Povzetki - Abstracts

»Kaj je svet umetnosti? Nekako tako se glasi naše prvo vprašanje, naše predhodno vprašanje. Predlagam, da je svet umetniški, dogodek umetnosti, svet umetnosti takrat, ko nam predoči razmerje med kaotično dispozicijo čutnosti in tem, kar je sprejemljivo kot forma.«

To je tudi NAŠE prvo vprašanje – kaj je svet umetnosti? V svojem prispevku se bom dotaknil različnih tem, da bi pokazal, zakaj in kako deluje umetniški svet/svet umetnosti, tj. kako je lahko nekaj razumljeno kot umetnost. Najprej bom predpostavljal, da je to, o čemer govori Badiou, vprašanje topologije; razmerje tega, čemur pravi kaotična dispozicija čutnega, do forme. In to je tudi razmerje nezavednega do Drugega (kot kastracijskega principa oz. zakona simbolizacije). Dalje bom iz teh dveh topologij skušal razviti neko reprezentacijo, ki je konstitutivna za subjekt (osnovano na Lacanovi teoriji zrcalnega stadija), in reprezentacijo vseh nadaljnjih reprezentacij, nekakšno meta-reprezentacijo. Iz vsega bom skušal sprejeti, da se v določenih oblikah umetnosti ta reprezentacija »zatakne« v nekem v-mes, postane nekakšno liminalno dejanje, ki skuša transcendirati TA svet umetnosti in se vrniti v kaos sam.

Matej Vatovec (Koper, 1983) trenutno pripravlja diplomsko nalogo o fenomenološkem konceptu intencionalnosti in njegovem razmerju do pogleda na Oddelku za kulturne študije Fakultete za humanistične študije (Univerza na Primorskem).

“What is a world of art? Something like that is our first question, our preliminary question. I propose to say that a world is an artistic one, a situation of art, a world of art when it proposes to us a relation between chaotic disposition of sensibility and what is acceptable as a form.”

This is also OUR primary question – what is a world of art? I'm going to touch different fields im my paper to show why and how the art world/world of art works, i.e. how can something be perceived as art. First, I will assume that what Badiou is talking about is a question of topology. The relationship of what he calls the chaotic disposition of sensibility to the form. And it is also the relationship of the unconscious to the Other (as the castrating principle or, the law of symbolization). Next I am going to develop from the two topologies a kind of representation constitutive of the subject (grounding on Lacan's theory of the mirror stage), and a representation of all further representations, some kind of meta-representation. From all that I will try to accept that, in some forms of art, this representation “gets stuck” in an in-between, it becomes some kind of liminal act, trying to transcend THIS world of art, returning to chaos itself.

Matej Vatovec (Koper, 1983) is currently preparing his B.A. thesis about the phenomenological concept of intentionality and its relation to the gaze at the department of cultural studies of the Faculty of Humanities (University of Primorska).

In this paper I address the problem of “art worlds” as a problem of the lost identity. “Losing identity” in >person-institution< relation can be illustrated in three instances:

1) condition of strangeness → inhabiting a world that constantly produces new levels of reality, and of which important aspect is the institution per se. Being a foreigner includes otherness, outsiders, refuges, guests, etc. and can be illustrated, to a certain extent, by a foreign condition of Marina Abramović. The very characteristic of the condition is refusing, or inability of achieving, a sustainable identity and having, instead, “identity-in-between.” That leads to two other instances:

2) reconstructed identity inside the “art-world” (that functions as a tautology) where the condition of “art” seems as a) a surrogate and reflection of fragmented “realities” and b) an attempt to defragment “reality” by a diversion and re-interpretation of the institution as such. c) “Art” outside “art-world” plays an ambivalent role between “simply not counting” and affirming of a unique, even metaphysical identity.

3) dehumanized face of “new realities” as a lost identity, illustrated by an institutionalized “aesthetic media spectacle” implemented on war.

These examples point to: a) a lost identity as the primary condition of contemporary art-worlds b) art-world as a place of reestablishing (or achieving) identity which (b.1) corresponds to the fragmented and constantly changed “new levels” of reality (b.2) opposes to such a “reality” wanting a unique identity of its own.

