[artinfo] The House ­ The Chaos

Nebojsa Vilic 359net@mail.com.mk
Tue, 4 Feb 2003 01:47:25 +0100


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CALL FOR PAPERS

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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

In behalf of the NGO Œ359 Degrees ­ Network for Local and Subaltern Hermeneutics¹, Skopje, Macedonia, let me introduce to you the final stage of the project:
ŒThe House ­ The Chaos. The Woman and the Destroyed-Home Discourse Re-built¹. 
At this stage the organisers are preparing the publication [the No. 9 in the Œ359 Degrees BOOKS¹ series] consisted of papers and texts related to the topic. The first ones [from the symposium held in Ohrid, Macedonia on September 21, 2002] are already edited. But, as the project provoke larger interest we decided to open this ŒCall for papers¹ for anyone interested to apply with her/is thoughts, remarks, impression on this, for us in the region, rather important topic.

Therefore, we are inviting anyone interested in this project and topic to be
a part with her/is text in the significant series of books published in/from
Macedonia. The length of the paper is not limited and the selection process
is not designed. These two issues are important for us, since we would like
to publish, as much as it is possible, different voices from different parts
of the world, since we all share some experiences from the proposed point of view.

The deadline for the papers is March 1, 2003. And, please submit a short
descriptive c.v.

The only thing that we are asking for is to send the paper in English and in
rtf format.

In addition we are sending to your attention the project proposal were you
can find the basic elements of it. If you are providing interest or if you
need some more information, do not hesitate to contact us on the addresses
in the footer of this mail.

Sincerely,

Nebojsa Vilic

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GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Project name:

THE  HOUSE  ­ THE  CHAOS. The Woman and the Destroyed-Home Discourse Re-built

2. Synopsis: 

Regional project for critical reading and interpretation of segments from
the recent cultural understanding of the destroyed home from a women point
of view, based on the specifies and differences of the local cultures in the
South-East European region [SEE]. Through practical and theoretical exchange
among artists and art and cultural practitioners to achieve recent
understanding what are the causes and the consequences of the war and the
displacement from the home. To juxtapose the beauty and the cultural
heritage of Ohrid with its 19th century urban housing with the
usual/practised interpretation of the war-image of the house over-floating
the media as a conversation between the Œhad¹, Œlost¹ and the Œre-built¹
home of the woman. The project aims, through painted images and
spoken/written words to open the discussion about the building, loosing and
re-building of the home. In this case, the meaning and the role of the women
in these and such circumstances are expressing important significance.
Putting the question in-between the physical and symbolic realm of the
Œhome¹, the project tends to intervene into the stereotypes about the issues
of the women at the SEE, trying to improve that she always re-builds what
the men will destroy. In that sense, the project seeks for the images from
the imagination of the women artists, the ways how they are making,
implementing and developing their visions, and, lastly, to enable a female
platform for social engagement of these points of view in the ­ basically ­
masculine society. The artistic and theoretical views, as the organisers are
expecting, will enforce the public discussion in the cultural and the social
circles around the region.

Fields of interest and research: - Gender, postcolonial and subaltern
studies, multicultural and multiethnic discourse, democratisation of the
structure of the transitional societies in SEE, inter-regional exchange.

Type of activities: - Workshop, meeting and exchanging point for artists and
art and cultural, and social practitioners.

Form of activities: - Open air painting, round table, lectures and discussions.

3. Location: Kaneo ­ one of the eldest parts of the city of Ohrid, Macedonia. (The town of Ohrid is under protection of UNESCO). Local contact person: Stevce Kanevce

4. Organisers (organisations and contact persons):
- IKON, Skopje; Ganco Hadzi-Panzov 1, 1000 Skopje ­ Macedonia; E:
ikon@unet.com.mk; T&F: + 389 2 177072; GSM: +389 70 221609 - Contact person:
Mr. Klime Korobar
- NGO Œ359° ­ Network for Local and Subaltern Hermeneutics¹, Oktomvriska
revolucija 12-1/9, 1000 Skopje ­ Macedonia; W: members.nbci.com/web359; E:
359net@mail.com.mk; T&F: +389 2 225149, GSM: +389 70 265695; - Contact
person: Mr. Nebojsa Vilic, Ph.D.


PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Aim
The starting position of the project ŒThe House ­ The Chaos. The Woman and
the Destroyed-Home Discourse Re-built¹ is that the female aspects,
understanding, role and possibilities in post-war times are extremely
important. The cultural tradition at the SEE, denominated and dominated by
the prejudice of the males¹ rights to bring decisions (as a stereotyped
image), in these war and post-war times are mirroring and reflecting the
actual geo-political situation, as well. The project is aiming to innovate,
introduce and promote different critical approaches, kinds of thought and
practices based on the actual ideological and political influence on the
cultural field through the examples of visual and art-theoretical
works/production. It is a regional project that critically re-reads and
re-interprets the segments of the actual conditions at the SEE that are
based, on the other hand, on the specifies and differences of the local
cultures in the SEE region. It is addressed, first of all, to the younger
generation of professionals in the filed of visual art and culture.

