NUS – UNAFFIRMED ART SCENE

Exhibition in the Bačvice Aquaruim, Split, January 13 – 20, 2012

By: Anita Kojundžić

In times of growing unemployment and global recession, when we can hear only about budget cuts and savings, to choose art as your profession is a bold and risky move (hasn’t that always been the case?), because few can brag about how well off they are living on art, how they are not doing art in their spare time, after their day job that secures their sustenance. In such a context, it is legitimate to ask to what extent can one follow their creative impulse without constant deprivation and accepting various compromises? To somehow answer that question, a group of female students from Split has demonstrated one potential form of self-employment by creating a new social network and finding alternative ways to acquire experience, outside the official institutions and their procedures. In fact, they put on a one-week show of the unaffirmed art scene in the Bačvice Aquarium, which is, in my opinion, one of the best exhibition venues in Split for contemporary art, despite being unfinished.

Considering how professional the organisation is, from publicity, press conferences, website, promotional materials, many volunteers who applied via an official call, to an impressive number of sponsors, it is really hard to believe the exhibition was put together by a group of art history students from the Faculty of Philosophy in Split. By announcing an international tender with the topic “Tampon Revolution” for unaffirmed, therefore, young artists under 35, the five-member organising-curating team (Nina Jurić, Vini Mihanović, Ana Šunjić, Martina Vuković and Kristina Trifunović), selected around 70 artists from South East Europe, with the exception of several artists from France, Italy and the Czech Republic, with approximately a 100 works in total.

Personally, I was only familiar with three names on a very long list of artists that took on the topic of “Tampon Generation”, a catchy marketing variation of the expression “tampon zone”, referring to a neutral area between two conflicting sides. In a rough parallel, the “tampon generation” should be a generation (of artists) caught between different areas of modern living, with existential issues regarding the meaning of being, or as the authors defined it, “a generation of young people trying to realize themselves and create conditions for a good life in times of capitalism and economic crisis.” Generally speaking, most of the works have an amateur flare in their execution, and the ideas are often quite patchy. A person could expect more optimism, a more utopian or at least daring approach from young artists at the beginning of their journey, being provocative, not to say subversive. However, (too) often most of the works deal with common issues of modern society and art (consumerism, world of spectacle, young person’s identity), finding direct inspiration in established artistic directions (Pop-art, Conceptual Art, 70’s Video Art) or art personalities (I am getting by until I become Jenny Holzer, by Davorka Tumpić). There is surprisingly little originality, not in a sense that something new has to be shown, something never before seen, but more in a sense of something fresh and relevant in (re)interpretation and (re)contextualisation. But, there are works like Antej Jelenić’s “Ballot Box”, which treats the ballot as a bullet, a potential weapon in a society with parliamentary democracy, therefore, several noteworthy, valuable and articulated voices can be singled out. The works I found intriguing were by Čedo Nemanja, Agent Orange, and the innovative use of digital photoframe by Mihael Putarić. Interesting perspectives on social context were presented in sculptures by Jasna Čagalj and Arijana Friedrich Lekić, Ivo Diminić, Neda Pavić and Nina Jurić’s ready-made, while witty feminist rhetoric was found in graphic works by Željka Fuderer Levak. With regard to painting, there is an astonishing influence of pop-art and neo-pop, so that part could be the least challenging for interpretation, with the exception of Andrea Musa’s works.

An especially symptomatic tale revolves around the “In Black and White/The Art as We Know it No Longer Exists” performance by Damir Čargonja, which has caused an uproar. There was a review of his performance in the local paper, criticizing his burning of books, with the title “Slaughter, arson, vomit, striptease and blood – all for art?”, where the author chastised a series of artists/performers by asking the moralising question of whether this is a banal and destructive act. As a response, the exhibition’s website (nus.hr), posted an additional explanation, not to say justification, of the action. In this way, it gained more media ground, although the subject is utterly irrelevant, because to question the legitimacy of performance as an art form is a truly worrying confirmation of mediocrity in relation to the provincial mindset, which unfortunately, finds a way to a wider public.

Translator: Una Krizmanić Ožegović