[artinfo] The Balkans Trilogy at Kunsthalle Fridericianum

[e-Flux]

THE BALKANS TRILOGY
2003 – 2004

1
IN THE GORGES OF THE BALKANS. A REPORT
Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel, Germany
Curated by René Block
Contemporary art from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, 
Greece, Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey
August 30 – November 23, 2003

Marina Abramovi , Hüseyin Alptekin, Halil Altindere, Fikret Atay, Maja 
Bajevi , Sokol Beqiri, Luchezar Boyadjiev, André Cadere, Mircea Cantor, 
Cengiz Çekil, Ivan ivi , Vuk osi , Tanja Dabo, Danica Daki , Braco 
Dimitrijevi , Uroš Djuri , Memed Erdener, Ay_e Erkmen, Esra Ersen, Andrea 
Faciu, Jakup Ferri, Vlatko Gili , Tomislav Gotovac, Cosmin Gradinaru, Ion 
Grigorescu, Jusuf Hadžifejzovi , Driton Hajredini, Albert Heta, Edi Hila, 
Bora Iljovski, Irwin, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Sanja Ivekovi , Šejla Kameri , 
Gülsün Karamustafa, Ömer Ali Kazma, Iosif Király, Merita Koci, Daniela 
Kostova, Jannis Kounellis, Laibach, Dren Maliqi, Mangelos, Vlado Martek, 
Antoni Maznevski, Mihael Milunovi , Boris Missirkov / Georgi Bogdanov, Ivan 
Moudov, Aydan Murtezao lu, Oliver Musovik, Vladimir Nikoli , ^ener Özmen / 
Erkan Özgen, Ebru Özseçen, Adrian Paci, Cristina Panaitescu, Maria 
Papadimitriou, Dan Perjovschi, Personal Cinema, Goran Petercol, Zoran 
Popovi , Marjetica Potr , Kiril Prashkov, Tobias Putrih, Igor Rak evi , 
Anri Sala, Bülent ^angar, Sarkis, Kalin Serapionov, Erzen Shkololli, 
Gentian Shkurti, Nedko Solakov, Serge Spitzer, Sandra Sterle, Mladen 
Stilinovi , Alma Suljevi , Marko Tadi , Cengiz Tekin, Hale Tenger, Lina 
Theodorou, Raša Todosijevi , Jelena Tomaševi , Milica Tomi , Veronika 
Tzekova, Žaneta Vangeli, Versionmagazine, Miha Vipotnik, Natalija Vujoševi 
, Dunja Zupan i / Dragan Živadinov

The Reinvention of the Balkans. Geopolitics, Art and Culture in South 
Eastern Europe
Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel, Germany
Symposium organised by Bojana Peji and Marius Babias, in cooperation with 
ifa / Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart
October 24 – 26, 2003

2
IN THE CITIES OF THE BALKANS
Exhibitions, publications, discussions organised by cooperation partners in 
Belgrade, Bucharest, Cetinje, Istanbul, Ljubljana, Prishtina, Sarajevo, 
Skopje, Sofia, Tirana and Zagreb
November 2003 – May 2004

Ruxandra Balaci (Bucharest), Sokol Beqiri (Peja), Dunja Blaževi (Sarajevo), 
Iara Boubnova (Sofia), Petar ukovi (Cetinje), Branislav Dimitrijevi 
(Belgrade), Nataša Ili (Zagreb), Vasif Kortun (Istanbul), Erden Kosova 
(Istanbul), Shkëlzen Maliqi (Prishtina), Edi Muka (Tirana), Nataša Petrešin 
(Ljubljana), Zoran Petrovski (Skopje), Erzen Shkololli (Peja)

3
BEYOND THE BALKANS
Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel, Germany
Mangelos nos. 1 to 9 ½
Curated by Branka Stipan i
Marjetica Potr – Kassel Project
June – September 2004

Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Friedrichsplatz 18
34117 Kassel, Germany
Tel. +49 (0) 561 - 70 72 720
Fax +49 (0) 561 - 77 45 78
e-mail: office at fridericianum-kassel.de
<http://www.fridericianum-kassel.de>http://www.fridericianum-kassel.de

IN THE GORGES OF THE BALKANS. A REPORT
August 30 – November 23, 2003

Residing at the interface between the Orient and Occident, Christianity and 
Islam, the Balkans have remained an uncharted territory, a blind spot on 
the map, throughout their centuries-old, turbulent history, which has 
witnessed the rise and fall of monarchies, dictatorships, Communist social 
systems and democracies. As such, they have become the ideal canvas on 
which to project western European preconceived notions of the region – 
notions, which can even be found in Karl May’s Balkans novel of the same 
name. As multi-ethnic societies, the countries of South Eastern Europe have 
in recent years served also as the paradigm for prognoses on the processes 
of globalisation and in this way fuelled the notion of the “Clash of the 
Civilizations”. The “Balkans” has long since become a metaphor. The 
Balkans, in the words of the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, are always 
the others.

In contrast to the novelist Karl May, the exhibition’s curator René Block 
has actually embarked on a journey through the Balkans where he studied the 
situation on the ground within the individual countries in close 
cooperation with indigenous artists and curators. Consequently, the 
exhibition IN THE GORGES OF THE BALKANS perceives itself as a documentary, 
as an eyewitness account, which invites the visitor himself to set out on a 
journey of discovery through South Eastern Europe. A journey leading from 
the origins of Concept Art in Yugoslavia in the 60ies, from works created 
under the most difficult conditions during the era of the Communist regimes 
(Romania, Albania), to the contemporary art scene. On our travels artists 
who are operating within the Western (art) context were encountered, whilst 
retaining a strong affinity to their native countries. The application of 
new technologies and the emerging issues relating to the status and 
relevance of art and of artists demonstrates that the artists of South 
Eastern Europe have long since been integrated into the global discourse on 
art.

Beside the exhibition in Museum Fridericianum, which features 88 artists 
from 12 different countries and regions, the exterior space is playing host 
to actions and performances, together with exhibition bound / less borders, 
realized on the initiative of the Goethe Institute in Belgrade. Each week, 
the exhibition’s comprehensive accompanying programme focuses on a 
different South Eastern European country and highlights its cultural 
features by means of lectures, film screenings and theme-based guided 
tours. Many of these individual strands are bundled together in the form of 
a symposium entitled THE REINVENTION OF THE BALKANS. GEOPOLITICS, ART AND 
CULTURE IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE, October 24 - 26.

Following the launch in Kassel, subsequent projects including exhibitions, 
publications, congresses and discussion forums will be staged by the 
cooperation partners IN THE CITIES OF THE BALKANS (Belgrade, Bucharest, 
Cetinje, Istanbul, Ljubljana, Prishtina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Tirana 
and Zagreb) before reaching its conclusion BEYOND THE BALKANS. This will 
take place in 2004 in the form of a Kassel project by the Slovene Marjetica 
Potr and a retrospective dedicated to the Croatian art poet Mangelos (1921 
- 1987), whose work has enriched the canon of European art history with the 
inclusion of a further chapter.

To coincide with the exhibition a richly illustrated large-format Travel 
Guide has been produced (136 pages, 5 € / 10 € incl. postage). The book on 
the exhibition will be published in June 2004 and will contain extensive 
documentation on all the associated projects.

The Balkans Trilogy is funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes