PORTFOLIO
Content:
Third - Viennese phase (2015-now)
a) Curatorial projects (2022)
b) Projects within the Association Kunstentropie( 2018-now)
c) Selected exhibitions within the AU (2016-2018)
d) Other
Second phase - Levitation in between (2014-2015)
a) Monograph
b) Exhibition
c) Other
First - Bosnian phase (2010-2014)
a) Exhibitions
b) Festivals
c) Critical Reviews and Essays
d) Other
III. Third phase - Viennese phase (2015-now)
The last, or the third phase of my professional development was marked by coming to Vienna and enrolling in the Master´s Program in Art History at the Institute of History of Art. As a Third-world student, you quickly become aware of the fact that, in addition to having no access to the labor market, you are also limited by the research repertoire- it is expected of you to deal with topics specific to the context from which you come from. This is productive on one side, because you can show to new environment the specificities and problems of the art in the Balkans or the former Yugoslav countries. On the other hand, it is very frustrating when you cannot get out of imposed forms that you do not want to be defined by. Some of them are narratives about disintegration of Yugoslavia (the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia).
Since I did not want to deal with, in my view, already impoverished and inactive "art narratives," I joined the intercultural, non-profit association LINE IN, whose main goal was to encourage diversity through various cultural and artistic events. By participating in LINE IN Association, I saw the advantages (and disadvantages) of working in the non-governmental sector, which actually opened up a possibility to independently create serious, multi-year artistic projects that could be financially feasible.
Even though I was a member of the LINE IN Association, I established the Association Kunstentropie in Vienna in 2018 as a platform for the promotion and research of independent artistic and cultural tendencies (Verein für zeitgenössische und nicht-akademische Kunst und Kulturveranstaltungen). During this first phase, the association realized an initial festival called Kunstentropie and began to develop the long-term project Uterus Effects. However, the growing interest in researching feminist discourse, "female" topics, marginalized and alternative social categories in the context of art and culture, led us to reformulate the name of the association and adapt it to new goals and activities (Forschungsbasis für feministische und alternative Kunst und Kulturvermittlung). In this second phase, we have added radio and television formats, as well as publishing activities in the form of books, magazines and translations of relevant texts and literature, to the former activities (festivals, exhibitions, workshops, discussions).
The focus and goals of our association are:
• creation of various research links and cooperation in the context of art, culture and activism, in order to exchange experiences and good practices
• critical provocation of "big" topics, narratives and hierarchies within the world of art and culture by interfering with feminist, gender, migrant, queer, disabiliy theories and practices
• drawing attention to the artistic and cultural production of minority social categories in the context of Austrian society and their implementation in the wider social corps (migrants, guest workers, people with disabilities, etc.)
a)Curatorial projects (2022)
Exhibition HAND JOB: What we know about contemporary non-traditional embroidery, 07.-26.11.2022, Gallery Remont, Belgrade
Curator: Amalija Stojsavljević
Artists: Mia Arsenijević (SRB), Nina Babić (BIH), Saša Bezjak (SL), Milica Dukić (SRB), Mirjana Đotunović Mustra (AT-SRB), NONpractical Women (SRB), Mojca Senegačnik (SL)
Poster by Milena Gajić
The exhibition HAND JOB is a research project aimed at mapping, contextualization and critical analysis of the use of embroidery as an artistic medium in the art scenes of the region of southern Europe. Who are the authors who actively work in embroidery as an artistic medium and why in it, what kind of visual expression is enabled by the embroidery technique, is there a political / emancipatory / feminist potential of works created in this technique, etc. are some of the questions that would be answered by the exhibition. By selecting six artists and one collective in one place it would gather and present the variety of topics and techniques that accompany this medium.
In our (former Yugoslav) region, embroidery was a mandatory female job and was learned from the earliest childhood. It was an indicator of social and material status, age, regional and national affiliation. At the end of the 19th century, it became part of the primary education of female children, and later secondary, high school and vocational education. After the Second World War, handicrafts, i.e. knowledge of embroidery, were reduced to a household. However, a deeper analysis of this medium, its performative aspects, the context in which it is created and the motives / themes it depicts, reveals completely new strata of its meaning and cultural interpretation.
Reading the graphic novel by Iranian-French author Marjana Satrapi called Embroideries, as well as some of Svetlana Slapšak’s articles such as Woman and Employment, we get the impression that embroidery is not just a physical threading through the canvas / leathter, but it creates various a different discoursive dimensions such as femininity and feminism, resistance, the value of informal conversation, parallel histories, etc. The power of embroidery lies in its ability to combine culturally contradictory concepts, such as private-public, pleasure-imposed work, deft hands-smart head, patriarchy-female emancipation, old-fashioned-modern, individual-collective, art-craft, etc. In addition to having a therapeutic effect, its essential characteristic is that it can also serve as a kind of historical archive of marginalized groups, i.e. a representative of unheard voices. Starting from the claim of Rozsika Parker that a woman who embroiders is not seen as someone who creates art, but rather as an expression of femininity, with this exhibition we want to abolish prejudices against the medium itself as traditional, repetitive and backward, while on the other hand we would present the discursive potential it carries.