Davor Džalto (1980, Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina), artist and art historian. Finished the High School of Arts in Niš and graduated history of art at the Faculty of Philosophy, University in Belgrade. In 2004 started PhD. research at the Albert Ludwigs Universitaet in Freiburg (Germany). Has had numerous exhibitions, projects, public lectures and video-screenings in different countries. He has been publishing articles in Serbian and international magazines. Theoretical positions are based on investigation of art, artist and person in contemporary culture.

Ideja pričujočega teksta je usmeriti pozornost na drugačne načine pristopa do prostorov umetnosti, izhajajoč iz Lefebvrove produkcije prostora. Vendar je produkcija prostora le eden izmed aspektov, ki ga je skoraj nemogoče izključiti iz širšega socialnega konteksta. Čeprav so diferencialni prostori umetnosti – vsaj v teoriji – idealni prostori razprav znotraj aktualnih debat o reprezentaciji, kulturi, identiteti itd., so po drugi strani relativno izolirani iz teh perspektiv. Glavni razlog tiči v tem, da je produkcijo prostora (ki se odvija v nekem določenem času) skorajda nemogoče analizirati. Možno pa je seveda osvetliti in izpostaviti produkcijo in produkt – prostor (ki sta med seboj neločljivo povezana) – skozi izkušnje iz prve roke (participacija) in drugotnih virov (kot je na primer dokumentacija).

Produkcija diferencialnih prostorov umetnosti je prepoznana v utelešenih prostorih, prostorih apropriacije, prostorih t. i. tretjega sektorja in notranjih prostorih uma.

V tekstu se prav tako ukvarjam z vprašanji kot na primer: kakšne so posebnosti produkcije diferencialnih prostorov umetnosti? Kakšna so razmerja med različnimi prostori? Med diferencialnimi prostori umetnosti in institucijo? In ne nazadnje, med diferencialnimi prostori umetnosti in umetnostnim sistemom?

Bojana Piškur je zaposlena kot kustosinja v Moderni galeriji. Raziskuje fenomene sodobne umetnosti. Doktorirala je iz teorije umetnosti na Karlovi univerzi v Pragi.

The aim of this text is to direct attention towards differential way of approaching spaces of art, on the basis of Lefebvrian space production. But the space production in question is just one aspect which cannot be isolated from the wider social environment. While differential spaces of art seem to be – in theory at least – an ideal place for discussion within recent debates on representation, culture, identity and so on, they have nevertheless been relatively isolated from these perspectives. The main reason is that it is impossible to analyze the actual production of differential spaces. It is possible, however, to elucidate and expose the production and the product – space (they are inevitably connected) – through first hand experiences (participation), and secondary sources (such as documentary materials).

Production of differential spaces of art can be recognized in the folowing spatialities: appropriated spaces, embodied spaces, spaces of the so called third sector and inner spaces of mind.

It also seeks answers to question: what is specific to the production of differential spaces of art? What is the relationship between different spatialities? Between differential spaces of art and the Institution? And the art system?

Bojana Piškur is a curator in Moderna galerija in Ljubljana. She researches contemporary art phenomena. She holds a PhD in art theory from Charles University in Prague.

Art nad Business: Intersection of Transitional Economies, Corporate Business and Contemporary Art Practices in the Post-Socialist Eastern European Conditions

The paper dealing with art, business and economics is part of my research initiated with an attempt to re-think the ideas behind the economy of art and the status of art market in the post-socialist Eastern European situation. This especially refers to the state of contemporary art system in the East of Europe perceived from the “neighborhood-perspective” toward the European Union, and exclusively through the issues dealing with economics and the way in which society is generally structured and how it functions; or, more precisely: it intends to pose questions about the global capitalist market and the way it influences the structure of a contemporary global society.

