Yearbook of the Independent Performing Arts Scene in Serbia - TkH

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cateurs of the local scene or, as they call themselves, “artistic-advertisingcorporation” Ilegalni poslastičari (Illegal Confectioners) 24 develop a newform of institutional critique in their cynical actions directed against thedominant sedated and depolitized urban culture in Serbia and its respectivevalues 25 . In 2008 the group was occupied with the Ćošak Marka Kraljevićaproject (Marko Kraljević Corner), a follow-up to their action of re-namingpublic spaces. 26 The action was planned as part of the festival Art & Life366 Days in Shanghai, as inauguration of the plaque with the name of thismythical Serbian hero. The project was backed up with numerous actionsand performances, like TV appearances or a donors’ conference in ZMUC(Zemun Small Art Centre), where the artists ironically criticized the nationalideology based on mythologization of folk heritage and the conceptof ‘Great Serbia’. With certain forms of actionism one could align the practiceof the collective character Zampa di Leone 27 (Lion’s Claw or, rather,Paw), engaged since the late 1990s in a systematic critique of the ‘salonelitism’of the local critical and activist art scene with its ‘satirical’ comicstrip output. At the exhibition launch in the University Library SvetozarMarković, a mock-Zampa performer dressed in ninja costume asserted hispresence as impersonated bad conscience of the local artistic scene in hismannerist self-exhibition.Among the less commonly adopted strategies of the local performanceart scene are the terrorist ones. In artistic terms, ‘terrorist’ actions implyillegal strategies assumed as a mode of operation or making a statement.Terrorist strategies were employed by Danilo Prnjat in his work Tempo(2008). He falsely reported a bomb at the mega-market Tempo, otherwiseproperty of the Serbian tycoon Miroslav Mišković, president of theBelgrade-based Delta Holding corporation. This artistic-terrorist act aimedat spotlighting the issue of ideological animosity to the Western capitalism,recognized as a threat to the Serbian national identity, in shifting the criticalvector towards the nationalist facet of the capitalist system.The practices of digital, Internet or cyber performance are relatively newphenomena on the local scene, being based on the use of digital technolo-24 http://ilegalni.mojblog.rs/arhiva-12-2007.html25 Stevan Vuković, “Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: InstitutionalCritique in Serbia and its Lack of Organic References”, available online:http://transform.eipcp.net/transversal/0208/vukovic/en26 Illegal Confectioners are also responsible for the renowned Salvador DaliCorner (Ćošak Salvadora Dalija) on the streets Simina and Kapetan Mišina inBelgrade.27 http://www.creemaginet.com/sajt/zampa-di-leone-u-obliku-crteza-i-tekstabiblioteka-svetozar-markovic-04-jul-2008-godr a s [29]t e r
gies in live performances. Example of this tendency is performance of theFantomat, a member of the SubHuman teatar collective 28 . In September2008 Fantomat performed a series of actions in public spaces of the Serbiantown Pančevo. By inserting a coin into the slot on his head, accidental audiencescould generate (activating specially designed software) an audio-visualact of the Fantomat each time anew declaring state of emergency, as aresponse to the permanent state of emergency we live in. Internet is a contextaddressed by Miroslav Mandić, the artist active on the performance artscene since the 1970s. By the end of 2007 Mandić marked the beginning ofhis existence in the virtual world, naming it Ružičnjak (Rose Garden). 29 Thushe began to explore the potentialities of the Internet as a communicationtool for an alienated world, as a means of commitment to a new universalismreflected in unity of all beings. In 2008 Mandić realized the Internetperformance Svečani nedeljni ručak (Convivial Sunday Lunch). Every Sundayat noon, by means of live video streaming, Mandić addressed for 15 minutesthe attendant at his virtual round table. Performance Veni! Ελθέ! Dođi! Tothe Zapata Private/Pirate Birthday Party. And, Vice Versa… (2008) 30 by MiljanaPerić, Teodora Perić, Jelena Milosavljević-Rubil, Julijana Protić and GoranRubil was conceived as a pirate/private celebration dedicated to the birthdayof the famous leader of the Mexican revolution Emiliano Zapata, stagedin the online environment by means of the open-source cyberformance 31software UpStage. The audiences took part in the celebration, contributingto the mood with music and conversation. Interaction was provided by theUpStage interface. This performance raised questions related to economyand contemporary culture, potentialities of the new subject of the multitude,and plausibility of a new revolution today.In an attempt to include as many works as possible coming from the pluralistSerbian scene of performance art in the late 2000s, in its second ‘act’this essay becomes an archive. I render this archive and potentialities ofits traces as a sequence of propositions, statements, indeed guidelines forfuture research and contextualizations. All these works relate to complex28 The author of this essay is also member of this collective.29 http://miroslavmandic.name/index_en.html30 http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=15931 Cyberformance is a term coined by the cyber-artist and theoretician HelenVarley Jamieson, and it implies digital performance in the virtual i.e. online environment.See Ana Vujanović, “Globalni/Digitalni performans: Cyberformanceizmeđu kapitala i umetnosti” (Global/digital performance: cyberformancebetween the capital and art), in Aleksandra Jovićević and Ana Vujanović, Uvodu studije performansa (Introduction to Performance Studies), Fabrika knjiga, Belgrade,2006, p. 271.
Page 2 and 3: Belgrade, january 2009.
Page 4 and 5: Yearbook of the Independent Perform
Page 6: project directory[44/45][46/47][48/
Page 9 and 10: changed when compared to the situat
Page 11 and 12: powerful institutional resources, a
Page 13 and 14: supporting fresh and emerging criti
Page 15 and 16: In alternative terms one could addr
Page 17 and 18: ary “forest artists” neverthele
Page 19 and 20: The impact of the Bitef Festival, a
Page 21 and 22: about is total absence of public th
Page 23 and 24: What was common to Yugoslav retro-a
Page 25 and 26: and tactics of behavior and work wi
Page 27 and 28: Kolekcija 18 (2008), when he attemp
Page 29: tion and heteronormativization in t
Page 33 and 34: × ana vujanovićNot Quite-Not Righ
Page 35 and 36: art, body art and happenings of the
Page 37 and 38: at the level of critical re-thinkin
Page 39 and 40: aspect: “Fostering Creativity”,
Page 41 and 42: now!” activity, and nearly anonym
Page 43 and 44: × × × × × × × × × × × ×
Page 45 and 46: In/Visible Cityphotography: Đorđe
Page 47 and 48: BLANKSPACE (Međuprostor)photograph
Page 49 and 50: CURVE FOR GAUSSphotography: www.haj
Page 51 and 52: knotphotography: Lidija Antonovićm
Page 53 and 54: photography: The Worstmudra theatre
Page 55 and 56: photography: Villa and Zapata in Pr
Page 57 and 58: AUDITION FOR PARADISEphotography: I
Page 59 and 60: ONE PIECE OF ADVICE - ONE BEERphoto
Page 61 and 62: TOUCHING - BREATHING - WALKINGphoto
Page 63 and 64: photography: Stanislav MilojkovićS
Page 65 and 66: photography: Srđan VeljovićtkhWAL
Page 67: I CAN NOT LEAVE, BECAUSE...photogra

Yearbook of the Independent Performing Arts Scene in Serbia - TkH

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