Press:
http://remont.net/index.php/hand-job-sta-znamo-o-savremenom-netradicionalnom-vezu/
http://www.seecult.org/vest/hand-job-savremeni-netradicionalni-vez
https://salon21.univie.ac.at/?p=67131/
https://www.danas.rs/kultura/hand-job-u-galeriji-remont/
Radioshow:
https://www.rts.rs/page/radio/ci/story/28/radio-beograd-2/5013064/.html
Ⓒ all photos Gallery Remont
Exhibition DOING THE DIRTY WORK, 18.-25.09.2022, Semmelweis Klinik, Vienna, within the Festival Wienwoche
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Curated by: Amalija Stojsavljević and Anežka Jabůrková
Artists: Željka Aleksić, Katarína Csányiová, Petja Dimitrova, Lina Dokuzović, Mirjana Mustra, Milena Gajić, Hoelb/Hoeb, Impractical Women, Violeta Ivanova, Katharina Kummer (Red Edition), Claudia Lomoschitz, Claudia Sandoval Romero, Katrin and Felicitas Wölger.
The exhibition results from a research project that seeks to critically examine female* reproductive labour in the context of current artistic, feminist and political events in Austria. The exhibition authors – both curators and mothers from (South) Eastern European countries, living and developing their research practices in Vienna – examine the current artistic production related to household chores and raising the future workforce for the labour market.
In the eyes of the West, Eastern and Southeastern Europe are regarded as Europe’s non-places. Everlasting antagonisms and confrontations between the East and the West are particularly visible in self-proclaimed cosmopolitan border regions to the West, such as the city of Vienna, where the influx of non-natives disrupts the established political, economic and cultural status quo. Ideas, concepts, and cultural elements originating from Eastern and Southeastern territories are generally not regarded as inspirational or potent, while their people, the so-called “Ausländer:innen”, are seen at best as a cheap workforce. Embedded prejudices reflect in the image of them being cleaners and manual workers. Less obvious, but equally entrenched, is their status in the academic and artistic sphere, where researchers, cultural workers, and artists are usually working on topics related to their homelands, as this is often the only way to penetrate the Austrian art world. In this sense, the question inevitably arises – do topics such as female* reproductive labour serve as a relevant meeting point for various cultural and artistic tendencies in Austrian art?
The fact that the first female* guest workers (Gastarbeiter:innen) began to arrive in Austria in the 1960s and have remained there ever since prompted the curators to examine to what extent and how Southeastern and Eastern European female* migrants have become integrated into the Austrian feminist discourse. The current events in Europe have led to another mass migration, forcing women* with children in particular to flee from their country. These women* will probably take up a variety of jobs to earn a living. But how will this survival-driven decision of theirs be eventually utilized in the labour market? Will they be able to continue their careers of choice ever again? If they are artists and cultural workers, how will they assert themselves in the Austrian art scene, and on what conditions?
The exhibition Doing the Dirty Work wishes not only to showcase the visual works concerned with the topic of reproductive labour of women* artists coming from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, but also to initiate a debate (on the hegemony of European feminism and the effect it has on everyday life outside the academic circles, the essentialization of jobs, where migrant women* are deemed invisible as care and maintenance workers), and offers a new and fresh critical perspective on the aforementioned issues.
PROGRAM AND TIMETABLE:
http://https://wienwoche.org/en/1144/doing_the_dirty_work/
Ⓒ Petr Ludvik
Ⓒ Olesya Kleymenova/ Wienwoche
Ⓒ Olesya Kleymenova/ Wienwoche
Ⓒ Olesya Kleymenova/ Wienwoche
Ⓒ Olesya Kleymenova/ Wienwoche
Ⓒ Olesya Kleymenova/ Wienwoche
Ⓒ Olesya Kleymenova/ Wienwoche
b)Projects within the Association Kunstentropie
Discussion BETWEEN HERMACITY AND COMMERCIALISATION: Whose Art Brut is it, anyway? Depot, Vienna, 2022
Although interest in so-called marginal art (such as art by children, or mentally ill people) has existed since the late nineteenth century, it received its definition and name –Art Brut (*1947, by Jean Dubuffet) precisely during avant-garde. Almost eighty years later, in this post-historical and post-modernist era, it seems to be increasingly challenging to understand Art Brut based exclusively on its original definitions, aesthetics, and a myriad of names and sub-forms. Can terms Art Brut, Outsider art, Naive Art, Raw Art and others still function in a context which has been considerably socially, politically and artistically transformed since the movement’s emergence? Who is an Art Brut artist? Who has the right to engage in Art Brut? What is Art Brut in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East? Is there Art Brut in Austria outside Gugging? Is there a feminist dimension of Art Brut and how is it represented? What makes Art Brut attractive for the art market?
The discussion is a continuation of the program activities of the association Kunstentropie from Vienna, which was preceded by the publication entitled “On the Margin of the Austrian Mainstream Art Discourse: Art Brut and Disability Art during the Coronavirus Pandemic” (2022).
Moderation:
-Amalija Stojsavljević (Curator, Kunstentropie)
Participants:
-Daniela Bilopavlović Bedenik (Curator, Head of Collection of Outsider Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb)
-Dr. Işıl Ezgi Çelik (Art Brut Researcher and director of Capitart, London)
-Prof. Dr. Johann Feilacher (Artistic Director, Museum Gugging, Maria Gugging)
-Florian Reese (Artistic Director and Curator, Atelier 10, Vienna)
-Goran Stojčetović (Artist and President of Art Brut Serbia, Belgrade)
A joint event between Kunstentropie and Festival WIENWOCHE.
Poster by Milena Gajić
The event was streamed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAmV63T-b64/
Publication On the Margin of the Austrian Mainstream Art Discourse: Art Brut and Disability Art during the Coronavirus Pandemic, 2022
Although perhaps pretentiously titled, what lies before you is not “classic” research or a factual book about artists with (mental or physical) disabilities in Austria during the corona virus pandemic; rather, it is a modest attempt to give a rough picture of an artistic production that often evokes hermetic or exotic overtones. Therefore, we sought to reveal different layers of the topic through textual contributions in the form of interviews and one essay, ranging from women collectors and women artists of the Art Brut scene, through problematising terminology and research approaches in the context of marginal art, to the radiance of Gugging and its impact on the formation of institutions and this particular artistic practice outside of Austria. The publication also features copious visual documentation provided by courtesy of the Austrian artists, showing their works of diverse art media, and different aesthetic and conceptual designs.