Why is it important to think about economy in relation to art? Why is it important to think about the transitional economy in relation to the post-socialist Eastern European art? Is it possible to talk about the ways in which contemporary art represents economic processes, and (if the answer is positive) what kind of meaning this artistic discourse brings to light? How this art can be read and how this discourse can be interpreted as a source of knowledge about contemporary economy? Is it possible to identify a concise historical overview of such art practices and should they be approached from a single perspective, provided that some artists are critical about the issue of economy, while others take an outright affirmative position? Is it possible to offer an alternative for the one-sided, neo-liberal discourse in the world of economics and in the media, through analyses of economic mechanisms in the contemporary art projects and art-works? How is the Eastern European post-socialism positioned with regard to the contemporary global capitalism?

The paper departs from the fundamental lack (for Serbian and South East European cultural and political space) of a specific and articulated discourse related to the intersection between art and economy. This is perceived as a problematic field, where the (im)possibility to establish an explicit relationship between contemporary art and economy fosters the necessity to be overcome, publicly problematized, and put into practice. The fact is that the relationship between art and economy, within the local and regional territory of Serbia and South East Europe, has still not been analyzed from neither a possibly affirmative nor critical point of view. By establishing explicitly this relational discourse, the project is conceived as a stimulating fertile ground and a contribution toward common interests for both sectors. If art and various discourses related to art (as understood in the broadest, performative, communicative and transformative sense) is a possible tool for discussing, questioning, and influencing the most pressing problems and issues dealing with economy’s impact on today's society, then the relation between culture and the marketplace stands for a fundamental point of reference in contemporary re-thinking of economic implications in the global art world.

The transition from socialism to capitalism in the former socialist economies, after the collapse of communist political ideologies in Europe, helps us understand not only a shift from one economic model to another, but also – how the transition contributes to the dynamics of large-scale institutional and organizational reforms, thus providing necessary conditions for a capitalist expansion worldwide. This is, without any doubt, not only a political issue, but an economic one, and affects not only the lives of the former Eastern Europeans, but the global world as such. The logic of the market is therefore what comes up once we are determined to talk about contemporary art. This close relationship between (Eastern European) art and (global) economy has been pointed out and elaborated both in contemporary art theory (with Fredric Jameson, Hal Foster, Slavoj Zizek, Saskia Sassen, Boris Groys, Brian Holmes, and Marina Grzinic, as the most relevant examples), and in contemporary art practices (with practitioners such as Oliver Ressler, Reinigungsgesellschaft, Orgacom, Big Hope, etc.), all of them problematizing the very existence of various critical economic and social issues within the project-based art discourses dealing with them. They are trying either to analyze the process of transition from one model of economy (most notably – a socialist, centrally-planed economy) to a capitalist mixed-market economy with respect to differing conditions for art and culture in the East and the West (Groys), or to critically posit the contemporary global state of economy from a profound theoretical and interpretative perspective related to contemporary art and art system, art market, and global exhibition making (Gržinić, for example). In order to analyze the issue from this global point of view, we are therefore obliged to discuss not only economy as a discipline, or an abstract field of scientific discourse, but political economy, that is: an economy dependent on political decision-making operations and processes, which influence our everyday existence. The first task therefore lies in an attempt to define the fields of (1) economy (political economy) and cultural economy, and (2) the way of positioning a new artistic/cultural subject from the East of Europe in relation (or rather – through) the ideas of contemporary global economy and contemporary global art market.

Marko Stamenković (1977): art historian, critic and curator based in Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro). BA in Art History at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Humanities (Art History Department, 2003). MA in Cultural Policy and Cultural Management at the University of Arts in Belgrade (UNESCO Chair for Cultural Management and Cultural Policy in the Balkans, 2005). Beside exhibition-making and curatorial criticism, he is writing on issues of contemporary art and collaborates with artists, collectives, institutions and organizations that are open to strategic examination and planning of conditions for corporate system-development in the global art world.

Veliki pregledna razstava Janeza Bernika v Moderni galeriji je v slovenskem umetniškem prostoru vzpodbudila vrsto kritičnih izjavljanj. Osnovna napaka sicer morda tiči v tem, da naslov razstave namiguje na velik pregled celotnega umetnikovega opusa, ogledovali pa smo si pravzaprav le izbor del iz njegovega ateljeja. Za omenjeno razstavo je značilno tudi, da so zanjo zavestno iskali sodobnejši način postavitve. Kakor je zapisano v Delu 24. 12. 2005, so prepletli njegova dela od najzgodnejših do najnovejših, sledili principu analogij in iskali harmoničnost oziroma skladnost izbranih del.

