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12/9/2002

Sarajevo Self-portrait

Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin

1991 - 1999. View from Inside.

Kemal Hadzic, Danilo Krstanovic, Milomir Kovacevic, Nermin Muhic, Mladen Pikulic, Nihad Pusija, Damir Sagolj, Sahin Sisic, Dejan Vekic

and an additional slide show by Matthias Wähner

NGBK is presenting the exhibition Sarajevo Self-portrait 1991 - 1999. View from Inside, which had been shown for the first time five years after the Dayton Treaty (1995) at the Dayton Art Institute, USA. In 2001 the exhibition was shown with big resonance at Museet for Fotokunst (Brandts Klaederfabrik) in Odense, Denmark and will after the venue in Berlin continue its tour through Europe.

This exhibition, shown here ten years after the outbreak of the war in Bosnia, contains works of nine photographers from Bosnia, who expressed with different approaches and from different perspectives their personal impressions. They show the impossibility of a normal life but also tell about the necessity of everyday's life under the threat of rocket launchers and snipers. The exhibition was organized and curated by Leslie Fratkin and Stuart Alexander.

Most photos in the exhibition are in the tradition of classical narrative social and documentary photography. Different from news oriented print media and the necessary reduction the exhibition, containing large series, enables the visitor to get a deeper insight into the reality of a society under the impact of war.

Through the photos we get to know of nuances and contradictions between real life and a propaganda claiming ethnic segregation. While all partcipating sides in the Bosnian war propagated ethnic cleaned zones, the life and commerce between the different ethnic groups did function before and after the war on the "Arizona-Market", as if the ordered hostility would have stopped to exist. Many of the photographers have been working for the independent paper Oslobodjenje, which was announced in 1992 by the BBC as world best independent newspaper and got among several others prizes the award of the French organisation of journalists "reporters sans frontières".

Damir Sagolj documented the Arizona market after the war. The persistence of life and of love even under the conditions of war was depicted by Danilo Krstanovic in his photo of a happy couple strolling in the shelter of protection against snipers. Even this was everyday's life in Sarajevo in summer 1994. Kemal Hadic caught in his images the deceptive idyll of deserted streets in Sarajevo. With a close study of the image traces of war such as bullet holes in walls can be recognized. In another series he is focusing in a drastic way on the contrast between the destruction of the bridge in Mostar in black an white and prewar postcards of the same motif in color.

Sahin Sisic, mainly a film director, shows his impressing portrait of an old man, taking care of homesless animals during the war. Also this kind of everyday life was not covered through war reports. Dejan Vekic's work is represented in the exhibit through a series of photos he did for the Bosnian Commission for the Documentation of War Crimes. Beside this he took black and white photos during his daily tours through the city of Sarajevo to satisfy his aesthetic demands. The difference between both methods is visible.

Mladen Pikulic and Milomir Kovacevic focused on the children's situation whose games were deeply influenced by the war. Milomir Kovacevic in his series of destroyed Tito portraits remembered a past of a functioning multi ethnic society, an utopia nowadays. Nermin Muhic caught the destruction of the old order in very poetic b/w pictures.

Nihad Pusija member of the NGBK work group preparing this venue, finally documented the situation in exile of Roma from former Yugoslavia in Berlin and Germany and portrayed their everyday life.

Additionally an accompanying program as well as a media space will deal with the propagandistic use of photography in order to push political and military action. Besides a selection of newspaper articles of various sources we will present as a conceputal work the slide show "Warshots 1999" by Matthias Wähner (a German artist from Munich) showing how the Kosovo-War was mirrored on the internet.

The still controversial war by NATO with participation of Germany against Yugoslavia in order to end the civil war will be subject of program with lectures and a panel.

The book "Sarajevo Self-portrait" (ISBN 1-884167-03-09X) of the exhibition was published in the US- publishing house Umbrage Editions and will be available for approx. 40,- Euro. For journalists reviewing the show we can offer the book for a retail price of Euro 20,-.

Opening: Friday, September 13th , 2002 at 7 pm by Cornelia Reinauer, Major of the District Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Nedeljko Despotovic, Ambassador of Bosnien and Herzegowina in Germany

September 14 -October 20, 2002, daily 2 - 7 pm.

Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) supported by Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien

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Accompanying program of the exhibit:

Saturday, September 14, 5 - 7 pm
Talk with the Photographers from Bosnia

Tuesday, September 24, 7 pm
"War with Photos. The Propagandistic Use of Photos during the Wars in Bosnia and Kosovo"
Lecture by Thomas Deichmann, Journalist and Chiefeditor of NOVO www.novo-magazin.de
An event by NGBK supported by Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien

Tuesday, October 8, 7 pm.
War against Yugoslavia - a Humanitarian Intervention by NATO?"
Panel discussion between Angelika Beer, Expert for Policy of Defence and Security and
Dr. Heinz Loquai, former General of Bundeswehr
Moderation: Jürgen Elsässer, KONKRET-editor and book author
An event by Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Tuesday, October 15, 7 pm.
"The Emotional Mobilization. Propaganda of War in the Cases of Bosnia and Kosovo".
Lecture by Mira Beham, Media-scientist
An event by NGBK supported by Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien

Following Mondays, September 16./23./30. and October 7/14 at 9 pm we will show in the context of the exhibition at the Filmrisz, Rigaer Str. 103, 10247 Berlin following movies and films in this order:
No Man's Land (D. Tanovic, BiH 2001), Der perfekte Kreis (A. Kenovic, BiH 1996), Wag the Dog (B. Levinson, USA 1997), Before the Rain (M. Mancevski, M, GB, F 1994), Beautiful People (J. Dizdar, GB 1999)

Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin

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