The pandemic itself made communication and direct contact with most institutions and relevant actors extremely difficult—impossible even—which is why we were touched by the assistance, smooth cooperation and rather valuable suggestions coming from a number of individuals.
It has been more than two years since the coronavirus became part of our daily life, forcing us to start questioning the existing norms of life and functioning. Our lives have changed to such an extent (whether we realise it or not) that we have even started perceiving time as “life before and after the pandemic”, “new normal”, “post normal”, and so on. However, breaking with normality and deviating from our everyday conformist urges compels us to think about the social groups that were accustomed to living with limitations even before the virus outbreak.
The pandemic has had a direct impact on the Austrian art world, affecting subcultures from various social, ethnic, and political groups, whose art, to a greater or lesser extent, participates in, shapes, and transforms the country’s art scene. Artists with disabilities are one of those groups, as their artistic practices (themes, narratives, production processes, and media) diverge significantly from the commodified, market-driven mainstream art. Who are the artists with disabilities in Austria and what topics are they concerned with? What have they been creating during the pandemic? How has the pandemic affected their art and has it generated new themes?
The publication’s nature is experimental—it does not seek to provide definitive answers, but wishes to sketch diversity in the visual domain of the works as well as their social reception.
We would like to express our gratitude to all of the participants, as well as the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna and Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, for enabling us to bring this publication to fruition.
Publication Uterus Effects- on art, maternity and reproductive system organ’s diseases, 2020
Uterus Effects is a long-term research project that in a wide range of formats, such as publications, discussions and workshops, problematizes the relationship between art and the term women*. Starting from the assumption that the representation of a woman in public discourse is still most often related to the traditionally assigned roles of a passive subject, cheerful mother who fulfills her biological function of giving birth or a self-evident caregiver, with this project we want to show the „dark side“ of this self-evident media image.
In the first publication of the same name, we gathered works of art, analytical texts and texts in „free“ form that thematize the reproductive function of the uterus (childbirth) and dysfunction (diseases of the organs of the reproductive system), while the next publication will deal with female* breasts and their artistic and analitical interpretations.
The publication Uterus Effects is an experimental feminist endeavor aimed at identifying and analyzing the social, political, and cultural interpretation of the reproductive system organs’ functions (maternity), and dysfunctions (diseases) of the organs of the reproductive system. Given that there is a lack of public discourse, and insufficient attention is paid to a woman* in her late pregnancy, after childbirth, or during the recovery from cancer surgery or other diseases of reproductive organs, this publication has aspired to provide the necessary space for all those who wanted to share their own experience, or reflections on this topic. An important aspect of thinking about this topic is the context of art, and art as a potential therapeutic agent for the faster psycho-physical recovery. Therefore, the publication is the sum of analytical texts, “free” (artistic) forms and illustrations, which represent the relationship between art and maternity/motherhood, or reproductive system diseases.
The publication was made through an open call, where all submitted works were included with the minimal proofreading and design intervention.
The content is divided into three parts: the frst part covers analytical texts which, from different theoretical and methodological approaches, interpret topics such as motherhood dysfunctionality seen in the artist Tabita Rezaire’s work titled Sugar Walls Teardom (by Giulia Guaran), the maternal aspect of Virgin Mary (by Jovana Pikulić), and the art therapy as a way of dealing with trauma (by Ivana Mančić). The second part collects the works created in “free” form, where we can read about maternity ward (negative) experiences in the form of a diary segment, by Petja Grafenauer, and in the form of letters by Jelena Milojević. This part is also embellished with a “documentary drama” and translation of the Käthe Leichter questionnaire (placed at the end of the book) by Jelena Micić. In the third part of the publication, the reader will find the illustrations and brief explanations of the works, by the artists themselves: Dženana Pindžo-Mekić, Flora Lu, Jana Adamović, Jelena Cvetković, Kathleen Day, Laura Mahnke, Marija Janković, Mia Arsenijević, Milena Gajić, Nina Babić, Sanja Umičević, Saša Bezjak, Tatjana Hardikov, Vladislava Savić and Željka Aleksić.
Hardcover: 128 Pages
Publisher: Verein Kustentropie
Editor: Amalija Stojsavljevic
Language: English
ISBN: 978-3-200-06841-4
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One-day festival KUNSTENTROPIE- Alien Review
November 11th , 2018| Wien, Gallery AU (Austria)
https://esel.at/termin/99016?fbclid=IwAR2ptmebpV2Rmz1UBpO8NSi5hhfidajOXz6JPE-u-ZMRa2HQRTz2in1tpss
The one-day festival Kunstentropie is an international art project conceived as a cooperation between three NGO organizations from Austria, Switzerland and Serbia, as well as several independent artists. The aim of the festival is, through various activities such as exhibition, workshops, book presentations and music, to put the focus on the independent production of artists and cultural workers who are either physically in the diaspora or have a specific emotional or artistic relationship with this socio-cultural phenomenon.
