994-2000)

 

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).

Interview with Janka Vukmir on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s, Zagreb

Interview with Janka Vukmir on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s, Zagreb

Biography: 

Janka Vukmir, theorist and curator, president of the Institute of Contemporary Art Zagreb, former editor, curator and one of the directors of SCCA Zagreb (1993-1997)

The Soros Center for Contemporary Art – SCCA Zagreb was founded in 1993 and registered as an independent nonprofit organization, a citizens’ association in 1998 as The Institute for Contemporary Art, as the successor of SCCA Zagreb. The founders of the Institute are a group of art historians, curators, artists, photographers, designers, publishers, university professors and journalists.

At the time of its establishment in 1993 the aims of the SCCA – Zagreb were to upgrade to the existing system of institutions of contemporary art in Croatia, to promote artists, visual arts and other artistic creativity, to initiate the documentation on contemporary artists, and to build a recognizable network of contemporary art production in the area where we were active. At the beginnings, the Institute acted as a logistics centre for helping artists and their promotion, as the organizer of exhibitions, and has participated in the formation of civil society in Croatia.

Janka Vukmir, theorist and curator

Interview with Janka Vukmir on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s, Zagreb

 

Janka Vukmir, theorist and curator, president of the Institute of Contemporary Art Zagreb, former editor, curator and one of the directors of SCCA Zagreb (1993-1997)

The Soros Center for Contemporary Art – SCCA Zagreb was founded in 1993 and registered as an independent nonprofit organization, a citizens’ association in 1998 as The Institute for Contemporary Art, as the successor of SCCA Zagreb. The founders of the Institute are a group of art historians, curators, artists, photographers, designers, publishers, university professors and journalists.

At the time of its establishment in 1993 the aims of the SCCA – Zagreb were to upgrade to the existing system of institutions of contemporary art in Croatia, to promote artists, visual arts and other artistic creativity, to initiate the documentation on contemporary artists, and to build a recognizable network of contemporary art production in the area where we were active. At the beginnings, the Institute acted as a logistics centre for helping artists and their promotion, as the organizer of exhibitions, and has participated in the formation of civil society in Croatia.

 

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).

 

 

 

 

Interview with Dunja Blažević on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s, Sarajevo

Interview with Dunja Blažević on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s, Sarajevo

Biography: 

Dunja Blažević, art historian, curator, editor of the visual program of the Gallery of the Student Cultural Center (SKC) in Belgrade from 1970 to 1976 and director of the SKC from 1976-1979 and director of the Center for Contemporary Art / SCCA / pro.ba in Sarajevo since 1996 -2010.

SCCA (Soros Center for Contemporary Art) was founded by the Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 1996. Since 2000, SCCA (Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art) has operated as an independent, non-profit professional organization. In 1998 SCCA established pro.ba* multimedia – video, film and TV – production department.

From its beginnings, SCCA has produced and organized numerous exhibitions, art actionsworkshops, seminars, lectures and presentations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad; the Center has supported the production of artworks, produced a number of multimedia works, art videos and films, published catalogues and other art publications, and assembled art documentation.

 
Dunja Blažević, art historian and curator

Interview with Dunja Blažević on the role of Soros Centers for Contemporary Art - SCCA in the region and the conditions of art production in the 90s, Sarajevo

 

Dunja Blažević, art historian, curator, editor of the visual program of the Gallery of the Student Cultural Center (SKC) in Belgrade from 1970 to 1976 and director of the SKC from 1976-1979 and director of the Center for Contemporary Art / SCCA / pro.ba in Sarajevo since 1996 -2010.

SCCA (Soros Center for Contemporary Art) was founded by the Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 1996. Since 2000, SCCA (Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art) has operated as an independent, non-profit professional organization. In 1998 SCCA established pro.ba* multimedia – video, film and TV – production department.

From its beginnings, SCCA has produced and organized numerous exhibitions, art actionsworkshops, seminars, lectures and presentations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad; the Center has supported the production of artworks, produced a number of multimedia works, art videos and films, published catalogues and other art publications, and assembled art documentation.

 

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

The research within the Art Organization project is focused on group and collective processes, within the relationship between artists and other participants in them. The aim of the research is to investigate a specific shift towards self-organized initiatives outside the framework of official institutions, and its consequences in the distribution of roles in the world of art. The research is partly conducted through interviewing participants and protagonists of the contemporary art scene from Yugoslavia.

