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14/11/2008

Disclosure / Underlined Memory

Musee D'art Moderne de Saint-Etienne Metropole, Saint-Etienne

In comparison to foreign artists who present their art in Serbia very often, their Serbian counterparts rarely have a chance to display their works in the most famous and well-known galleries and museums in the world. That is why the exhibition Making Oneself Known/Memory Highlights bears certain symbolism. Namely, 11 eminent Serbian artists are going to “make themselves known” to the French public after a long time. The aforementioned exhibition is to be opened in the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne on 15th November this year. The French art lovers will have an opportunity to “cast a glance” on 18 works of contemporary Serbian art. Serbian artists of different generations and poetics, i.e. Mrdjan Bajic, Anica Vucetic, Gabriel Glid, Marija Dragojlovic, Biljana Djurdjevic, Zdravko Joksimovic, Dusan Otasevic, Vladimir Peric, Mileta Prodanovic, Aleksandar Rafajlovic and Vera Stefanovic, are representatives of the most emblematic tendencies on the Serbian art scene in the past two decades, according the curator Aleksandra Estela Bjelica Mladenovic.

The idea for this exhibition came out as a result of collaboration with dr Lorand Hegyi, the director of the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne, and of the belief that artists should be in a constant contact with each other. Since it is one of the Belgrade Cultural Centre's missions, our institution has started this project very enthusiastically: firstly, with an exhibition called Parallel Stories, i.e. a presentation of the works from the art collection of the Museum of Modern Art from Saint-Etienne in the 25th Museum – the Museum of Revolution in Belgrade; secondly, with the 48th October Salon under the official title Micro-narratives; finally, this exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne. The French city is the first stop on the itinerary of the exhibition Making Oneself Known/Memory Highlights. Other cities on this exhibition’s route are: Skopje (the National Gallery), Banja Luka (the Museum of Contemporary Art) and Thessalonica.

We firmly believe that the public in other countries will learn more about the Serbian art scene thanks to this exhibition and a direct contact between artists, curators and art historians and that some new exhibitions and revelations will take place very soon as well.

In comparison to foreign artists who present their art in Serbia very often, their Serbian counterparts rarely have a chance to display their works in the most famous and well-known galleries and museums in the world. That is why the exhibition Making Oneself Known/Memory Highlights bears certain symbolism. Namely, 11 eminent Serbian artists are going to “make themselves known” to the French public after a long time. The aforementioned exhibition is to be opened in the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne on 15th November this year. The French art lovers will have an opportunity to “cast a glance” on 18 works of contemporary Serbian art. Serbian artists of different generations and poetics, i.e. Mrdjan Bajic, Anica Vucetic, Gabriel Glid, Marija Dragojlovic, Biljana Djurdjevic, Zdravko Joksimovic, Dusan Otasevic, Vladimir Peric, Mileta Prodanovic, Aleksandar Rafajlovic and Vera Stefanovic, are representatives of the most emblematic tendencies on the Serbian art scene in the past two decades, according the curator Aleksandra Estela Bjelica Mladenovic.

The exhibition in St Etienne Museum

The idea for this exhibition came out as a result of collaboration with dr Lorand Hegyi, the director of the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne, and of the belief that artists should be in a constant contact with each other. Since it is one of the Belgrade Cultural Centre's missions, our institution has started this project very enthusiastically: firstly, with an exhibition called Parallel Stories, i.e. a presentation of the works from the art collection of the Museum of Modern Art from Saint-Etienne in the 25th Museum – the Museum of Revolution in Belgrade; secondly, with the 48th October Salon under the official title Micro-narratives; finally, this exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne. The French city is the first stop on the itinerary of the exhibition Making Oneself Known/Memory Highlights. Other cities on this exhibition’s route are: Skopje (the National Gallery), Banja Luka (the Museum of Contemporary Art) and Thessalonica.
We firmly believe that the public in other countries will learn more about the Serbian art scene thanks to this exhibition and a direct contact between artists, curators and art historians and that some new exhibitions and revelations will take place very soon as well.