Kljub temu da lahko razmišljamo o smiselnosti razstavljanja del, ki ostajajo v ateljeju, pa je sama razstava le del tistega, do česar moramo biti kritični. Postavlja se namreč vprašanje avtorjeve avtoritete in vpliva le-te v določenem prostoru. Ta vpliv je lahko izjemno velik, če je prostor, v katerem ta avtoriteta deluje, tako majhen, kot je slovenski. Problem nastane, ko avtor lastne dominantnosti ne priznava, ampak jo v svojih izjavah zakriva. S tem se njegov mnogosmerni vpliv zdi nekako samoumeven oz. naraven. Umetnik namreč nikoli ne deluje v nedefiniranem, samotnem prostoru ateljeja, ampak v širšem družbenem prostoru, na katerega vpliva s svojimi izjavami in delovanjem. V referatu bova predstavila kritičen pregled umetnikovih izjav ter jih postavila ob bok umetnikovim mnogostranskim funkcijam v slovenskem umetniškem prostoru. Sprašujeva se, ali so te izjave odgovorne ali ne?

Petja Grafenauer Krnc (1976) je diplomirana umetnostna zgodovinarka in redna študentka IV. letnika podiplomskega študija zgodovinske antropologije likovnega na ISH v Ljubljani ter absolventka primerjalne književnosti z literarno teorijo na FF v Ljubljani. Njeno doktorsko delo se ukvarja s prisotnostjo množičnih medijev v slovenskem slikarstvu od 1960 do danes. Je kustosinja in likovna kritičarka pri časopisu Dnevnik in na Radiu Študent, kjer je tudi avtorica tedenske oddaje o sodobni umetnosti Arterija. Od 2006 je urednica redakcije za kulturo in humanistične vede na Radiu Študent.

Zoran Srdić (1974) je leta 2004 diplomiral na Akademiji za likovno umetnost, smer kiparstvo. Zaposlen je v Lutkovnem gledališču Ljubljana in trenutno nadaljuje magistrski študij filozofije in teorije vizualne kulture na Fakulteti za humanistične študije v Kopru.

The extensive survey exhibition of the Slovenian artist Janez Bernik in Modern Art Gallery has spurred a series of different critical statements. The basic mistake is maybe that the title of the exhibition implies that what is shown will be a grand survey of the whole opus of the artist. Only a selection of the works from his atelier was actually shown. Also characteristic for the here mentioned exhibition is, that it consciously tried to find a contemporary approach of the presentation. As written in the Slovenian newspaper Delo on the 24^th of December 2005, the exhibition tried to interlace his works from the earliest to the most recent ones; it followed the principle of analogies and tried to find harmony and accordance of the selected works.

Despite the fact that we can try to think about the signification of exhibiting works that remain in the artist’s atelier, the exhibition is only a part of what we have to be critical about. There is a question of the author’s authority and its influence in a defined space. This influence can be extremely large, if the space in which this authority takes an active part in is as small as Slovenian space is. The problem occurs when an author doesn’t admit his own dominance but even more conceals it in his statements. With that act his multidirectional influence seems to be somehow obvious and natural respectively. The artist namely never works in an undefined, lonely atelier space, but in a wider social space that he influences with his statements and actions. In this paper we will present a critical review of artist’s statements and compare them side by side with artist’s multi-sided functions in Slovene art space. We want to consider the responsibility of those statements.

Petja Grafenauer Krnc (1976) has a BA in art history. She is a PhD student at Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis (ISH) – Ljubljana Graduate School of the Humanities and a graduate student of Comparative literature with literary theory at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. Her PhD work deals with the presence of mass media in Slovene painting since 1960 until the present. She is a curator and art critic for Dnevnik magazine and Radio Student, where she is also the author of the Art-area radio show. Since 2006 she is the editress of Culture and humanities redaction on RŠ.

