on-line katalog / catalogue - Amis.net

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IRWIN / NSK GARDA 23.12.2006 - 20.1.2007

IRWIN / NSK GARDA
Odprtje Opening: 22. 9. 2006
Trajanje Duration: 23. 9. 2006 - 20. 1. 2006
IRWIN: Dušan Mandič (Ljubljana 1954), Miran Mohar (Novo mesto 1958), Andrej Savski
(Ljubljana 1961), Roman Uranjek (Trbovlje 1961), Borut Vogelnik (Kranj 1959)
Koprodukcija z Co-produced by Hiša fotografije House of Photography, Slovenia
Projektni vodja Project Manager: Bojan Radovič
Irwin: NSK straže / Marina Gržinić
Projekt NSK straža likovne skupine Irwin sestavlja več kot ducat fotografij, ki prikazujejo »lokalne«, vendar
resnične vojake ob straženju zastave imaginarne NSK države v času. Projekt se je začel leta 1998, s prvo
tovrstno fotografijo – NSK straža Tirana, ki je nastala v sodelovanju z Albansko vojsko –, nadaljeval pa v
sodelovanju s številnimi drugimi državnimi vojskami, denimo Češke, Hrvaške, Italije, Avstrije, Bosne in
Hercegovine in tako naprej.
Irwinova NSK straža1 se neposredno navezuje na projekte NSK država v času. Zgodovina kolektiva
NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) je večplastna: v zgodnjih osemdesetih letih minulega stoletja je skupina
likovnih umetnikov Irwin, skupaj z glasbeno skupino Laibach, gledališčem Sester Scipion Nasice in
oblikovalsko skupino Novi kolektivizem, ustanovila enega od najvplivnejših umetniških in družbenih
kolektivov Jugovzhodne Evrope, poimenovanem Neue Slowenische Kunst, oziroma z akronimom – NSK,
v slovenskem prevodu: Nova slovenska umetnost. Nemško poimenovanje je bilo namerno, saj so z njim
želeli razkriti zatajene nemške vplive na slovensko umetnost, kulturo in zgodovino. Podobno velja tudi
za ime skupine Laibach – tako so med drugo svetovno vojno preimenovali Ljubljano nemški, nacistični
okupatorji. Torej je kolektiv v procesu svojega poimenovanja zgostil zelo natančno in travmatično metodo
obravnavanja slovenske zgodovine in realnosti.
NSK država v času je bila zamišljena na edini možen način, kot virtualna entiteta brez teritorija (prav zaradi
ozemeljskih sporov, katerim smo bili priče med zadnjo vojno na Balkanu), vendar z znamenji resnične Države
– s potnimi listi, zastavo, grbom in tako naprej –, zasnovanimi kot artefakti. Občasno je bila NSK država
v času uprizorjena tudi v resničnem prostoru: v devetdesetih letih so bila veleposlaništva in konzulati NSK
države v času inavgurirani v zasebnih stanovanjih in hišah, hotelskih sobah in podobnih prostorih, in sicer
da bi s tem soočili razmerje med politikami prostora znotraj/zunaj Balkana/Evrope ter institucijo Umetnosti.
V maju in juniju 1992 je skupina Irwin postavila NSK veleposlaništvo v Moskvi, v zasebnem stanovanju
(naslov: Leninsky Prospect 12, apt. 24). Pročelje stanovanjske stavbe je bilo okrašeno z umetniško izraženimi
insignijami državnega veleposlaništva. Prostori, ki so bili do tedaj obravnavani zunaj matrice umetnosti in
kulture oziroma na obrobju sistema, so bili nenadoma premeščeni v središče umetnostnega sistema. NSK
konzulati so bili odprti v Firencah (1993), in sicer v hotelu Ambasciatori, ter v Umagu (1994), v kuhinji
zasebnega stanovanja Marina Cettine, lastnika Galerije Dante.

