EXIT!
Serbian art produced in the period from 1991 up to present days bears a ballast of years full of crisis, destruction, intolerance and wars. Necessity for new kind of approach and perception, interpretation and presentation of all things that are behind us imposes upon us like imperative, especially today when our society and state slowly become a part of European integration process. We believe that there were too few attempts to present our culture, artistic scene and our potentials to European public, and that more direct approach is required, which will be free of any rigid institutional boundaries, which big institutions and exhibitions by nature have.
Two socio-historical periods shaped our culture in this period:
- 1991-1999. period of wars, sanctions, isolation, big social crisis
- 1999-2007. period of transition
Aim is to show a level of democratization of new Serbian art production which has, in spite of isolation and wars, managed to keep up to some extent with progressive European and global tendencies.
The project was initiated by the painter Milan Bosnić, and is conceived as a series of lectures, projections and presentations of the book SerbiArt, and Serbian contemporary art production in big European cities. Lectures and presentations of the book are done in cooperation with local partners, which are prominent names with propitiated public and wider social impact. Presenting our culture and art production in a different light, free of ideological, political and any other burden, we aim to disrupt the stereotype images which world has about our society.
In cities where local partners manage to provide fund, we will organize mini exhibitions. Our partners are well-known institutions, galleries and cultural centers, which will take active role and participate in the project. Beside lectures, on each presentation one Serbian artist would present his/her work and his/her personal view and thoughts on the topic. By doing this we would like to make artists more involved in the very process of presentation which will be more personal and less formal. We hope that these lectures will be very useful for artists, gallery workers, curators, art academy students, but also the wider public.
Stages:
Stage 1
Concerning preparation before actual event, like production of consistent publication (96 pages, 1000 pieces), that would accompany lectures. The idea is to leave 60 – 70 publications in every city (place) we had a lecture and it would be distributed by our coworkers to all significant institutions of that country. This way, a much wider circle of people would be introduced to contemporary Serbian art, insuring an extend effect of this project in later use of the book and information about artists and art institutions that this book provides.
A book would start with an introduction which explains the reasons of it’s’ initiation but also, motives for launching the project. Introduction is followed by two texts with reference to Serbian art in period 1991 – 2006 and its’ connection with the art of the 80-es and link and position among worldwide contemporary art. Author of these texts are Mirjana Selakov art historian from Graz, Sasa Janjic, art historian, curator of Remont Gallery and Nikola Suica professor of Modern Art at Belgrade Academy of Fine Arts. A special commission board would be formed consisting art historians and artists who are familiar with particular theme regarding the selection of authors that would be presented in this publication. Selected artist is going to be presented on 2 or 3 pages and we consider this to be enough space for photographs of significant works and a short biography.
End of the book will have a list of important and considerable literature on Serbian art and register with all contacts of art institutions (museums, galleries, institutes, centers) which are doing contemporary art in Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Zrenjanin, Subotica, Sabac, Cacak etc).
In this stage we would create a web site that would present a time-table of presentations, participants and their CV-s, institutions, links…program of the lectures would be added and in later stage lectures itself in PDF form. Site would be updated regularly.
Stage 2
Project executing in-site, concerning visiting and holding lectures in big European cities in cooperation with partner our partners. Plan is to visit 12 European countries and to carry out 12 presentations. Every event would be documented in video and photo form to be used for updating the web-site but, more important, for the last, third stage of the project for publishing a complete documentation. Stage 3
After completing documentation we will publish photo CD and DVD with short film. Immediately all materials will be put in web site, and after a while there will be lectures in Belgrade and few cities in central Serbia (Niš, Čačak, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Zrenjanin, etc) about experience and accomplished results. All interested institutions will be proved with information’s and contacts with partner institutions. Materials from DVD will be distributed in TV stations in Serbia and Europe.