PROJECT EXECUTING ORGANISATION:
Verein KUNSTENTROPIE- Wien / AT
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:
LINE IN- Vienna /AT, KACHAMAK- Zurich/ CH, UNDERGRAD-Multimedia Organisation-Užice /SRB
SPONSORS:
MA7 (Bezirksorientierte Kulturangelegenheiten), FUDEKS, PANELEKTRO chem, NEOPRESS, Restaurant SEMENDRIAOrganisers:
Amalija Stojsavljevic and Vladislava SavicPROGRAM:
During the festival, visitors will have the unique opportunity to enjoy a taste of a traditionally made kacamak (pura) cooked in the festival venue "AU".
14.00h-16.00h "KAČAMASCHER PLASTISCHER BILDSATARAŠ" Workshop by Kristina Kekic and Vladislava Savic
16.00h-18.00h FANZINE WORKSHOP "UNDERGRAD JAM FANZINE” Workshop led by Danilo Stojic and Katie Woznicki
18.00h-20.30h ART FAIR Numerous artistic works by various artists in various media that allow visitors to acquire works of art at affordable prices.
19.00h OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION "THE SAME REASON TO TAKE A WALK" BY VLADISLAVA SAVIC + ANIMATIONS OF THE "KACHAMAK" ARTISTIC GROUP
“The Same Reason To Take A Walk” is a series of collages exploring urban landscapes. It uses fragments of different
scenes and photographs to develop unique architectural sketches.
KACHAMAK - https://vimeo.com/user44583737
20.30h-22.00h LITERATURE NIGHT WITH PREDRAG ALMAZAN and DANILO STOJIC
22.30h-04.00h MUSICAL PROGRAM/ AMANITA DODOLA/ LENHART TAPES/ SKRECH MAJSTOR LJUBAN
HERE YOU CAN FIND THE FANZINE VELIKA NUŽDA
c)Selected exhibitions within AU
The exhibition Paintings from Renato Rakic (Mai 2018)
http://www.viennau.com/events/free-forms-just-music-6/
The exhibition Dvojina/Duality from Davor Paponja (April 2018)
https://www.wherevent.com/detail/TSRNA-MAMBA-Ausstellung-Duality-von-Davor-Paponja-BH
https://srpskainfo.com/banjalucki-umjetnik-gost-beca-paponja-otvorio-izlozbu-dvojina/
“The series of drawings titled Dvojina/Duality refers to the Old Slavic language grammatical structure, which whom in our language today we can meet just as archaism and which also alludes to the contemporary position of Christianity that has lost its dominance in the world in which we live. The presence of early Christian iconography reflected in a clear attempt to condense visual languages existing “indigenous” pre-Christian culture and the beginning of constructing its own visual identity of Christianity. Throughout the works Davor actually tries to explore close to him religious past, where the presence of pagan elements constantly, such as duality, runs through rituals and symbols, but not so obvious at first glance. The figures are always shown in pairs, referring to the two sides of the same coin, which at the same time pointing to the duality and unity of Christianity, and the division of each of the "universal" principles.” Text for catalogue A.S.
The exhibition Hadova kaciga/Hedes Helmet from Miron Milic (March 2018)
https://sr.nightnomads.com/event/97123466360423957444
http://www.seecult.org/vest/diktatorski-haute-couture
The exhibition Lost/Found von Marina Veselinovic (February/ March 2018)
http://www.seecult.org/tag/marina-veselinovic
“The exhibition Lost/Foundincludes drawings, illustrations and watercolor works of artist Marine Veselinović, which were created in two different time periods (one group a few years back, while the other one in the recent time), where the artist wants - by opposing them one against the other - to show duality, or the development of our world or our life. Traditionally against the modern. Pencil and paper vs. computer graphics. Already at the first glance, we can observe all those elements that are recognizable for the aesthetics of this artist. On the one hand, it is a wide range of content such as landscapes, elements of still nature, old and antique objects, animals, plants, insects, while on the other is specific drawing accentuated with bright colors that often act as independent elements. The same visual humor and playfulness, but with more stylistic purification and balance between drawings and colors, have numerous illustrations, which for the author is the primary medium of expression and which, as such, is reflected in all its other artistic activities. Without any tendency towards the deeper meaning of the content itself, these small-format works and Maniristic hand movements, actually represent an illustrated journey or development of the artist over a certain period of time, within which she successively lost and found herself.” Text for catalogue A.S.
The Exhibition Drawings von Katie Woznicki and live performance by Lenhart Tapes, Amanita Dodola and E-P-P(November/ December 2017)
Within the project Marginal connections, exhibition Zeichnungen und Animationen von Vuk Palibrk + musical part Skrech Majstor Ljuban & Videc (SRB) (July 2017)
Die Ausstellung von Vuk Palibrk repräsentiert die erste Veranstaltung in einer 3-teiligen Veranstaltungsreihe im Rahmen des Projekts Marginal Connections. Das Ziel ist es, das Wiener Publikum mit den Autoren und der aktuellen künstlerischen Produktion der unabhängigen bzw. underground Szene Serbiens bekannt zu machen. Sie beinhaltet Arbeiten aus drei abgeschlossenen Zyklen - die Comics „The Diary“, „Rotkäppchen“ und „Kampf“ - sowie Animationen und anderen Zeichnungen und Skizzen, die ohne festes Konzept in den letzten Jahren entstanden sind. „The Diary“ ist die Visualisierung eines Tagesbuches, das der Künstler am Flohmarkt von Pancevo (Serbien) gefunden hat. In diesem Tagebuch schreibt ein unbekanntes Mädchen über ihre täglichen Tätigkeiten und ihre Schwierigkeiten beim Eintritt in die Pubertät. Alles findet genau vor dem Beginn des Luftangriffs durch die deutsche Wehrmacht auf Belgrad und das Königreich Jugoslawien im Jahr 1941. statt. „Rotkäppchen“ andererseits ist ein Comic ohne Text, in den Farben rot und schwarz gehalten, und zeigt Szenen berühmter Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm, die das mythologische Elemente der Unterdrückung behandeln.