Katalog razstavljenih fotografij /
The list of exhibitied prints
V sodelovanju z Albansko vojsko
In collaboration with Albanian Army
NSK straa Tirana / NSK Garda Tirana
National Gallery, 21. 12. 1998
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm
V sodelovanju s Èeško vojsko
In collaboration with Czech Army
NSK straa Praga / NSK Garda Prague
MXM Gallery, 15. 9. 2000
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm, Foto / Photo: Igor Andjeliè
V sodelovanju s Hrvaško vojsko
In collaboration with Croatian Army
NSK straa Praga / NSK Garda Zagreb
Museum of Contemporary Art, 10. 12. 2000
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm, Foto / Photo: Igor Andjeliè
V sodelovanju z Avstrijsko vojsko
In collaboration with Austrian Army
NSK straa Gradec / NSK Garda Graz
Forum Stadtpark, 6. 10. 2001
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm, Foto / Photo: Wolfgang Croce
V sodelovanju z Italijansko vojsko
In collaboration with Italian Army
NSK straa Rim / NSK Garda Rome
Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art,
24. 04. 2001
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm, Foto / Photo: Igor Andjeliè
V sodelovanju z vojsko Èrne gore
In collaboration with the Montenegrian Army
NSK straa Cetinje / NSK Garda Cetinje
Cetinje Biennial, 22. 6. 2002
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm
V sodelovanju z vojsko Kosova
In collaboration with Kosovo Army
NSK straa Cetinje / NSK Garda Prishtina
Exit, 8. 11. 2002
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm, Foto / Photo: Igor Andjeliè
V sodelovanju z vojsko Japonske
In collaboration with Japanese Salary-Men
NSK straa Cetinje / NSK Garda Kyoto
Kyoto Biennial, 4. 10. 2003
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm
V sodelovanju z vojsko Kirgizije
In collaboration with Kyrgyz Army
NSK straa Biškek / NSK Garda Bishkek
Kurama Art Gallery, 25. 4. 2004
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm, Foto / Photo: Erkin Boljurov
V sodelovanju z vojsko Bosne
In collaboration with Bosnian Army
NSK straa Sarajevo / NSK Garda Sarajevo
8. 2. 2006
arhivski inkjet print / archival inkjet print
70 x 50 cm
Virtualna Država NSK razkriva nejasne postopke kodificiranja
ter sistemskih pravil in načel, ki služijo ugotovitvi zgodovinske
koincidence in arteficialnosti. Prav ta vzporedni odnos med
umetnostjo in državo spodbuja radikalna vprašanja o postopkih
in procesih, ki so vkodirani v temelje sodobnega umetnostnega
sistema in so zatorej ključni za njegovo obnavljanje in oplajanje.
NSK država v času je prikazala neverjetno diskontinuiteto in
vzbudila intenzivno javno izpraševanje v času in znotraj časa.
V svojem poskusu izpostavitve sintetičnega dialektičnega momenta,
ki ga je razvila NSK država v času, sem se v devetdesetih letih
vprašala, kako bi imenovali to domnevno duhovnost državnega
telesa (na kar napeljuje oznaka »država v času«) in telesnost državne
duhovnosti (na kar so napeljevala veleposlaništva in konzulati v
konkretnih zasebnih prostorih). Predlagala sem, da jih imenujemo
spektralne entitete. Trdila sem, da so NSK veleposlaništva »spektri«
veleposlaništev in NSK država v času spektralna entiteta države –
»ne povsem duh, ne povsem pravno telo države!«, in sicer v kolikor
nam spektralizacija (ki sem jo razvila na osnovi branja Derridajevega
dela The Spectres of Marx) omogoča natančno poimenovanje
procesov evakuacije svojstvenih zgodovinskih, družbenih in
političnih prostorov nekdanje Vzhodne Evrope in njenega sedanjega
neobstoja.
Torej je mogoče reči, da obsegajo projekti NSK vnovično
vzpostavitev svojega zgodovinskega, umetnostnega in kulturnega
prostora skozi čas prav zaradi tega, ker prihaja NSK iz območja,
ki ga danes opisujemo kot »ex« ali »nekdanje« in je zato trdno
utemeljeno v času. Zaradi tega so projekti NSK tako zapleteno vpeti
v vnovično branje zgodovine, v časovno in prostorsko umeščanje
kulture, umetnosti in družbenosti. Z dvema simboloma ali kazalcema
– NSK križ izvira iz umetniške dediščine Kazimira Maleviča in
nacistične svastike – ustvarja Država NSK zastrašujoče tvorbe in
pripovedi, globoko vsidrane v politiki.
