[artinfo] MSUV Novi Sad: APSOLUTNO 1993-2005

[Inke Arns]

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