In der Ausstellung werden auch GIFs und kurze Animationen präsentiert, deren Themen das Absurde, Sinnlosen und Surreale sind und die seit 2014 spontan und regelmäßig entstehen. Es werden auch kurze animierte Filme gezeigt, die von 2013 bis heute entstanden sind, darunter die bisher bekannteste Arbeit "Ordinary Day" und die Animation, die im Zuge des Artist in Residence Programs in Malmö im Jahr 2016 entstanden ist.
d)Other
A text from the exhibition catalogue Anacumena of the artist Jelena Micić
Dom omladine Gallery, Belgrade (November 2016)
“Jelena Micić’s Anecumena is a product of a several-month-long process of collecting and archiving porous agricultural nets. The homogeneous materials, with special texture and color characteristics, are merged into an installation that dominates the gallery space. Micić’s practice explores the use of color in a variety of (non) artistic discourses, all the while flirting with the limits of conceptual art. These works represent an unusual multicolored hybrid that oscillates between painting, sculpture and architecture. The problematization of the notion of a border both in painting, as well as in the broader socio-political context, is also reflected in the articulation of the nets as ready-made, whose polyvalent status of imposed / selected / discarded object provokes their inability to be clearly defined…”
**** I gave a lecture Instrumentalization of Exhibitions for Nationalistic
Purposes (Exhibition’ Practices at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka during
the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina) within the workshop Reluctant Heritage: “Revisiting Museums and Memory
Sites in Central and Eastern Europe in a Transnational Perspective", 04-05.11.2016, Bucharest.
http://icom-oesterreich.at/kalender/workshop-reluctant-heritage-revisiting-museums-and-memory-sites-central-and-eastern-europe
**** Mobile Reporting Workshop - The workshop was organized by Radio Orange 94.0 and
was a good opportunity for participants to get acquainted with the simpler ways of realizing radio shows. October,
2017.
**** Transnational Training and Cooperation Activities - I participated in a Project/Seminar-OMG! (Other Museums Generation!). 2018 European year of culture and heritage: Youth in action at the Museums, 26.06-1.07.2018, Madrid.
**** Text entitled Putzmalerei der Frau Jelena: Abstract that Serves the
Engaged, published at Magazine “Zent”, No. 3, September 2018, Belgrade.
http://novaiskra.com/treci-broj-magazina-zent/
II. Second phase - Levitation in between (2014-2015)
After a physical departure from Banja Luka, I was no longer able to continue to follow artistic events in the city itself, so I focused on cooperation with an artist from Serbia, Davor Gromilovic, which produced two excellent projects. One is an exhibition titled Crystallization in the Remont Gallery in Belgrade, which was later seen throughout Serbia, and other important project is the Monograph of the above mentioned artist. In addition, in this brief period, I held one lecture and published an essay in the art magazine Words of Art, which deals with the different use of numbers in conventional art and Art Brut.
a) Monograph
A Monograph/ Book Wrong Time Wrong Place of the artist Davor Gromilovic
Published by Symposion (Subotica) and Forum (Novi Sad), 2015
Davor Gromilovic’s book Wrong Time – Wrong Place represents a summary of art periods from 2009 to 2014. The book consist of 4 chapters (Six feet deep, I can't play football, From somewhere to nowhere, Crystallization) of carefully selected artworks on more than 250 pages. The text was written by curator Amalija Stojsavljevic and translated into English and Hungarian language. The book was published in 2015 by Symposion and Forum. The hand printed book cover adds some extra value to this outstanding publication.
Published by Symposion and Forum, 2015.
Texts in English, Hungarian, and Serbian language.
250 pages, full color.
Silk screen printed cover.
b) Exhibition
The text for the exhibition catalogue Crystallization of the artist Davor Gromilović
Gallery REMONT- Independent Artistic Association, Belgrade (May/June 2014);
Gallery of Culture Center- "Laza Kostić", Somor (August 2014);
Gallery of Culture Center, Požega (April/May 2016);
Cultural Center, Čačak (September 2016)
http://www.seecult.org/vest/kristalizacija
“The exhibition of Davor Gromilović called Crystallization, which encompasses thirty-four works on different types of mediums such as of paintings, graphics and drawings, which were created during the second half of 2013 and during 2014. The title alludes to the concretization of an idea and thus the ending of the process of artistic exploration of that particular area. However, the selection of works is merely a micro-series when compared to the artist´s constant and continual exploration of his inner being in collision with aggressiveness and uncertainty of everyday reality. By using a huge amount of symbols and collage techniques, and by permeating real and surreal situations and relationships, the artist creates an artificial world where different mechanisms and ways of functioning exist. The process of artistic shaping which began in his early childhood, after his years of education at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, is now again freely continued through a purified and more concrete visual expression…”
c) Other
**** Lecture- Kunst und Gesellschaft in Serbien nach den demokratischen
Veränderungen im Jahr 2000, within the project SAY IT.RS, Wien 04.05.2014.
https://esel.at/termin/70930
**** Text entitled You got the right number, published at „Art Words“,
number.100., December 2014, Ljubljana.