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).

Art organization: conversation with members of the ŠKART group : Đorđe Balmazović Žole and Dragan Protić Prota, Belgrade 2019

Art organization: conversation with members of the ŠKART group : Đorđe Balmazović Žole and Dragan Protić Prota, Belgrade 2019

Biography: 

Škart is a collective founded in 1990 at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade. During the experiment through their work, they primarily focus between the medium of poetry and design. “Architecture of human relations” is their main concept. Through the constant flow of the collective, present from its very beginnings, members work collaboratively to develop new values. They are especially capable of accepting "nice" mistakes during the making process and work tirelessly to combine work with pleasure.

ŠKART group: Đorđe Balmazović Žole and Dragan Protić Prota

Art organization: conversation with members of the ŠKART group : Đorđe Balmazović Žole and Dragan Protić Prota, Belgrade 2019

ŠKART group: Đorđe Balmazović Žole and Dragan Protić ProtaŠkart is a collective founded in 1990 at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade. During the experiment through their work, they primarily focus between the medium of poetry and design. “Architecture of human relations” is their main concept. Through the constant flow of the collective, present from its very beginnings, members work collaboratively to develop new values. They are especially capable of accepting "nice" mistakes during the making process and work tirelessly to combine work with pleasure.

Art Organisation is a long-term international research project that 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 project covers a wide historical field through discussions with the protagonists of these practices from the 1990s until today, with a review of the experiences and heritage of organising and collective creation in the recent past of local and national culture, through the neo-avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s and the Belgrade Surrealism of the 1930s.

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. During 2019, the interlocutors in the interview interviews 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).

Art organization: interview with FOCUS group: Iva Kovač and Elvis Krstulović, Rijeka, 2019

Art organization: interview with FOCUS group: Iva Kovač and Elvis Krstulović, Rijeka, 2019

Biography: 

Fokus grupa, Rijeka / Iva Kovač and Elvis Krstulović

When founded in 2012, we appropriated a generic name for a research method. Fokus Grupa — a construction, became a fictional author that took credit and responsibility for our artwork, fictional author that sees itself as both the manipulator and the manipulated in a broader artistic and social context. We use text, objects and images, act both within and outside the gallery. The outcomes are mainly spatial installations and interventions, which consist of drawings, texts, photographs, videos or (usable) objects. Content-wise, we point to the power relations within the art system, as well as within the broader economic and social context, and we are especially interested in the role of art within those relations. Our work extends over the neighbouring disciplines and borrows and learns from design, architecture, curating and literature. Therefore, Fokus Grupa also works with occasional collaborators, be it with specialists for a specific discipline or for a specific topic.

In 2008 we co-founded a self-organised collective Kružok (group for discussions and production of discursive events), which operated intermittently until 2015. We participated in the work of the Autonomous Cultural Centre Medika in Zagreb, and co-founded a collective artist-run space Delta 5 in Rijeka in 2013. Fokus Grupa is a member of artist-run space SIZ in which it regularly co-organises exhibitions of regional and international artists since 2012.

Fokus grup / Iva Kovač i Elvis Krstulović

Art organization: interview with FOCUS group: Iva Kovač and Elvis Krstulović, Rijeka, 2019​

 

Fokus group, Rijeka / Iva Kovač i Elvis Krstulović they have been working since 2012, thus giving a new dimension to the cooperation that began in 2009. Both graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb with shortcomings whose conservative environment they compensated with extra-institutional engagement. Before coming to study in Zagreb, they lived in Rijeka, where they returned in 2013, becoming an important building block of the Rijeka independent scene, extremely well connected with the actors of regional culture. Their work is often marked by long-term interdisciplinary artistic processes that thematize nationalism, precariat, power relations on the art scene, and beyond. They were and still are involved in leading and creating programs of organizations such as Medica, SIZ and Delta 5, which gave them a direct insight into the work processes from an organizational and curatorial perspective, and not exclusively artistic.

 

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).

 

Art organization: interview with members of the IRWIN group - Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, Ljubljana, October 2018.

Art organization: interview with members of the IRWIN group - Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, Ljubljana, October 2018.

