Nebojsa Seric-Shoba
dal 5/3/2010 al 24/4/2010
Segnalato da
5/3/2010
Nebojsa Seric-Shoba
Dumbo Arts Center, New York
Taken over a 10 year period (from 1999 to 2009), the featured photographic works, documentations of actual battlefields, call into question the autonomy of "place": the disparity that exists between historical events and the geographic locations in which they occur. In reframing our history through the focused lens of these battlefields, the artist asks us to consider them less as fixed landscapes, and more as part of a living history, with the many memories and points of view that such a history evokes.
Curated by Joshua Altman
The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) is pleased to present BATTLEFIELDS, the first New York solo exhibition by Nebojša Šeric-Shoba, who moved to the city in 2002. Taken over a 10 year period (from 1999 to 2009), the featured photographic works, documentations of actual battlefields, call into question the autonomy of "place:" the disparity that exists between historical events and the geographic locations in which they occur. Apart from the occasional historic marker or didactic memorial plaque, little visual evidence remains to distinguish one site from another, a disconnect that evokes the transient nature of history, the arbitrary lines of the battlefield and the universality of the theaters of war.
Conscripted to fight in defense of his hometown of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, (1992 - 1995), Nebojša Šeric-Shoba served the majority of his military mandate digging trenches amidst the bodies that littered the battlefield. It is from these wartime experiences that the artist developed a profound sense of distrust for a political machine that saw neighbors taking aim at neighbors, firing across seemingly arbitrary lines of demarcation. Eventually this experience led him to the sober realization that the "history of the human race… can be seen as a history of conflicts," the majority of which "are destined to be forgotten, buried beneath the surface of history."
The artist’s subsequent travels found him photographing numerous battlefields, including those at Waterloo, Gallipoli, Troy, Verdun, Normandy, Istanbul, Gettysburg and Kursk. The majority of these sites now see few visitors, and those that do serve primarily as tourist attractions for the morbidly-inclined, visiting only briefly in an attempt to capture the remnants of a history that has long since departed.
The exhibition, Battlefields, features The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 (2009). Also known as The Battle of Long Island, it was the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War. Tellingly, the current riverside park lying opposite the DAC building marks the actual point of retreat of George Washington’s volunteer militia, a fitting link between past and present at this historic Brooklyn location. The immediate aftermath of this pivotal battle, after which the British held New York City for the remainder of the war, was the burning of nearly a quarter of the city's buildings.
As competing social, cultural, and linguistic incarnations make it nearly impossible to lay claim to any fixed idea of national history or identity, the relationship between history and place has become a struggle for the possession of the past. In reframing our history through the focused lens of these battlefields, the artist asks us to consider them less as fixed landscapes, and more as part of a living history, with the many memories and points of view that such a history evokes.
Joshua Altman is a freelance curator based in Brooklyn, NY. Currently he is the Assistant Director and Curatorial/Public Programs Associate at X Initiative in New York, NY, a not-for-profit initiative of the global contemporary art community. A former Director at STUX Gallery, NY, from 2002-2005 he was a Program Coordinator at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA affiliate. Having studied the City University of New York in the Art History and Museum Studies program, a selection of his curated exhibitions and programs include: Extremes & In-Betweens, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Program, NY; Martha Colburn: FUK are Mutt, NY; The Inner Workings of Cold Contact, Stux Gallery, NY; Brian Belott: Adult Soda, NY; SUPERFAT, Brooklyn Fire Proof, NY; Chinese Relativity, NY; Recast: Postmodern Classical, Onassis Center, NY.
Major support for the development of the exhibition, Battlefields, has been generously provided by an anonymous donor. Production of Battlefields has been sponsored in part by Gotham Imaging, NYC, and by L2 Fine Art Mounting. The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) extends a special thanks to Leslie Fratkin and Marvin J. Tumaneng for graphic design. DAC will be participating in the Two Trees sponsored Dumbo First Thursdays gallery walk and will stay open until 8:30PM on Thursday, April 1, 2010. DAC would also like to gratefully acknowledge the Walentas Family and Two Trees Management Co. LLC for their generous donation of gallery and office space.
Image: Alamo 1836 From the Battlegrounds series (1999-2009), 54 x 80 inches, Archival pigment print.
Press Contact:
Maya Taylor Associate, Communications & Development 718- 694- 0831 or press@dumboartscenter.org
Dumbo Arts Center (DAC)
30 Washington Street Brooklyn, NY 11201
Hours: 12 - 6PM Wednesday - Sunday
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 6-9 PM
open until 8:30pm on Thursday, April 1, 2010.
Admission: $2 Suggested Donation