Irwin je na novo uporabil križ z Malevičevih slik – odvzel mu je
vse duhovne pomene. To pot lahko razložimo kot analogijo po
Heartfieldovem obravnavanju postopkov montaže. Ta virtualni
model države, z njegovimi možnimi (kičastimi, konceptualnimi in
protimodernimi) povezavami z umetnostjo, je obenem protisloven.

Realkomunizem, transnacionalni kapitalizem, bastardni Malevič, ilegalni Heartfield, ustoličeni Magritte ter
naturalizirani modernizem – vsi so prvine Irwinove Države NSK in njene narativne trajektorije.
Irwinova NSK straža je projekt, ki združuje dve nemogoči ravni načina delovanja vsake sodobne države:
resnične vojake v njihovi vpetosti v državno/nacionalno vojsko ter artefakte NSK države v času, zastavo in
Malevičev križ, natisnjen na rokavnih trakovih. Eno od vprašanj je način delovanja sodobne nacionalne
vojske. Kakšna je raven resnične demokratizacije razmerja med vojaškimi strukturami in kulturo v različnih
družbah? Zastava imaginarne države – tiste, ki živi le v času, toda ki deluje z izdajanjem resničnih potnih
listov in prek resničnih državnih insignij, veleposlaništev/konzulatov (v zasebnih stanovanjih in hotelskih
sobah) – zato doseže svoj dodatek, svoj vzporedni protipol. Resnični vojaki državne vojske (z Malevičevim
križem na rokavnih trakovih) stražijo zastavo (imaginarne) Države NSK. Izkupiček v bistvu ni performans,
ampak prej svojevrstni tableau vivant soočenja med umetnostjo in družbo, med resničnim in umetno
ustvarjenim. Zamisel je sopostaviti aseptično, vsakdanjo družbeno realnost, torej življenje samo, in njegov
fantazmatski dodatek, ki je umetnost. Torej sopostaviti, iz oči v oči, realnost, ki je Umetnost, in njegov
fantazmatski dodatek – vojsko!
Leta 2003 je Irwin uprizoril NSK stražo Kjoto. Prizorišče in straženje zastave Države NSK so tokrat prevzeli
»Salary-men« (angleški kalk, ki se na Japonskem uporablja za imenovanje državnih uslužbencev), ki so
nadomestili resnično državno vojsko. V japonski družbi so bili državni uslužbenci »vojska« delavcev, ki
so imeli ključno vlogo v industrializaciji Japonske. Njihovo podobnost z vojsko poudarja uniformiranost
njihovih oblačil in kravat strogega sloga. V ozadju uniform skrivajo svojo vlogo v maksimiziranju
učinkovitosti kapitalističnega stroja. S takim slogom oblačenja in z načinom svojega delovanja predstavljajo
normalizirano anomalijo v samem kapitalističnem sistemu Japonske. Učinek takšnih sopostavitev je
derealizacija in depsihologizacija realnosti in institucije sodobne Umetnosti.
Prav to je politika, ki tiči onkraj enostavnih dihotomij in ki na novo obdela koncept de-realizacije (in
depsihologizacije) umetnosti (čeprav bi se morali zavedati, da abstraktno umeščanje umetnosti v sodobnem
kapitalizmu vztraja v psihološkem momentu, v psihologiji posamičnih umetnikov). Učinek tovrstnih
sopostavitev je razlomljena slika realnosti med umetnostjo in vojsko. Irwin ne zahteva, naj izberemo med
dvema ali več možnostmi v dani koordinatni mreži (umetnost nasproti vojske itd.), ampak naj spremenimo
koordinatno mrežo samo. Spopasti se moramo s travmatičnim realnim, z reartikulacijo in vnovičnim
izpraševanjem mesta in vloge vojske v sodobnih družbah ter sodobne umetnosti v okviru institucije
Umetnosti.