https://www.likovnebesede.org/100-ii2015.html
I. First phase - Bosnian phase (2010-2014)
This phase is characterized by work at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and participation in the school “World of Art”-School for curators and critics in Contemporary Art in Ljubljana (Slovenia). Considering that the art and cultural scene in Banja Luka could be described as conservative, traditionalist and "backward", at the beginning for me it was necessary to meet artists, exhibition spaces, artistic tendencies of the younger generation, as well as colleagues- curators and critics. From these initial creative impulses, numerous interesting collaborations and projects have been created. In addition, during this period I started to write a critical reviews and essays and that will, perhaps, remain my favorite mediums of expression until today.
a) Exhibitions
The text for the catalogue of exhibition on topic Crisis for IV International exhibition of miniatures Minimum Maximum
Museum Rappaz, Basel (October 2013);
Cultural Center "Banski Dvor", Banja Luka (March 2014)
http://www.rappazmuseum.ch/AusstellungMinimumMaximum.html
https://issuu.com/udruzenjeuaa/docs/minmax4_katalog
“Having in mind the last two decades on the territories of the Balkan Peninsula, it is very difficult to put it’s economic crisis in terms of global economic crisis. Yugoslavia, the socialist and multinational republic as originally created, fell apart because of conflicts that emphasized national ideology and religious orthodoxy. The mentioned attitudes resulted in a war that jeopardized well-established social homeostasis and safety in terms of existence. Post-communistic countries, Yugoslavian fragments, completely misguided by lousy transitional politics and quasi democratic values resulted in loss of system of value and support to ones subjected to this kind of society…”
The text for the exhibition catalogue Constructed necessity -sewing of emancipation, or can we be women without consequences?of the artist Nina Popović
Cultural Center "Banski Dvor", Banja Luka (September/October 2013)
https://www.behance.net/gallery/11809943/constructed-necessity
“Although we live in patriarchal cultural heritage, namely to some extent modified modern patriarchy, that is now formed and structured through contracts by the civil capitalist society, the position of a woman is essentially the same as before. Due to its long duration and the fact that it is deeply rooted in the social and political reality, the patriarchy is considered natural and its existence is out of the question. Effects produced by the “operation” of this concept contribute to the gender dichotomy between male and female being continuously perpetuated into the patriarchy pattern, making cognition almost impossible outside of it.
... As a woman formed on Bosnian and Herzegovinian patriarchy heritage and repressive social society context, artist Nina Popovic will present her works through the exhibition Constructed Necessity that implies a different issue of women as numb subjects in such society. Taking herself as the first example and questioning different positions and roles she takes (a woman, mother, wife, artist), but not performing them in an expected way, her identity is per natura marginalized.
Organization of the exhibition Panic Box of the artist Nemanja Nikolic, within the project Thrill in movement- About and Around Curating and text for the catalogue
Mixer festival, Belgrade (May/Jun 2013)
http://kustosiranjemikser2013.blogspot.co.at/p/2-dnevnik-rada-umetnickih-timova-diary.html
http://www.nemanjanikolic.com/animation/panic-box
“The exhibition About and around curating: Thrill in movement is atypical in its structure. It was created within the project Kustosiranje and Mixer festival 2013, and provides a new way of research and critical reviews the segment of the urban space of the capitalist city which is almost “predetermined” for artistic and cultural events. If the space of Savamala is viewed as the space of the Other in the broadest sense (and art is the Other in relation to the dominant social and political “pragmatism”), a question arises, whether the ephemeral events confirm the Other and in that way construct its identity, or is the function of the Other to raise the economic and market value of the property, which will make a location of Savamala an attractive for the capitalist investors in the future? The very problematic context affects that this area can be considered from the position of the here and now and also from the future projection there and once in order to comprehend the whole picture…”
The text for the exhibition catalogue Victima of the artist Davor Paponja
Gallery Dogma Arts, Banja Luka (May 2013)
VICTIMA -auto VICTIMA “.... The exhibition Victima by Davor Paponja consists of three works, two collages and a video. All three works analyze subject as a victim and an artist as a victim`s victim in a system whereby the interweaving of patriarchal, nationalist and religious orthodoxies constitutes a repressive order, with a matrix that, in the level of epistemological constructs, acquires the status of gnosis. ... Namely, a subject and the artist both have a problem with the burden of speech. Considering that we cannot speak about a subject as an finalized and completely determined static phenomena, but only about subject in the process of becoming subject, Davor works are product of painful auto-reflection on the subject`s own position, on his own internal world opposite to existing order…”
One of the participants of Ars Kozara- experimental land art laboratory on mountain Kozara, and author of catalogue text
Peak Glavusa, Mountain Kozara (August 2012)
http://www.seecult.org/vest/umjetnicka-laboratorija
The artistic temptation of nothingness
“ ... The artist identifies himself with the Creator and nature is then "absolute reality",
where the piece of nature is ripped from its totality and is analyzed and serves as a basis
for artistic intervention on it. Depending on the integration of this small piece into the
whole, one should see whether the intervention met the aesthetic criteria, that is, concept
/expectation of a narrow circle of observers from the world of art. The work is rather an
expression of the artist's aspiration, but the need of nature to correct itself. Nature is like a
canvas or unprocessed sculptural material, neutral in relation to artistic demands, which
"contemporary art" returns to the traditional frames of the artist-demiurg, raw materialcreation.
Nature is passive because the artist acts on it and by changing it adapts to itself...”