Freeing itself from the constrictions of times gone by, not aspiring to create a new artistic language but intending to follow the trends on the world art scene, contemporary Serbian art is characterised by undertakings wherein individual appearances and representative projects strive to enliven this scene and move it from a standstill position, to place it once again within European and world frameworks. The exhibition Disclosure / Underlined Memory is subtitled A review of contemporary Serbian art, which ensures its representative character. The selection of the artists is a personal one, as is the actual process of developing its concept.

Artists try to deal with various issues that reveal dilemmas and (self-)confidence when it comes to defining identity (cultural, national, personal...) by relying on a statement whose thematic starting point is memory in terms of a category of creative momentum. Personal reasons, intimate reactions, real documents of human presence, are presented in various forms – family photograph albums, hidden notes about human behaviour or personal promotion in the context of social circumstances, witty comments on various processes of social behaviour and development, allusions to socio-political trends in the recent past.

The human eye is free to manipulate various approaches or to be manipulated by them – observing, noting, perceiving... are only some examples of active artistic behaviour and participation. Our varied experience arises from the eye as a witness of symbolic penetration of some information, whether it was perceived of one’s own will or imposed by socio-political constellations. One’s gaze is directed forward or backward, on the level of metaphorical or symbolic representation. The materialisation of what is seen/observed or what was seen by means of various media enables artists to verbalise their experiences through disciplined acts (M. Bajić), to express their emotions through a kaleidoscopic prism of experience lived through (V. Stevanović), to visualise their thinking about “the internal” through a poetic presentation (A. Vučetić), to present an eclectic heritage through symbolic details (M. Prodanović), to objectify memory by means of monumental forms (M. Dragojlović). Observing means experiencing, so artists are inspired by their real surroundings (V. Perić, A. Rafajlović), resort to witty comments on the “popular” elements of everyday life (D. Otašević) and hidden areas of trivial behaviour (Z. Joksimović, G. Glid) or metaphorically present our ordeals (B. Đurđević).

Reviewing the compatibility of the current Serbian scene with the world trends, we come to the conclusion that it is in a lively, interactive relationship with other systems.
The thematic frameworks within which artists who have been selected for this condensed review create are recognised in the artistic creation of any geographic part of European/world space. Memories, personal experience, coexistence within a creative process, dedication... are merely some of the elements that these artists employ in order to “shape time”, that is, to banish oblivion and ensure eternity for themselves, the one that we all aspire to. Referring to previous experiences, we can formulate precisely the starting points of contemporary Serbian art and justify its existence and duration. It manifests that attaining a position on the European or the world art scene may appear to be an imaginary process, but not a useless one. Regaining positions within these frameworks, positions that were frozen for Serbian artists over a short period of time, by means of individual forays or occasions such as this one, when a very diverse art scene is presented in a representative manner, without resorting to pathetic explanations or superfluous discussions, allowing the possibility of a dialogue, is an inspirational and undoubtedly courageous undertaking.

Aleksandra Estela Bjelica Mladenović
/part of the text in the catalogue /

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Contemporary:

Carte blanche à John M. Armleder
Collection du Musée

In the contest of the VI Biennale de Design http://biennalesaint-etienne.citedudesign.com/fr/html/expositions.html
november 15 - 30 2008


Image: Vladimir Peric, "Cutout", 2005. Dimensions variables. © Vladimir Peric.

Davorka Tolić Milosavljević
PR and marketing manager
+381 (0)11 2622 757 davorka.tolic@kcb.org.yu
Belgrade Cultural Centre Knez Mihailova 6 - 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
tel. + 381 (0)11 2621 469 fax. + 381 (0)11 2623 853
http://www.kcb.org.yu

Musée d’Art Moderne of Saint-Etienne Métropole
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