Zoran Srdić (1974) graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts at the sculpture department in the year 2004. He works in the Puppet Theatre Ljubljana. At the moment he is continuing his BA studies Philosophy and Theory of Visual Culture at the Faculty of Humanities Koper.

Sodobna nevroznanost poudarja funkcijo možganov kot samoorganiziran, dinamičen sistem formiranja vzorcev. Možgani niso samo notranji organ; ustvarjajo nevronska polja (mreže), ki se transformirajo v povezavah nujnega utelešenja (embodiment) in zunanjih dražljajev. Možgani niso torej samo organ telesa, temveč so kreativno vtisnjeni (embedded) v kompleksni odnos subjekta in objekta izkušnje.

Pojem vtisnjenosti se nanaša na pomembne interpretacije pri umetnostnozgodovinski analizi manierizma. Ustreza tudi razumevanju pomembnih manifestacij avantgarde (še posebno pojmu ruske avantgarde zaum), pri čemer gre za možnost obnovitve njene kreativne moči. To spreminja naš odnos do umetnosti in umetniške eksistence.

Mojca Oblak, akad. slikarka, spec., živi v Ljubljani. Svoje umetniško delo povezuje s filozofijo.

Recent neuroscience has emphasized the brain's status as a pattern-forming, self-organized dynamic system. The brain is not just an internal organ. It generates neural fields which transform themselves in relation to the demands of embodiment and external stimuli. The brain is not just in the body, it is creatively embedded in the more total relation between subject and object of experience.

This embeddedness holds some important clues for an art historical phenomena of a manneristic kind. It is also directly relevant to understanding important manifestations of the avant-garde (especially the Russian concept of “zaum”), and to a more general renewal of the avant-garde as a continuing creative force – able to change our sense of what we want from art and the artworld.

Mojca Oblak is an artist/theorist based in Ljubljana. She works especially at the interface between art, philosophy, language and science.

Abstract Bioart Emerging from Computer Simulations of Living Population Dynamics Models

Graphical renditions of computer simulations of models qualify in certain contexts as a form of art in themselves, especially if they originate or come to be detached from any representational purpose. This is a fortiori true of population dynamics models involving living populations, whether they be of cells, organisms, bacteria, or higher animals, such as humans. Artistic graphics emerging from computer simulations of such biological population dynamics might accordingly qualify as an abstract form of bioart. I will expose and consider two such population dynamics models, specifically, cellular automata generated graphics from Thomas C. Shelling's segregation model, and cellular automata graphics generated from a Rock-Paper-Scissors model of survival of the weakest dynamics and the emergenece of local diversity amid global mono-sortedness amid three competing strains of E.-coli bacteria. In each case, I will display the graphics, put them in their respective modelling contexts, and then seek artistic value in the respective graphics both apart from and in light of their initial purpose with the latter emphasizing the aspect of abstract bioart.

Paule Ečimović was born in Ljubljana. After living for almost two decades in Toronto, Canada, London, England, and San Francisco, California, he enrolled in mathematical logic at the University of Ljubljana. Paule completed his undergraduate studies and his masters degree at the University of Ljubljana. Currently, he has been doing a doctorate in Earth and Space Science, at York University, in Toronto, Canada. He did informatics system design work for the Institute of Public Health Rep. Slovenia.

According to G. Dickie and A. Danto, art can be defined only in ‘institutional terms’, because in contemporary art it is not possible to define an artwork on the basis of its aesthetics properties; the only criterion on which one can recognise an artefact as an artwork is considering it as belonging to an ‘artworld’. This is a circular argumentation, as art is defined through the concept of ‘artworld’, that presumes the concept of ‘art’. Furthermore, this theory implies a closed and structured society, in which artists, critics and public play each a strictly and factually defined role. My thesis is that Danto’s and Dickie’s ‘institutional theory of art’ is based on a static and ideological concept of intersubjectivity, that leaves no space for artistic developments that the ‘free market’ can not control.

