SING SING IN SARAJEVO

Exhibition Sing Sing, Sarajevo City Hall, November 19 – December 4, 2011

November 19th was an important day for the Sarajevo art scene because there were to exhibition openings only two hours apart: “World Art in Sarajevo” in Hanikah, with 12 distinguished international artists from the Ars Aevi collection, and a retrospective of the work by the Sing Sing Group in the Town Hall. Both shows were organised by the Ars Aevi project, with Amila Ramović as curator, and since these are complex projects which require a lot more space for detailed elaboration, this time we will discuss the latter.

By: Anita Kojundžić

As soon as you arrive to the opening, and dress code should definitely be warm clothes (due to the cold and draft), no fancy shoes (because you are walking on dirt and dust), you know this is an unusual event. The Sing Sing Group’s exhibition takes place in the Town Hall, which was burnt to the ground during the war, and is now being reconstructed, so the works are hanging on unfinished walls, carried by the draft in front of windowless panes and under improvised lights. Despite its derelict state, this is a place with complex history and memory, one of the most remarkable examples of the Austro-Hungarian architecture in BH at the end of the 19th century, but also the site of a cultural massacre at the end of the 20th century.

The former members of Sing Sing are joined again in the exhibition, who started the band in 1991: Juriša Boras, Almir Kurt, Damir Nikšić and Nebojša Šerić Shoba, with associate members who also include Samir Plasto. As circumstances go, the group stopped working, and the former members developed their individual styles and artistic practices, so it could be said they are joined in spiritual, if not stylistic unity. Stressing the idea that what brings them together the most is common human experience, Juriša Boras displayed a large print with the artists’ fingerprints, alongside their DNA, the most reliable proof of someone’s physical identity. However, spiritual identity is much harder to define, shape, it is even impossible to freeze it in time, so this exhibition presents only one of many possible cross cuts. The sentimental tone continues in the first room where amateur footage from concerts is displayed, with a series of black-and-white portraits of the band members, taken by Dejan Vekić in 1991. One of the portraits was taken from the poster for the exhibition entitled Fascism is the opium for the people, reminding us of the events from the beginning of the 90’s when the extremist right wingers, supported by religions, massively hypnotised nations which ended in madness. From this central room, the visitor can decide to go through any of the passages, therefore defining for themselves how to view the show.

According to the exhibits, it could be said that this group of contemporary BH artists dealt with current political and social issues in their surroundings, using art as the medium for reaction and interpretation. In the mid-90’s, these were mainly the issues regarding pre-war, war and the after-war experience (Anur’s Human Condition, Made in Bosnia, 1994; Kurt&Plast’s My Place and Role in Contemporary Democratic Processes in 1997), at the turn of the decade, topics related to personal and national identity (Nebojša Šerić Shoba’s Cleaning the garbage in front of foreign Embassies after visa applicants in 1999; If I wasn’t Muslim Damir Nikšić in 2004), while more recent works examine the system of values in neoliberal capitalism and the issue of the EU, as an inevitable topic in any society in transition (Anur’s Human Condition II, 2001-2003; Greetings for Europe series by Kurta&Plasta from 2006). The cycle experimented with different media: photographs, painting, posters, performance, video, land and site-specific art, depending on the effect the artist wished to achieve. Finally, it could be said the works on display offer a different, alternative retrospective and perspective on events during the past 20 years, of what has been hidden by the media and in public – the other face of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian politics and society.

The only room with works of several artists, is the one with all the works from the Venice Biennale, Anur’s Human Condition, Made in Bosnia, presented in Venice in 2001, then Big Time by Damir Nikšić and Battlefields by Nebojša Šerić Shoba, both shown in Venice in 2003. This was certainly the confirmation of their individual status on the international art scene and a sign that BH is no longer viewed through the prism of war. Nevertheless, the fact that the first BH pavilion in 2003 was also its last (and also organised by Ars Aevi), opens issues beyond art. Symbolically dedicating a separate room for this, perhaps the issue of the (in)ability to be presented internationally in the future is brought up, which something essential for cultural and social development of any country. For BH this only happens within an international network of individuals and enthusiasts, not nationally.

Although different, these artists share the experience of living and working in BH during and after the war, absorbing and reacting to events which they witness, united in the idea of creating a lively contemporary art scene as an inevitable part in the process of peaceful development and integration. Therefore, maybe they wanted to show they were ready to build again and create new, alternative points in the existing regime by putting their works in the ruins of the City Hall. Despite the somewhat sentimental tone of the exhibition, its strongest link is providing form for the political act of rebellion, unity and solidarity as perhaps the only potentially transformative social practice presently.