*
Serija fotografij NSK straža je bila prvič v celoti predstavljena v Kostanjevici na Krki, septembra 2006, kot del projekta SPOT 2006, v
organizaciji Bojana Radoviča – Hiše fotografije, Novo mesto.
Besedilo je bilo objavljeno v Camera Austria, Gradec, št. 96/2006. Poslovenila Tanja Velagić, Ljubljana.
Dr. Marina Gržinić je višja znanstvena sodelavka na Filozofskem inštitutu ZRC SAZU v Ljubljani in profesorica na Akademiji za likovno
umetnost na Dunaju.

Irwin: NSK Guards / Marina Gržinić
The NSK Guard by the Slovenian fine art group Irwin is a project that consists of more than a
dozen of photographs in which »local« but real army soldiers guard the flag of the imaginary NSK
State in Time. The project »NSK Guard« started in 1998 when the first photograph »The NSK Guard
Tirana« was realised in collaboration with the Albanian Army. It was followed by collaborations
with numerous other armies such as the Army of the Czech Republic, the Croatian army, the Italian
Army, the Austrian Army, the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
The »NSK Guard«* by Irwin is directly connected with the »NSK State in Time« projects. The
NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst or New Slovenian Art) collective has a multiform history. In the
early 1980s the fine art group Irwin, together with the music group Laibach, a theatre group Sester
Scipion Nasice, and the design group known as New Collectivism, formed one of the most powerful
art and social collectives from the East of Europe, known by its German name Neue Slowenische
Kunst, the acronym NSK, or New Slovenian Art when translated into English. The German was
purposely used in the case of Neue Slowenische Kunst to disclose connections with the disavowed
German influence on Slovenian art, culture and history. The same is true for the name of the music
group Laibach; this is how Ljubljana was renamed during the Second World War when the city was
occupied by Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Since they were already in the process of naming, NSK thus
condensed a very precise and traumatic way of dealing with Slovenian history and reality.
»The NSK State in Time« was established in the only way possible, as a virtual entity that had
no real territory (as it was said that it was precisely because of territorial concerns that we were
witnessing the Balkan war) but only the insignias of a real State – passports, flag, etc., – which were
elaborated as artefacts. From time to time, however, the »NSK State in Time« was displayed in real
space. In the 1990s the NSK State in Time’s Embassies and Consulates were inaugurated in private
apartments and houses, hotel rooms, and similar places to question the politics of space within/
outside the Balkans/Europe and the Art Institution. The group Irwin established the NSK Embassy in
Moscow in a private apartment (address: Leninsky Prospect 12, apt. 24) in May and June 1992. The
facade of this residential dwelling was embellished with the artistically articulated insignia of a state
embassy. Spaces that had always been considered as being outside the matrix of art and culture
or at the margins of the system were suddenly transposed into the centre of the art system. NSK
Consulates were opened in Florence, Italy (1993), at the Hotel Ambasciatori, and in Umag, Croatia
(1994), in the kitchen of Marino Cettina, the Dante Gallery owner’s private apartment.
The virtual NSK State tackles ambiguous procedures of codification and the system rules and
principles that serve to define historical coincidence and artificiality. This parallelism between art
and the state poses radical questions about the procedures and instructions that are at the base of
the formation of the art system and which are crucial for its reproduction.
»The NSK State in Time« displayed an incredible discontinuity and provoked an intensive public

conceptual and anti-modern) connections with art. Real Communism, Trans-national Capitalism,
Bastard Malevich, Illegal Heartfield, Enthroned Magritte, and Naturalized Modernism – these are the
elements of the NSK State by Irwin in its narrative trajectory.
