Syndicate: apsolutno interview

[Zoran Pantelic <apsolutn@EUnet.yu> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

This is an interview with association APSOLUTNO, which was published in
the weekly magazine KULTURA (Sofia) during the APSOLUTNO visit to
Bulgaria (beginning of May).

apsolutno
www.apsolutno.opennet.org
apsolutn@eunet.yu

interview:
Questions:Maria Vassileva

MV>>>> Would you describe the current situation in YU from an artistic
point of view?
Please mark differences before and after 1989, before and after the war,
concerning art institutions, financial support, collaboration with other
countries, etc./
- How the political situation in YU influences the art and the "art in
society"? Could you speak about a dominant of the social or political
position in the art /in your own art and in Serbian art as a whole?

aA:>>>> Ex-Yugoslavia enjoyed a certain amount of liberal climate in
comparison with other Eastern European contries, which was reflected on
the cultural scene, and contemporary arts in particular. There was a
certain free flow of information, people, exhibitions, magazines, etc.
into and out of the country. Of course, all the cultural institutions
were financed by the state, which means that there was control and
censorship as well. But it was possible for the artist to create his/her
own autonomous freedom within the existing system.
The outbreak of the war in ex-Yugoslavia in 1991 brought about numerous
disastrous consequences for the whole region.  In Serbia and Montenegro
(the rest of ex-Yugoslavia), the cultural life almost disappeared. A
large number of artists and other intellectuals left the country, a lot
of cultural institutions collapsed and the criteria that had existed
were lost. The war brought  a nationalistic euphoria, which was also
reflected in a part of the art scene. There appeared a wave of
traditional painting based on the pseudo-Byzantine model. This type of
art was encouraged by the state media, as its emphasised on the national
history, tradition, myths etc. suited the nationalistic politics. At the
same time the state reduced its financial help to only 'politically
correct'  projects which had a role in the propaganda, and did not
contain any social criticism.
The second group of artists desperately tried to maintain their
autonomous world, avoiding to deal with the reality. Bonito Oliva, who
visited the Biennial of the Youth in Vrsac in 1994  expressed his
surprise that there were no works dealing with the context of the
situation in the country. This swing towards the aesthetic only came
from a need of the artists to escape from reality or to announce their
disagreement with the prevailing political views, which was reflected in
the very fact that their art was de-politicised.
The third (and smallest) group of artists more or less openly responded
to the political, social and cultural situation in their production. The
production of the association APSOLUTNO falls into this category.
APSOLUTNO was founded in 1993 in Novi Sad, Serbia, when the war was
still going on, men were drafted into the army, the hyper-inlfation rate
broke the world record, the UN sanctions were introduced in 1992 and the
result of all of this was not only poverty, shortages of goods and
difficulties in all spheres of life, but also the break of contacts with
the outside world. The idea that brought the members of APSOLUTNO
together was the need to deal with aspects of this reality in order to
make it open to new readings. This focused our attention on diverse
phenomena in our surroundings, and therefore required  continuous
perceptiveness in order for such phenomena or places to be noticed,
understood, interpreted or marked. This remains the core strategy of the
association's work.
Contrary to the other countries of the Eastern European region, which in
this period started opening to the world, Yugoslavia broke almost all
ties with other countries, and the only links that existed were based on
the previously established personal links. For example,  Biljana Tomi}
from the SKC Gallery in Belgrade, who organized several exhibitions of
contemporary Italian art,  radio B-92  in the Cinema Rex (a space for
concerts, exhibitions, performances etc) in Belgrade, Zlatno Oko Gallery
in Novi Sad, where, among other exhibitons, APSOLUTNO organized a cycle
of contemporary Austrian art.
All artists (and all thinking people in general) were faced with a
crisis of identity during the years of dramatic changes of borders,
names of countries, ideologies etc.  A new national (ethnic) identity
was imposed, which found many people unprepared, confused and not ready
to announce their opinions: some accepting whatever was proclaimed
without thinking, others sticking to their old identity, only rare
individuals were ready to take a critical stance.

