Sreten Asanović, Nomina, Plima, Ulcinj, 2011
By: Ivana Ančić
English version will be available soon.
Goran Trbuljak, Greta Gallery, November 28 – December 4, 2011
By: Anita Kojundžić
It has been 40 years to the day since the first official introduction of Goran Trbuljak, one of the most significant Croatian conceptual artists. In 1971, at the Gallery of the Zagreb Student Centre, he showed only one poster that read “I do not wish to show anything new or original.” That same space, only a few months ago, hosted another poster, opposite the original, reading: “Old, bold, and still untalented.” And that was it. Forget the pomp, sentimentality and pathetic retrospectives, only wry humour and the everlasting uncompromising attitude. In this light, the exhibition “Personal and Other Obstacles” in the Greta Gallery is extremely “encompassing and talkative.”
In 1971 and 2011, apart from political turmoil and student riots, there was also another small coincidence. In 1971, when Trbuljak put up wooden beams on the streets of Zagreb as obstacles for the passers-by, he also put them in front of the offices at 92 Ilica, which are now, 40 years later, the newly established Greta Gallery space. Provoked by the coincidence, the artist offered a chance of a “rerun” and put up the beams again in front of the gallery, with the exhibition inside. The idea of a “rerun” follows what makes Trbuljak’s opus so recognizable from the beginning: questioning a work of art as something new, never before seen, criticizing the gallery system that perpetuated that belief, supporting the capitalist market values. This game of deconstructing the myths of the art world is what makes his old, already seen action so fresh. Perhaps this exhibition can be interpreted as a contemplation on the repetition of historical patterns. Certainly, this is not the first time the author has toyed with the idea of a “rerun” in his work: in 2009 he demonstrated six identical works that said “This poster is a copy of the poster from the seventies.” I believe the repetition of his works from the 70’s is no coincidence, that a hint of self-criticism and self-irony can be detected there, since that was the decade when some of him most prominent works were created by which he is remembered today. The seventies were his golden years, unlike the eighties that were marked by crisis, which he anticipated in his interview with Goran Petercol in 1981.
Another level that can be identified from this show is the lack of Trbuljak insitance on technical excellence and annihilation of technological fetishism. The photographs on display serve to document the actions, they are not exponats in their own right; the author used a heap of notepads and notebooks to sketch and create a film journal; posters with the photograph of Trbuljak’s referendum are “unskillfully” pasted with coloured paper.
Finally, the works we see are symbols of civil disobedinece: from puuting uo phony obstacles on the street to covering up traffic signs ans redesigning exhibition posters in such way that the poster almost completely loses its informative functions, which annihilates its meaning to exist. Covering up and rediscovering artifacts, creating visual or spatial blockages is probably a manifestation of his personal dilemma based on how much of himself he should give, and how much should he resist the exploitation of art institutions, which is part of his opus since the very start.
What has definitely changed in the past four decades in Trbuljak’s work is the lack of anonymity, which he seems settled with, accepting the inevitable gallery intervention. Trbuljak is responsible for the exhibition, first name, surname and all. His ancient dilemma, how to both inside and outside (the system) is represented with an exhibition that takes place on the outside, as well as inside. However, a complete absence of any additional information about the works talks about the insistence on audience participation, because there are no straightforward, simple or open-ended answers. We are still dealing with a shift from perception to cognition, from definition to creation.
If we described Trbulajk’s exhibition in the Greta Gallery paraphrasing his own words, we could say that he did not show anything new or original (1971); how the fact he was offered an opportunity to have an exhibition is far more important to him than what he is going to show (1973), and how this presents continuity of his wok (1979). Presenting obstacles for himself and others, Trbuljak maybe does not want to jump over them or remove them so much as he wishes to identify them and establish them as part of reality, as an element of resistance towards the individual and systematic sloth, acceptance of what is given, towards passivity, and even parasitic half-living, evoking change that first and foremost take place inside people’s heads. Trbuljak’s understanding of art is political for at least two reasons: it strives to democratize art, i.e. to wipe out the boundaries between art and life, encouraging everyone to act creatively in order to question and redefine the system and norms of any given context. Additionally, by deconstructing his own artistic identity, he uncovers a pattern of creating and sustaining any kind of identity – as a series of determined molds. Toying with the political is apparent in the manifesto echo of his many works, even when he is joking, “asking for my rights, neither aggressively, but nor peacefully” (2011). And he should be taken seriously.
Sreten Asanović, Nomina, Plima, Ulcinj, 2011
By: Ivana Ančić
English version will be available soon.
OSMI I SEDMI PUTNIK, Aleksandar Bjelogrlić, Citadela, Agora, Zrenjanin, 201
By: Dalibor Plečić
English version will be available soon.
Stjepan Gulin, Paz’te sad, paz’te sad (Meandarmedia, Zagreb, 2011.)
Authors: Ivana Ančić
Igor Marojević, Kroz glavu (Dosije, Beograd, 2012.)
Author: Dalibor Plečić
Damir Miloš, Pisa. Povratak (Meandarmedia, Zagreb, 2011.)
Author: Morena Livaković
POLITIČKE I DRUŠTVENE KONSTRUKCIJE IDENTITETA U VIDEO-PERFORMANSIMA NA BEOGRADSKOJ SCENI 1970-ih
Esej Vladimira Bjeličića
Esej u celini možete pročitati na portalu SEEcult.org
Esej Tihane Bertek
Od promatrača do sudionika
GALERIJA KAPELICA I POST-JUGOSLAVENSKI BODY ART (1995–2010)
Esej – Bojan Krištofić
Esej o radovima Šejle Kamerić, Maje Bajević i Nebojše Šerića Shobe
Piše: Slađana Golijanin
ESEJ – Razvaline socijalizma kao inspiracija za muzejske eksponate Mrđana Bajića i skulpturalne dosetke Ivana Fijolića
By: Milena Milojević
Piše: Nino Kovačić
Gostujuća izvedba šibenskog HNK, Pir malograđana, prema tekstu mladog Bertolda Brechta (napisan 1919.) izvedena je po sljedećoj formuli: na Danima satire u satiričkom kazalištu Kerempuh gledamo satiričan komad. Prema reakcijama publike, bila je uspješna, ali teško se oteti dojmu da je smijeh bio formulaično zagarantiran, jer bi takav instruirani moment humora trebao zauzdati spontani smijeh. Je li se možda radilo o “malograđanskom” humoru?
Glumice i to, KNAP, Zagreb, premijera 12.5.2012.
Piše: Nino Kovačić
Glumice i to, nova predstava u zagrebačkom KNAP-u, neobičan su kazališni ‘slučaj’. Naime, predstavu su, dramaturški i režijski osmislile te, naravno, glumački ostvarile četiri mlade glumice. U trenutačnoj opće-društvenoj, pa tako i kazališnoj situaciji, kojom prijete olovni pojmovi poput recesije, prekarijata i outsourcinga (nedavno su najavljena i otpuštanja “hladnopogonskih” glumaca), one su, kako piše u najavi “nezaposlene i pune entuzijazma, odlučile su preuzeti stvar u svoje ruke i napraviti hit!”. Očito sklone postdramskom pristupu izvedbi koji se, između ostalog, bazira na ekipnoj work-in-progress metodi, izvedbenoj anti-iluziji i autoreferencijalnosti, glumice/autorice su se “trgnule” i napravile parodiju o tome kako rade predstavu, po ironičnom ključu: kad ne ide pravljenje predstave treba napraviti predstavu o tome kako se ne može raditi predstava.
“Nije život biciklo”, Biljana Srbljanović, režija: Anselm Veber, Produkcija: Šaušpilhaus Bohum, Nemačka; Sterijino pozorje 2012, selekcija Nacionalne drame i pozorišta
By: Tamara Baračkov
English version will be available soon.
„Grebanje, ili kako se ubila moja baka“, Tanja Šljivar, režija: Selma Spahić, Bosansko narodno pozorište Zenica/Bitef teatar-Hartefakt (Beograd), premijera: 7. septembar 2012. (Zenica), 11. oktobar 2012. (Beograd)
By: Tamara Baračkov
English version will be available soon.
„Sluga dvaju gospodara“, Karlo Goldoni, režija: Boris Liješević, Grad teatar Budva/Srpsko narodno pozorište Novi Sad/Narodno pozorište „Toša Jovanović“ Zrenjanin, premijera: 27. jul 2012.
By: Tamara Baračkov
English version will be available soon.