calendario eventi  :: 

X

7/3/2003

Two exhibitions

Cornerhouse, Manchester

Imaginary Balkans & The Balkan Matrix
Saturday, March 08, 2003 - Sunday, April 20, 2003

THE BALKAN MATRIX - Gallery 1

Stevan Vukovic and Mihael Milunovic

The Balkan Matrix is an artists' residency project exclusive to Cornerhouse. Installed for the duration of Imaginary Balkans, this new, continually evolving work examines both the West's perception of and its relation to the Balkan states, encouraging the visitor to participate in shaping the Balkan identity.

The title of the piece is inspired by the film The Matrix(1999), in which the hero (Keanu Reeves) awakens into the 'real reality', a virtual world controlled by a mega-computer. The piece integrates the concepts of virtual and real space, using installation, text and web technology to establish parallel Balkan living spaces which exist on-line and in the gallery. The ordinary objects that fill the room reveal a traumatic history as the interaction develops - the sofa where Milosevic once sat, Causcescu's distinctive hat, trophies that are really weapons used in recent conflicts. The original perception of the room's homely domesticity is soon displaced by a sense of horror and threatening possibilities.

Mihael Milunovic is a visual artist who has exhibited extensively both in Belgrade and internationally. He often works site specifically in collaboration with fellow artists and art related professionals. Stevan Vukovic is an art critic, curator and editor for several magazines in the former Yugoslavia. He has organised exhibitions, festivals and seminars, and is currently active with BAZA - Belgrade Art Initiatives.

This residency and installation is supported in part by the Arts Council of England.
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IMAGINARY BALKANS - Gallery 2 & 3

Curated by Breda Beban for SITE gallery.

Tanja Dabo, Igor Grubic, Vladimir Martek, Zoran Naskovski, Vladimir Nikolic, Miladen Stilinovic, and Dragana Zarevac.

Curated by award winning artist Breda Beban, Imaginary Balkans draws together photography, video and installation work of seven Serbian and Croatian artists. Breda Beban fled Zagreb in 1991. She currently lives and works in London and lectures at Sheffield Hallam University. Unable herself to deal with the antagonisms created by the recent unrest and the situation now faced by the two nationalities, the selection of work from Zagreb and Belgrade expresses her own personal reflection on the emotional and turbulent territory of her former homeland. Beban focused her selection on artists who continued to live in their countries during war rather than leave as she did.

Each artist's work defines the term 'Balkan' in sometimes melancholic yet often witty and celebratory ways. Mladen Stilinovic explores the routines of everyday Balkan life, the themes of pain, death, money, work and poverty dominating his style. The negative stereotypical perception of Balkan 'macho men' is amusingly explored in Dragana Zarevac's Perfect Marriage, (2001) Vladimir Nikolic's playful piece Autoportrait (2002), comments on the post-communist situation in which ownership of a (Western) car has become one of the strongest symbols of male identity. Vladimir Martek investigates ambiguous and contradictory meanings of the 'Balkans' through geographical maps.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, with texts by Chris Darke and Breda Beban which is available from the Cornerhouse Gallery Bookshop at a special exhibition price of £5.00 and through Cornerhouse Publications (see p3) or tel: 0161 200 1502

A Site Gallery, Sheffield Touring Exhibition

Funded by The National Touring Programme through the Arts Council of England and Visiting Arts

Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street
Manchester, M1 5NH
Box Office tel: 44 (0) 161 200 1500
Administration tel: 44 (0) 161 228 7621

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