[artinfo] MSUV Novi Sad: APSOLUTNO 1993-2005
Inke Arns
inke.arns at hmkv.de
Sun Jan 11 23:07:55 CET 2015
ABSOLUTELY NOW: DEATH, CONFUSION, SALE
(association APSOLUTNO 1993-2005)
The exhibition consists of three acts
DEATH 01/15-01/25/2015
CONFUSION 01/27-02/04/2015
SALE 02/06-02/15/2015
Curators: Inke Arns i Gordana Nikoliç
Exhibition opening: 15 January at 7pm
Place: Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Dunavska 37, Novi Sad, Galerija N
Time: 15 January-15 February 2015
http://www.msuv.org/program/apsolutno-sada.php
Apsolutno's work selected for this exhibition
reflects on the respective present of a state in
transition and allows us to look at it like
through a magnifying glass. The exhibition
consists of three consecutive exhibition setups
(or 'chapters' if you will) within a month. By
focusing on the topics of Death, Confusion and
Sale, the exhibition puts an emphasis on
Apsolutno's analysis of the present of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/Serbia and the
radical changes in the political, social and
economic context formulated in their artistic
work over the past two decades. Death, Confusion
and Sale follow a chronological order in the
development of Yugoslavia/Serbia in the
1990s/2000s. Very clearly, the exhibition is not
conceived as a retrospective presenting a
comprehensive overview of Apsolutno's work;
rather, it intends to highlight the most
important works of the collective dealing with
topics that are still of importance for the
present-day situation in Serbia (Arns).
The association Apsolutno describes for us the
experience of a protracted end of a utopia, a
system and a society. From today's perspective,
their appearance on the local and international
scene in the 1990's and at the beginning of the
21st century left a unique conceptual inventory
as a kind of "guide for beginners" through the
extreme situations produced by (hyper)capitalism.
The imbalance in the recognition of the work (and
the pioneering role) of this collective in the
international context and on the local scene
constitutes a good reason for intervening in the
master narratives of art history and the policy
of visibility and presentation (Nikoliç).
* * *
association APSOLUTNO
The association APSOLUTNO was founded in 1993 in
Novi Sad. Its members were Zoran Panteliç, Dragan
Rakiç (1957-2009), Bojana Petriç and Dragan
Miletiç (from 1995 to 2001). Since 1995, the
production of the association was signed without
referring to the members' personal names, and
this collective developed an interdisciplinary
work process and a media pluralism. The
association's name, the word apsolutno
[absolutely], was used as an adverb, not as a
noun, the flexibility of the use of this adverb
is at the same time an important characteristic
of the work of the association APSOLUTNO. The
adverb absolutely frequently features in the
titles of their works, whereby certain meanings
are emphasized.
The production of the association APSOLUTNO arose
from visual arts, and over time it expanded to
include interdisciplinary investigation of facts
from their immediate surroundings, with a view to
opening up new possibilities for reading them.
Such an investigative process was of an open
character and focused on very diverse phenomena
in the association's surroundings. Their projects
were often realised in public places or in
locations serving special purposes (for example,
a shipyard, a bridge, a cemetery, border
crossings, etc.), and depending on the idea of
the project, they were realised in various
formats: video, printed materials, installations,
actions, site specific projects, audio, web
projects, etc.
The association APSOLUTNO presented its
production in numerous exhibitions, festivals and
symposia at home and abroad, including BITEF 96,
Belgrade; Kwangju Biennial '97, South Korea;
OSTranenie festival, Dessau 1997; The 44th
Festival of Short and Documentary Film, Belgrade;
Transmediale, Berlin 1998; ISEA, Liverpool 1998;
The Wroclaw New Media Festival 1999; The Media
Festival Oberhausen 2000; The VIPER Media
Festival 2000, Basel; "Inside/Outside" 2000,
Warsaw; "Hiroshima Art Document 2000", Hiroshima,
Japan; Tribu' dell'arte, 2001, Rome;
TELE[VISIONS], 2001, Vienna; EVIDENCE, DVC
Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Biennale Big Turin
2002, Turin; The European Biennial Manifesta 4,
Frankfurt; De Appel, Amsterdam; Artists' Space,
New York; etc.
During the period while the association was
active, there was a parallel development of its
curatorial practice through the realisation of
exhibitions of other authors, group exhibitions,
seminars and workshops. The association received
awards for its work (Berlin, San Francisco), and
its works are to be found in the collections of
contemporary art museums and in those of private
collectors.
The artistic activity of the collective ceased in
2005, since when its experience has been
transferred and integrated in new forms aimed at
creating conditions for and examining artistic
production and artistic organisation
(Centar_kuda.org / Novi Sad, VacuumPack / Sombor).
www.apsolutno.net
* * *
PROGRAM OF GUIDED TOURS / PRESENTATIONS OF ARTISTS AND THEORISTS
(Place: Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Dunavska 37, Novi Sad)
Time: 16 January at 5pm
CHRISTIAN VON BORRIES, orchestra conductor,
composer, producer and director (Berlin, Germany)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGFoJWMwj8
Time: 20 January at 5pm
Artist duo DOPLGENGER - Isidora Iliç i Bo”ko
Prostran, film/video artists (Belgrade, Serbia)
http://www.doplgenger.org/
Other guest-guides (the dates will be announced soon):
KRISTIAN LUKIå, artist and theorist of digital
culture (Bratislava, Slovakia / Novi Sad, Serbia)
Project team MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY - Aleksandra
Sekuliç, Ivica ?or©¢eviç, Jovan Baãkulja
(Belgrade) http://www.medarh.org/
ANA PERAICA, theorist and philosopher (Split, Croatia)
DEJAN SRETENOVIå, art historian and curator (Belgrade)
·EFIK TATLIå, theorist of political philosophy,
sociology and decolonial theory (Zagreb, Croatia
/ Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
* * *
Museum Patronage: Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Public Information
Exhibition Support: Goethe-Institut Belgrad, City of Novi Sad, Halogen
Support of Annual Program: Ministry of Culture
and Information of Republic of Serbia
Appreciation to: Goethe-Institut Belgrad, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade,
Jovan Milinov Toba i Albert Molnár
More information about the Artinfo
mailing list