Actually, if discussed only in terms of empirical ontology, the question of art definition loses every philosophical meaning, as the issue concerning the relation between art and society, i.e. artworks and artworlds, is exclusively considered from an ideological viewpoint. The ontology of art can be successful only in connection with the pursuit of the meaning of art as an activity generating (its own) intersubjectivity and society. While presuming a factual historical world, art institutes a society at different levels (aesthetic, moral, cultural, etc.). Consequently, condition of possibility of the definition of an artefact or a performance as art or as artwork is its power of ‘derealisation’, through which the possibility of alternative worlds can appear. In my opinion Kant’s concept of sensus communis offers a historical-conceptual background to this thesis.

Alessandro Bertinetto (Viareggio, 1971) got the PhD in philosophy at the University of Padua (2000), where he did later post-doctoral research. He worked at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften and at the Universities Autónoma and Complutense of Madrid. He is now researcher at the University of Udine (Italy) and at the University of Murcia (Spain). His main research-fields are aesthetics, transcendental philosophy, hermeneutics. His main publications: Autocoscienza e soggettivitŕ nel pensiero di Manfred Frank (Turin 1998), L’essenza dell’empiria. Saggio sulla prima Logica trascendentale di J.G. Fichte (Neapel 2001), Storia dell’estetica moderna e contemporanea (with F. Vercellone and G. Garelli, Bologna 2003).

Badioujeva inestetika in meja neskončnosti forme na primeru poezije Tomaža Šalamuna

Leta 2005 Alain Badiou umetniški svet definira kot »odnos med senzibilnostjo in formo«. Naš cilj je to izjavo postaviti v kontekst njegove filozofije in s tem doseči dvoje: prvič, opozoriti na razliko med tistim, kar lahko imenujemo institucionalna teorija umetnosti, in Badioujevim vztrajanjem pri konceptu resnice – nekaj novega, nekaj, kar se že v osnovi razlikuje od znanja in kulture. Umetnost (poleg znanosti, politike in ljubezni) velja za enega izmed štirih generičnih procesov resnice, inestetika pa je odnos med umetnostjo in filozofijo. Drugič pa bomo poskusili neskončnosti forme kot nastopa v predavanju Subjekt umetnosti s konceptom neimenljivega kot nasprotnega moči resnice določiti mejo.

Poezija Tomaža Šalamuna nam bo nudila možnost, da raziščemo zgoraj omenjene teme in prepoznamo potencialni subjekt umetnosti – »vezi med dogodkom in svetom«, ki naj poudari pomen umetniške kreacije.

Karlo Hmeljak (Koper, 1983) je študent kulturnih študijev in antropologije na Fakulteti za humanistične študije v Kopru.

Badiou's Inaesthetics and the Limit of the Infinity of Form through Tomaž Šalamun's Poetry

In 2005 Alain Badiou explicitly talks about the artistic world and defines it as “a relation between sensibility and form”. Our aim is to put this definition in a context of his philosophy and by doing that achieve two things: firstly emphasize the difference made between everything that can be called institutional theory of art and Badiou's perseverance on the concept of truth – something new, where the difference from knowledge and culture is essencial. Where art is conceived as one of the four generic procedures of truth (along with science, politics and love) and inaesthetics is the relation of philosophy to art, understood as a truth-process. Secondly we will try to show the limit of the infinity of form as it compares in the lecture The Subject of Art by mentioning Badiou's concept of unnamable opposed to forçage in his schema that represent the becoming of a truth.

Tomaž Šalamun's poetry will offer us the opportunity to explore the above mentioned topics and recognize a possible subject of art – “a relation between an event and the world”, that marks the importance of artistic creation.

Karlo Hmeljak (Koper, 1983) is student of cultural science and anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities in Koper.

V svojem prispevku bom predstavila umetnost grafitov, ki je del širšega pojma ulične umetnosti. Ulična umetnost zajema široko likovno področje grafitov, nalepk in plakatov, pa tudi ulično gledališče, ples in podobne športne aktivnosti, kot na primer rolkanje. Razvili so se v kontekstu urbanega okolja in postali so njegov sestavni del. Grafiti kot umetnost v konvencionalnem smislu še vedno niso v celoti sprejeti, čeprav to vedno bolj postajajo. Pripadali naj bi nekemu drugemu svetu, ki pa je nekje zunaj umetnosti, bližje vizualni kulturi.