Biography: 

Group IRWIN (NSK) the conversation was realized with two members: Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, artists active in the work of the art group IRWIN, lecturers at the University of Ljubljana and at private universities in Slovenia and the region.

IRWIN is a collective of five painters: Dušan Mandič, Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Roman Uranjek, and Borut Vogelnik. The group was founded in 1983 in Ljubljana. Until 1985, the collective also included Marko Kovačič and Bojan Štokelj. Its principal approach is described as emphasized eclecticism, based on the method of retro principle.

At the beginning of the following year (1983) they named the group Rrose Irwin Sélavy, and wrote a programme setting out the principles governing their work: the affirmation of national visual arts based on emphatic eclecticism and on the simultaneous use of diverse, often contradictory styles. They summed up their artistic philosophy in the term retro principle. In contrast to the then-predominant postmodernism, they drew on the tradition of conceptual art.

Shortly after the Back to the USA exhibition, held early in 1984, IRWIN started working on several projects that focussed on various Slovenian art groups or movements that it recognised as crucial reference points for defining its own activity. In addition to artistic relevance, there were two other selection criteria: the contemporaneity and close connectedness between IRWIN and the other groups that co-founded NSK the same year, and the importance of Slovenian impressionists and of the OHO group for the development of Slovenian visual arts and of Slovenian society in general.

One of IRWIN’s most important projects is the series titled Was ist Kunst, which refers to the Laibach group. Evolving over more than thirty years, this series of paintings currently numbers several hundred works mounted in heavy, often black frames; the key theme of the series is exploring the ideological context of art. It started with the appropriation, development and transformation of motifs used by Laibach Kunst, that is, the iconography of socialist realism, Nazi propaganda, religious art, the art of avant-garde movements and archetypal Slovenian works of art. Another guiding principle of IRWIN’s art is the priority of the chosen motif over artistic style, which is described as “the dictate of the motif” over “the dictate of style”. The mode of execution is thus secondary to the motif. The author is also secondary, and the works were all signed collectively, with the painter regarded as the chronicler of his time and culture. With clearly formulated self-imposed limits the artists have ensured their autonomy and established a form of their own, taking a critical stance towards both formalist modernism and postmodernist formulas, towards adopting stylistic and cultural influences from the West, as well as towards an ideological celebration of various values reflected in art in the East.

IRWIN has developed a specific strategy of institutional critique, drawing attention to the exclusion of Eastern European art from the international art system, as well as strongly contributing to the emergence of artistic histories of Yugoslavian and Eastern European art, as evidenced by the Fra-Yu-Kult and NSK Embassy Moscow projects, which it carried out in collaboration with other NSK groups.

 

IRWIN group, Miran Mohar i Borut Vogelnik

Art organization: interview with members of the IRWIN group - Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, Ljubljana, October 2018.

 

Group IRWIN (NSK) the conversation was realized with two members: Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, artists active in the work of the art group IRWIN, lecturers at the University of Ljubljana and at private universities in Slovenia and the region.

 

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).

EXHIBITION ART ORGANIZATION, SULUV Gallery 20-24. july 2020.

EXHIBITION ART ORGANIZATION, SULUV Gallery 20-24. july 2020.

EXHIBITION ART ORGANIZATION, kuda.org&collaborators, JULY 2020.

SULUV Gallery 20-24. july 2020.

Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 9, Novi Sad

 

IZLOŽBA UMETNIČKA ORGANIZACIJA, Galerija SULUV 20-24. jul 2020.

IZLOŽBA UMETNIČKA ORGANIZACIJA, Galerija SULUV 20-24. jul 2020.

IZLOŽBA UMETNIČKA ORGANIZACIJA - ART ORGANIZATION, kuda.org&saradnici, JUL 2020.

Galerija SULUV 20-24. jul 2020.

Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 9, Novi Sad

 

PUBLIC CONVERSATION: ART GROUPS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT, Saturday 18.07.2020. at 7PM CET

PUBLIC CONVERSATION: ART GROUPS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT, Saturday 18.07.2020. at 7PM CET

PUBLIC CONVERSATION: ART GROUPS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

 

SATURDAY 18.07.2020. at 7PM CET

Art Groups and Socio-Political Engagement

Speakers: Vida Knežević (SR) and Jacopo Galimberti (I)

Moderation: Ana Vilenica and Darija Medić

 

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