MV >>>> I read somewhere that Yugoslavian achievements in video art were
substantial during the 70s and 80s. Considerable interest in video art
was shown by television stations in Ljubljana, Skopje, Zagreb and
Belgrade (where in the years Dunja Blazevic had her TV Gallery). And
even an
extension of this Yugoslavian tradition is seen in the video art from
Slovenia and Croatia. Could you tell us something more about that
tradition /in BG the beginning of the video art is in the mid 90-ies/
and what is the place of APSOLUTNO in this process?

aA>>>> 70s and 80s had a good climate for everything, including
contemporary arts. It was the time of conceptual art and the beginnings
of video art. Video developed around the tv centres (Ljubljana, Zagreb,
Beograd - now capitals of the newly established  countries) and there is
a strong tradition of video art, especially in Slovenia. Other forms of
art were also in their peak. Cultural manifestations such as BITEF
(Belgrade International Theatre Festival), FEST (Film Festival), jazz
festivals etc. gathered world famous artists from both 'Western' and
'Eastern' blocs, and names like Beuys, Pistoletto, Lauri Anderson, Peter
Brook, Robert Wilson had their presentations / talks etc at that time.
All this created a climate, which contributed to the development of  an
outstanding art scene (Braco Dimitrijevic, Marina Abramovic, OHO group,
Ivekovic/Martinis - to name just a few).
With the beginning of the war, the tv centres have lost their role in
gathering video artists, as they primarily focused on the war
propaganda, and consequently, the video scene almost disappeared.
Recently, there has been a new interest in video art, especially a trend
to use the videos in video installations.
APSOLUTNO has realized several video works but we do not regard
ourselves as primarily video artists. We use video as a means of
expression for certain projects, whereas  other projects are realized in
different media. For example, one of our videos, "Good evening", is a
criticism of the electronic media and their role in (dis)informing the
public through standard news programmes. The same idea applied to the
medium of press was realized as a book "Good evening", in which
reference is made to the main daily newspapers from all over the world.

MV>>>> In BG there is a full educational lack in this area. You also
have a traditional art education - painting or sculpture. How did/do you
solve this problem? Is it the same with the critics and journalists who
haven't any experience in that field, so the artists themselves have to
create, promote and explain their works in front of small groups of
people, who is interesting in this field? Don't you think this situation
make the art scene more and more closed? What is the role of  Video
Festival "VideoMedeja", which takes place in Novi Sad? Could you mention
any other events or ways which could help about the popularization of
contemporary art forms?

aA>>>> The traditional orientation of Academies of Arts (which are the
only institutions for tertial education in the sphere of arts) makes it
very hard for artists who want to deal and experiment with the new
media. This means that they have to learn about these media on their own
or in some (not very numerous) alternative workshops. The other problem
is that there is no easy access to new technologies necessary for such
experiments. This situation was brought about  not only by a lack of
financial resources, but also by the fact that  people in power in
traditional institutions do not accept the fact that the territory of
art is expanding.
The lack of a structure (as compared to the western art system) which
would encourage and develop the production of contemporary art resulted
in a situation that artists have to deal with the entire process: from
the idea, fund-raising, project realization, presentation, promotion and
documentation.  This only raises the level of responsibility in each of
these stages of art production.
In the case of APSOLUTNO, the venture into the new media was conditioned
by the ideas for certain projects. From project to project our
experiences and knowledge expanded, through collaboration with experts
for that field. This collaboration with others does not refer only to
experts for a particular medium, but also to experts for any field of
human knowledge, whose assistance is necessary for a particular idea for
a project. This inter-disciplinary approach, which is based on
collaboration, is a dynamic, creative and open process.
Realizing the lack of appropriate educational structure in the sphere of
contemporary arts, association APSOLUTNO also organizes art workshops
for young people (17 - 20 years old) with the aim to acquiant them with
the possibilities of the new media in arts.
As the country was getting smaller, Novi Sad as a centre for cultural
events was getting more prominent.  Many cultural events, in
contemporary arts as well, have been held in Novi Sad, so that some kind
of continuity, although marginal, has been maintained. To name several
examples, in 1995 an international symposium "Morality and  Mythology in
Contemporary Arts" was organized, at which more than 30 presenters
gathered . A new magazine for contemporary arts, Projekart, was
established in 1994. In 1995 the VideoMedeja Festival, a video festival
dedicated to the video art by women artists from Eastern Europe, was
established as a biennial event. The first issue of  Digital Arts
magazine has come out recently.  Media LAB and a web workshop are
planned to be organized soon, based on the experiences of C3 Centre in
Budapest. At the Academy of Fine Arts there is a course in intermedia
research.  All these efforts are not devoid of drawbacks but their
importance is paramount in promoting contemporary arts and the new media
in this environment and enabling a contemporary artistic scene to be
formed.