The text for the exhibition catalogue Vibrate reality of the artists Vesna Lenić Kreže and Benjamin Kreže
Cultural Center Banski Dvor, Banja Luka (March/April 2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z47GQTuSYKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A57-5MgEljU
http://banskidvor.org/otvaranje-izlozbe-a-vibrating-reality/katalog/
Extended field with vibrations
“The exhibition entitled Vibrate reality of the artists Vesna Lenić Kreže and Benjamin Kreže
is a multimedia and interdisciplinary art project, which through contemporary art media
and complex structures of individual works, examines the perceptual boundaries of art, as
well as relativity of the offered patterns of reality. By creating two physical autonomous
spaces in the context of the exhibition, the works of artists are separated individually and
thus self-emphasized, while their communication was established on the conceptual level
through the constitution of the ambiental atmosphere. The theatrical and mystical effects
are underlined in the very title of the exhibition, where the physical presence of art objects
produces a subtle, different reality, which for a moment introduces a discontinuity to
spatio-temporal frames and puts us in the position of active consumer of the offered
spectacle…”
The text for the exhibition One Hundred Views of Ukiyo-e of the artist Muhamed Kafedzić
City gallery Bihać (January/ February 2012)
The City Museum Zenica (February/ March 2012)
http://muhaonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/masters.pdf
Pop art and pop art
“The works of Muhamed Kafedžić, presented at the exhibition under the title 100 Views of
Ukiyo-e, in its exquisite and absolutely unique way merge two units, which are physically,
and, easily assumed, culturally separated and independent. By thoughtful exploration of the
artistic flows in the second half of the 20th century, with particular attention to Pop art and
fascination with popular Japanese culture and arts, the works created, with their
uniqueness and originality, overcome the existing patterns of the Bosnian and
Herzegovinian, as well as the regional artistic production…”
Selection of artworks and text for catalogue of exhibition on topic Sexuality for III International exhibition of miniatures Minimum Maximum
Museum of Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka (December 2011)
“By the realization of the exhibition Sexuality, which thematic framework involves questioning of sexuality from different discourses and media, is continued (previous themes were Religion and Communism) the examination of the fragments of the current social reality. Like other social, or socially constructed and imposed patterns of behavior, sexuality is made up of a multitude occurrences differently treated in depending on the cultural context from which it originates, the connections of power and tendencies of a certain historical moment, but also the very corporeality of humanity. "Contemporary” sexuality assumes a heterosexual, patriarchal matrix, which implies a sexual binary and on it built genders, whose foundation is biological reproducibility, while the right to selfdefinition and self-identification as "different" is a subversive act…”
The text for the exhibition catalogue Habitat of the artist Davor Paponja
Cultural Center „Banski Dvor“, Banja Luka (March 2011)
„Black box“ Gallery, Sarajevo (June 2011)
http://www.blackbox.ba/art_shop_davor_paponja.html
“The first solo exhibition of the artist Davor Paponja, entitled Habitat, structurally unites various techniques and concepts within its corpus, and communicates with an observer at the metaphysical or conceptual level as a whole. The largest part of the exhibition consists of drawings, which may not be understood as drawings in a classical sense, but as some kind of a hybrid, whose initial tissue is broken by the process of its making that involves a series of interventions, from photographing, photoshop processing, re-drawing to printing. In a conceptual sense, the culmination of this complex process represents a printing of one series of drawings on the mottled pages of the Anthology of Fine Arts, which was artist´s first drawing surface in childhood and thus a type of metadialog with infantile and apparently naive content of the works themselves. On the other hand, by imprinting of that kind of narrative and the artist's name into an institutionally highly respected Anthology, the whole concept of the dominant art history, its validity and power struggle is questioned….”
b) Festivals
I.
ALTERKULTURA (BANJA LUKA STREET ART FESTIVAL)
June 14 – 15, 2012 | Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
http://www.pravoljudski.org/alterkultura
Project description:
Initiated by PRAVO LJUDSKI film festival, Platforma Alter Kultura (Platform Alter Culture) presented the network for collaboration of cultural organizations from four cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Banja Luka, Mostar, Tuzla and Sarajevo. Although inspired by the initiative for the candidacy of the city of Sarajevo for European Cultural Capital 2014., Platform is a natural but also a strategic step towards the unification of generally dispersed and dissociated cultural and artistic scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the attempt to bring awareness to the issue of cultural consciousness and responsibility, Platform Alter Culture wants to create a space for the cultivation of existing, but also initiation new contents, and to contribute to the decentralization of culture and establishment of such cultural policy that is based on inclusivity, dialogical openness and tolerance. Alter culture web portal represents an opportunity for exchange, promotion and implementation of cultural and artistic events and other types of content. Conceived as an informative online project, the portal Alter Culture offers a direct access to informations on actual and potential partnership, initiatives, happenings in the field of culture and art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Four partner organizations so far from four cities are the following: Sarajevo- Association of citizens Pravo Ljudski, Banja Luka- UNSA GETO, Mostar- OKC ABrasevic, and Tuzla- The Center for creative, research and civic engagement: City. With this initiative, it becomes open to other individuals and organizations which want to join and take their place on Bosnia and Herzegovina cultural scene. Program Culture for Development is a three year program funded by the Spanish government via MSG-F fund.
The program is implemented by three organizations of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina: UNDP, UNESCO and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Affairs of B&H, Federal Ministry for Culture and Sports, Ministry of Education and Culture of RS and other institutions in the field of education and culture.
II.
BL-ART Festival (BANJA LUKA ART FESTIVAL)
October 11-13, 2012| Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
https://www.facebook.com/BlArtFestival/ https://www.facebook.com/BlArtFestival/ http://www.seecult.org/vest/impuls-alternativne-kulture
Project description:
The presence of the recent history, the economical and political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina largely replaces any forms of cultural diversity. The work of many young thinkers, writers and artists is discriminated and marginalized by public pretending that there is no social demand or space for these actions. Why and how is the growing of independent art production widely disabled and how do creators themselves evaluate the development in the Balkans since the end of the civil war?