»NSK Guard« by Irwin is a project that conjoins two impossible levels of the way every modern
state functions: real soldier(s) from the respective national armies and the artefact(s) of »The NSK
State in Time«, its flag and the Malevich cross imprinted on armbands. One of the questions is the
manner in which today’s national armies function. What is the level of real democratisation in the
relation between army structures and culture within different societies? The flag of the imaginary
state, of the state that lives only in time, but which is made operational through real passports, real
state insignias, and embassies/consulates (in private apartments and hotel rooms) thus attains its
supplement, its parallel counterpart. Real national army soldiers (with armbands imprinted with
the Malevich cross) guard the (imaginary) NSK flag. What we get is not really a performance, but
more some sort of tableau vivant of an encounter between art and society, between the real and the
artificially constructed. The idea is to assemble aseptic, quotidian social reality, life itself, in parallel
with its phantasmal supplement that is art. Or to juxtapose, face-to-face, reality that is ART and its
phantasmal supplement – the Army!
questioning in time and within time. In an attempt to emphasize the synthetic dialectical moment
developed in »The NSK State in Time«, I asked myself in the mid-1990s how we could label
this spiritual element of corporeality (the State in Time) and this corporeal element of spirituality
(embassies and consulates in concrete private spaces). I proposed that we define them as spectres.
I stated, re-elaborating Jacques Derrida’s The Spectres of Marx, that »The NSK State in Time« is
the spectre of the state; NSK Embassies are spectres of embassies. »The NSK State in Time« was a
transposition, as much as it was also a spectralization of the evacuation of specific historical, social
and political spaces of former Eastern Europe, of its present non-existing condition.
Or it is possible to say that precisely because NSK comes from a territory that is today described
as “ex” or “former”, hence firmly grounded in time, NSK’s projects imply the re-constitution of its
historical, art and cultural space through time. This is why NSK’s projects are so intricately involved
in re-reading history, in the temporalization and spatialization of culture, art and the social. With
two symbols or indicators – the NSK cross originated within the artistic legacy of Kasimir Malevich
and the Nazi swastika – the virtual NSK State creates terrifying constructions and narratives deeply
rooted in politics.
Irwin reused the cross from Malevich’s paintings, but emptied it of any spiritual meaning. It
is possible to explain this trajectory as being similar to what Heartfield did with the process of
montage. There is something paradoxical about this virtual state model and its possible (kitschy,
In 2003, Irwin realised »The NSK Guard Kyoto«. »Salary-men« (a calque in Japanese for office
workers) took the floor, replacing the real national army and guarding the NSK flag. Within Japanese
society, salary-men were an »army« of workers of crucial importance for Japanese industrialisation.
That they are like an army is emphasized by their uniform style of sober suits and ties. Behind their
uniform they hide their role of maximizing the efficiency of the capitalist machine. Through their
mode of dress and in the way they function, they are a normalized anomaly within the capitalist
system in Japan. The effect of such juxtapositions is the de-realisation and the de-psychologisation
of the reality of the Institution of Contemporary Art.
This is politics beyond simple dichotomies reusing the concept of the de-realisation [and
de-psychologisation] of art (although we should be aware that the abstract positioning of art
in contemporary capitalism insists on the psychological moment and on the psychology of the
individual artist). Juxtapositions like this result in a diffracted picture of reality between art and army.
Irwin does not ask us to merely choose between two or more options within a set of coordinates
(art vs. army, etc.), but to change the set of coordinates itself. What we have to deal with here is the
traumatic real, the re-articulation and re-questioning of the position of the army in contemporary
societies and art within the art institution.
* The whole series of photographs NSK guards was presented in its complexity and for the first time in Kostanjevica na Krki, September 2006, as part of the project,
SPOT, 2006, produced by Bojan Radovič, House of Photography, Novo Mesto.
The following text was published in Camera Austria, Graz , no. 96/2006.
Dr. Marina Gržinić is researcher at the Institute of Philosophy ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana and Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

Anton Podbevšek Teater
Prešernov trg 3
80000 Novo mesto
Slovenija
tel +386 (0)7 391 78 10
fax +386 (0)7 391 78 12
apt@siol.com
Mestna občina Novo mesto
Donator Anton Podbevšek Teatra
Koprodukcija / Co-production
Hiša fotografije / House of Photography, Slovenia (www.hfs.si)