Grafiti imajo to lastnost, da so večinoma zgolj začasni in se kot umetniške forme stalno spreminjajo. Umetnost grafitov je v svoji osnovi ilegalna, nenapovedana, neprofitna in provokativna ter se pojavlja na javnih površinah, bodisi v zasebni ali državni lasti. Umetnost grafitov je del javne umetnosti. Ulica nastopa kot razstavni prostor in umetnost grafitov nikakor ni omejena na zgolj določen krog ljudi, temveč je namenjena vsem. Za svoj obstoj grafiti ne potrebujejo nikakršnega priznanja in podpore umetniških institucij.

Grafit nastopa kot svojevrstna, poceni oblika komunikacijskega sredstva. Nosilci informacij pa so največkrat besede in podobe. Informacija, ki jo grafit sporoča, je predvsem likovne narave in je težko razumljiva širši množici. Umetnost grafitov živi v svetu s svojimi lastnimi pravili in svojim lastnim jezikom.

Katja Jordan (Postojna, 1981) je študentka 4. letnika antropologije in kulturnih študijev (smer kulturni študiji) na Fakulteti za humanstične študije v Kopru. Zanima jo predvsem urbani prostor, njegova estetika, stilno-scenska okolja mladih, subkulturna gibanja, predvsem pa njihova kreativnost, načelni boj za prostor, za ustvarjanje in svobodo izražanja.

In my essay I will present graffiti art as a form of a wider phenomena of street art. Street art covers a wide field of graffiti, posters and stickers, as well as street theatre, dance, skating, etc ... They developed in the context of the urban environment and became a part of it.

Graffiti have a temporary nature and they are as art forms constantly changing. Graffiti art is in its essence illegal, unannounced, non-profit and provocative. It appears in public places, the space in private or state possession. Graffiti art is a part of public art. The street represents an exhibition place and graffiti art is not just for certain group of people, but for general public. For its existence they do not require any praise or support of art institutions. Graffiti are unique and inexpensive form of communication. The bearers of information are words and images. But the information is primarily artistic and, as such, not so easily comprehended by the general public. Graffiti art lives in a world of its own with its own language and it behaves according to its own rules.

Katja Jordan (Postojna, 1981) is a student of Anthropology and culture studies on Faculty of humanistics in Koper. She is interested in urban space, aestetics of it, subcultures, especially their creativity and freedom of expression.

In my paper, I´m going to focus in contemporary museum buildings in two ways: examining the relationship of the building with its environment: museum as a monument of the city; and the building with their contents: in the relationship of people, building and art.

Day by day we are getting use to the proliferation of the museums from the most important firms of the neovanguardia architecture in our cities maps. This situation garranties to the city and to the cultural institution administration a important media campaign that situates the city and the museum on the global map of tourism. Independent of its size the global city is becoming like a vapid museum preparing itself for foreign visitors; and in this development ones eyes are distracted from the common life and the real problems of the city. Like the fast uncontrolled suburban growth and the abandonment of the city center (whose purpose is now that of a theme park). In this situation the urbanism discipline recognises its incapacity to find the solution. The possiblities of dealing with this situation are partial interventions, many times at the scale of a building and most this with public investment.

One possible question: What are the possibilities of museums as public buildings, urban references, meeting points ...?

One possible question: Has the museum some aquired responsibility for being the most prolific of the new monument/public spaces of the city?

In the other way (relationship between museum building and its contents), the super-valoritation of the image of the “museum/monument” over the other values of the museum has provocated the possibility of separation between the building (as producer of a media image) and the contents. In the most radical cases it appears that the museum architecture that exhibits itself (Libeskind jew museum ...), or in the worst cases museums that work only in the mass media (for me the Kunsthaus of Peter Cook in Graz is a good exemple). But in the space between, the architecture quite separate of the programme permits one to explore and generate new types of spaces for the museums. The positive approach of this sometimes leads to new concepts of exhibitions, museums ... For example swimming pool in 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa that gives artist the water medium or the enormous scale of the biggest room of Guggenheim Bilbao that now is a permanent Richard Serra's installation. In this point I´m going to analyze some new architecture concepts for the museum.