The association UNSA Geto invited art producers and activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia to the BL-Art Festival, which took place in Banja Luka from October 11 – 13, 2012 (BiH). BL-Art aimed at promoting independent artists by various actions such as performances, interventions in public space, exhibitions, concerts and inviting organizations to participate in the panel.
By the different segments of art activities and interventions in public space the lack of regional alternative art was presented as the missing freedom of expression in relation to different kinds of public space. By giving emerging artists the possibility to present or perform their artwork in public, we raised the awareness of the citizens of their right to use the city and public space, as well as the formation of homogeneous and productive regional cooperation.
III.
BL-ART Festival (BANJA LUKA ART FESTIVAL)
September 5-8, 2013| Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ww7F_04xe8&feature=youtu.be
https://www.facebook.com/BlArtFestival/
Project description:
The theme of this year's BL-ART festival is "Independent Cultural Scenes and Regional Cultural Policies". It is expected that artists, from Austria, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will participate in the festival. Such a meeting of artists and public cultural workers from the Balkan region will contribute to the fragmentation of the stereotyped image of the city of Banja Luka, and enable Banjaluka to again become a hub of various cultural influences and interweaving. In this context, it is a significant presentation of a wider content of contemporary cultural creativity, both local and regional. The festival program consists of projections, discussions, workshops, exhibitions and music content.
“Art section” of BL-Art Festival, this year will include a several, in conventional frameworks, opposite media, where activities from the usual spaces intentional for art, would be transferred to the public space, supposedly accessible to all citizens. As we live in a capitalist-defined city, it is clear that the equal distribution of power within the public space is not nearly as equal as it is not in other segments of society. However, although confronted with marginalization and a strong desire to mobilize and passivize all cultural and artistic tendencies that emerge from the given Bosnian-Herzegovinian frameworks, the “Art section” of BL-Art will show with varying and contradictory content that lamentation are not allowed in this case. The activities of artists in the public space will include interventions on the walls with color or not: Emir Šehanović (BiH), Josip Mićković (BiH), Miron Milić (HR), Neža Jurman (SLO) + team “from the van”(SLO); performance: Selma Selman (BiH), Mila Panic (BiH), SasaTatic (BiH); multimedia, audio-visual performances: Igor F. Petkovic (AU / SRB). As BL-Art festival implies every form of solidarity and artistic disobedience, in case of spontaneous inclusion of unforeseen artists, organizers consider action and work valid.
c) Critical Review and Essays
*Reclaiming Mostar (Street art festival in Mostar 2013.), online portal “Tacno”, published 20.05.2013. http://www.tacno.net/novosti/reclaiming-mostar-street-art-fest-2013/
*A review of the exhibition Non Overview Exhibition of the artist Milan Erič in City Gallery, Ljubljana (11.10.2012-03.12.2012.), within the School "World of Art" of Center for Contemporary Art in Ljubljana, 17.01.2013. http://www.worldofart.org/aktualno/archives/4041
*Within the project Video turn and seminar in writing, text entitled Reexploring position of context
in experimental art on the example of exhibition “Dominant black2 of the artist Neven Korda,
published at „Art Words“, Volume 96, December 2012, Ljubljana.
http://www.worldofart.org/aktualno/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SCCA-LB96.pdf
*Contemporary curatorial practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina-general overview, online portal
“Brazdablog”, published 28.08.2012.
www.brazdablog.com
*Belgium Trainspotting, online portal “Brazdablog”, published 06.06.2012.
www.brazdablog.com
*A review of the workshop in critical writing led by Branislav Dimitrijević, Center for
Contemporary Art in Ljubljana (18-19.05. 2012), within the School "World of Art" of Center
for Contemporary Art in Ljubljana, 26.06.2012.
http://www.worldofart.org/aktualno/archives/2299
*A review of the exhibitionREAL TIME SETTINGS FOR NER [D/VE] S,Gallery ŠKUC,
Ljubljana (03-19.04.2012), within the School "World of Art" of Center for Contemporary
Art in Ljubljana, 14.06.2012.
http://www.worldofart.org/aktualno/archives/2237
*The crowd and the visitors, online portal Konkusi regiona published 08.07.2011
http://konkursiregiona.net/kolumna-amalije-stojsavljevic-publika-i-posetioci/
*Street art in Banja Luka, online portal Konkusi regiona published 07.06.2011.
http://konkursiregiona.net/kolumna-amalije-stojsavljevic-street-art-u-banja-luci/
*Two exhibitions at the service of reprogramming the scene of Banja Luka, online portal
Konkusi regiona, published 07.05.2011
http://konkursiregiona.net/kolumna-amalije-stojsavljavic-dve-izlozbe-u-sluzbi-reprogramiranja-banjalucke-scene/
*Text in The Inventure Energy 2004-2010, published by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Banja Luka (March 2011).
d) Other
**An animator an origami workshop within the manifestation August-month of creative
development, workshop organized in collaboration with the NGO „Zdravo da ste“, Banja
Luka (August 2010).
http://www.infobiro.ba/article/733577
**Textual part of the art work entitled 1000 truths of the artist Davor Paponja, Council of
Europe, Sarajevo (November 2011- ).
http://www.6yka.com/novost/16251/hiljadu-istina-o-bh-identitetima-
**Lecture-Regional Contemporary Curatorial Practice, Cultural Center „Rex“,
Belgrade (June 2012)
http://kustosiranje.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/kustosiranje-12-kulturni-centar-rex.html
http://kustosiranje.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/sinoc-kustosiranje-12-kulturni-centar.html