MV>>>> How do you feel the role of the big institutions which give money
for art?
Are they the "conductors" of contemporary art and do you think you
yourself submit to the "bottom line" that they are trying to provide?

aA>>>> Many artists who deal with experiments, new media,
non-traditional approaches can only apply for sponsorship to
foundations, which are the only institutions which promote those forms
of art. Unfortunately, the only foundation which sponsors arts in the
present Yugoslavia is the Fund for an Open Society. But due to the
negative attitude of the state towards the Fund, many artists avoid to
cooperate with it. APSOLUTNO maintains that what is important is that
the artist should have a clear idea and aim of the project, no matter
what institution is the producer.

MV>>>> Where is the place of contemporary art - in the street, in the
catalogue or in the museum? And in this connection what is the role of
the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade /if I'm not mistaken about
its existence; I also heard that such a museum will be established in
Novi Sad, tell something about that/? In Bulgaria we don't have a Museum
of contemporary art /and to be honest I don't hope that we will have in
the near future/, so it's very important some people to realize the role
of such a institution and also the ways of its establishing /especially
fundrising/.

aA>>>> Art is everywhere!What is important is the idea and the context.
In Yugoslavia there is no established system or institution which is
devoted exclusively to promoting contemporary arts. The levels at which
it would be possible to follow the art scene are completely mixed.
Therefore, APSOLUTNO stresses that institutions are equal to streets,
art studios or printed materials as places at which art can be
recognized. That is the reason why APSOLUTNO often realizes projects  in
public spaces or in locations for specific purposes (such as a shipyard,
a bridge, cemetary, borders etc.)
In Novi Sad the existing Gallery of Contemporary Art has recently been
turned into the Museum of Contemporary Art. This change, however, has
not brought about any significant new practices in the functioning of
this institution.
Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade had an important role in
interpreting  contemporary art
but today neither the Belgrade nor the Novi Sad Museum have resources or
flexibility for that role and have only a minor function in documenting
and archiving recent contemporary arts. In a country with a devastated
economy, there is no interest nor need for creating an identity in any
field, including the field  of contemporary art.
The maintainance of the art scene is based on individual efforts of
artists, critics and curators, who try to organize themselves in various
ways - through seminars, exhibitions, magazines, workshops.
A recent example is the association UA!US (United Artists Under
Sanctions), founded in Novi Sad by APSOLUTNO and p.RT art association,
which reflects the consequences that a particular political situation
bears on  artists.

MV>>>> Something about "Net Art". Does it really exist as a phenomenon,
or it's still a fashion? Could you describe in your own words the power
of the Net Art /share with us your experience?

aA>>>> The introduction of computer technologies into the art has
brought about a certain mystification. Indulgence into the medium for
its own sake can be seductive and lead to a trap.
APSOLUTNO views the use of these technologies as a natural process,
which has its positive as well as negative sides. The use of this medium
will not in itself bring a unique quality to a piece of work..APSOLUTNO
introduces new technology into its production but at the same time takes
a critical stance towards it. An example from our production can be seen
in the web project "The Absolute Sale" (<www.apsolutno.opennet.org>).
As with the other media, we use the computer as a tool for emphasising
and realizing the idea of the project. The choice of a particular medium
is an important element of any project.