How (Strategy)
The project is designed as a series of activities in a period of ten days.
In this period through different forms the project is planning to bring
interesting and emerging young female artists and art critics from SEE
region. There will be several levels of realisation of this event:
    o Selection: art critics from the respective countries were asked to
propose two women artists; the selection was based on the proposed topics by
the organisers and the professional interest of the artists. [It was
important that the selected artists were already working with these topics.]
    o Open-air workshop for the artists: during the days of stay the invited
artists worked and produced up to three paintings/works on the open-air in
Kaneo. The works were limited by the technique canvas/frames by painting,
assemblage, collages and using of photography only, i.e. the medium carrier
is canvas on which above mentioned techniques. The workshop, as an open-air,
was opened for the domestic public and the tourists. [According to this, the
workshop was kind of open-air exhibition.]
    o Round-table: the invited emerging, but relevant, known and experienced
art critics and theoreticians were invited to participate in the one-day
round-table; the main discussions at the round table were led on the
following issues:
- ART IN WAR TIMES
- ART IN THE POST-WAR TIMES
- WAR AS AN INFLUENCE ON THE WOMEN ART IN THE SEE REGION
- WAR AS A REASON FOR ART PRODUCTION
- WAR ­ BREAKING POINT OF THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ART
    o  Open discussions: during the days of the workshop there were open
discussions among the artists, including the local interested audience about
the actual artistic and cultural scenes in the respective country, based on
the proposed topics.
    o Portfolios: in the evening hours, the participating artists were asked
to do presentations of their work. This was aimed for better information
among the artists and the interested visitors (since the presentations were
public).
    o Exhibition: after the finishing of the work, the last day of the
workshop we organised exhibition with the produced works. The exhibition was
placed in the Cultural Center ŒThe House of Robevci¹ in Ohrid. After this
presentation in Ohrid, the exhibition was organised in Skopje in the
Cultural Location ŒSiTE¹ ­ including Œone degree gallery¹.
    o Publication: all of the materials [reproductions of the works, papers
>from the round table and the discussions] will be published in a book from
the Œ3590 BOOKS¹ series; it will be in English, due to the plan and the
attempt to spread the results of the project among the broader art, cultural
and social community; the content of the publication is as follows:
    - Introducing text of the organisers with the explanation of the
project;
    - Research-paper section with the proposed topics;
    - Reproduction section with the art works of the workshop
    - Number of b/w reproductions illustrating the lectures and papers;
    - Number of b/w reproductions illustrating the activities;

Why
The last several years in the SEE region [especially in the countries of
former Yugoslavia] the presence of the war resulted with radical changes in
many fields of the social living. [Does not matter are there countries that
were not affected by concrete war conditions, all of them passed through a
serious re-questioning of many things.] Not only the physical damages, but
also, even more, the destruction of the moral values faced serious
consequences. Many questions appeared as less important, but much more
requested deep and serious, sometimes ­ immediate, answers. How to
accomplish the former value structures or how to structure now ones ­ still
are one of the most important questions now a day.
    Of course, since nothing will be same after these years, the results of
these changes and happenings in region there is a kind of new, different and
critical approach towards the social issues, first of all in the field of
culture. Activities, production, interpretations ­ they were all faced with
the question: is there a need of engagement for the art, or it can stays
besides these social happenings. Therefore, the projects putts the tasks on
practical and theoretical research of the phenomena of the war and its
relation with the woman and the phenomenon of the woman as a confronting
point of view in relation with the war.
    These kinds of interlacing of the term of the woman and of the war
positioned in such geo-political conditions of the SEE region are going to
act as subjects of the whole project. As a result of this project, it is
expected to come to creative, developed and promotive critical state of mind
on the question of the Œpost-war women re-building of the destroyed home¹.


LIST OF PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES, ARTISTS AND ART CRITICS:

Artists = Yugoslavia: Nina Todorovic and Svetlana Volic; Bulgaria: Svetozara
Aleksandrova and Dilmana Stefanova; Croatia: Sabina Resic; Slovenia: Polona
Poklukar and Ksenija Cerce; Albania: Lumturi Blloshmi and Rajmonda Mato;
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Gordana Andjelic ­ Galic; Macedonia: Mikica
Trujkanovic, Monika Desoska and Zaneta Vangeli.

Symposium participants = Macedonia: Elizabeta Seleva, Ph.D. and Nebojsa
Vilic, Ph.D.; Yugoslavia: Stevan Vukovic, Ph.D.; Moldova: Adelina Stefarta, Ph.D.

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-- Nebojsa Vilic, Ph. D.

- Faculty of Dramatic Arts; University St. Cyril and Methodius
Rugjer Boskovic b.b., POBox 134; 1000 Skopje - Macedonia
T: +389 70 26 56 95; F: +389 2 22 51 49; nvilic@osi.net.mk

- 359 Degrees - Network for Local and Subaltern Hermeneutics, Chairman
Oktomvriska revolucija 12-1/9; 1000 Skopje - Macedonia
T/F: + 389 2 22 51 49; 359net@mail.com.mk