Two possible questions: What experiments in the typology of the museum are relevant and what are their implications?

Aitor Casero Vicente (Bilbao, 1981), living in Spain. He is in the fifth year of architecture studies in UAH (Alcala de Henares university). He participated in the development of the project of the first magazine of his faculty with a printed number 0 and in the development of the cineclub Op-sesion at the same faculty that was working week by week for 3 years and a half. Now he is an erasmus student in Ljubljana working with Ofis architects.

»Umetne gorske skale« – umetnost kot premoščanje vrzeli med naravnim in umetnim v kitajski estetiki

Bleščeče zloščena kovinska skulptura »umetne gore« pred pekinško Zahodno železniško postajo ponazarja namero njenega avtorja, kiparja Zhan Wanga, da tradicionalno umetnostno obliko prestavi v nov kontekst Pekinga 21. stoletja. Umetne gore oz. umetne gorske skale (jia shan shi) so namreč v tradicionalnih kitajskih meščanskih vrtovih simbolizirale sam smoter umetnosti oblikovanja vrtov – premoščanje vrzeli med umetnim in naravnim. Ji Chengova Razprava o vrtovih, temeljno besedilo estetske refleksije tega tipa umetnosti, umetne gore razume kot umetniški produkt, v katerem se razodeva človeška zmožnost z umetnim poustvarjati naravno. Ji Cheng – in z njim klasična kitajska estetika – umetnost oblikovanja vrtov razlaga kot generativni proces, v katerem umetnik – sledeč svoji notranji naravi – ustvari strukture in oblike, ki so takšne, kot da bi zrasle same po sebi, tj. naravno. Zhan Wang s svojimi deli sili prav k problematizaciji tega domnevnega spoja med naravnim in umetnim, ki naj bi se vzpostavil v umetniškem delu, in s tem odpira vprašanja generativne umetnosti v kontekstu kitajske estetike.

Helena Motoh je leta 2001 diplomirala iz filozofije in sinologije na Filozofski fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani. Od leta 2001 je študentka doktorskega študija filozofije in od leta 2003 mlada raziskovalka na Oddelku za filozofijo Filozofske fakultete. V svojem raziskovalnem delu se posveča predvsem kitajski neokonfucijanski filozofiji, kitajski estetiki ter filozofski komunikaciji med Evropo in Kitajsko v 17. in 18. stoletju.

“Artificial Mountain Rocks” – Art as a Means of Bridging the Gap between the Natural and the Artificial in the Chinese Aesthetics

Shiny polished metal sculpture of an “artificial mountain” in front of the Beijing West Train Station represents the intention of its sculptor Zhan Wang to bring a traditional art form into a new context of the 21st century Beijing. In traditional Chinese gardens the artificial mountains or artificial mountain rocks (jia shan shi) symbolized the essential purpose of the art of garden design – the bridging of the gap between the artificial and the natural. Ji Cheng's Discourse on gardens, the foundational text of the aesthetical theory on this art form, perceives the artificial mountains as an art product reflecting the human ability to reproduce naturalness by artificial means. Ji Cheng – and the classical Chinese aesthetics in general – explains the art of garden design as a generative process, in which the artist by following his own inner nature creates structures and forms, that seem to have grown by themselves, i.e. naturally. Zhan Wang, however, uses his work in order to question the alleged fusion of the natural and the artificial in an art work and reflects on the problems of generative art in the context of Chinese aesthetics.

Helena Motoh graduated in 2001 from Philosophy and Sinology at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts. She is currently a PhD student and works as a young researcher at the Philosophy department of the same university. Her primary research interests are Chinese Neo-Confucian philosophy, Chinese aesthetics and the philosophical communication between Europe and China in the 17th and 18th century.

Flamenko včeraj in danes – razpetost med zaprtim izrazom ljudstva in univerzalno aplikativno umetniško ekspresijo

Fenomen univerzalizacije, s katerim se že od druge polovice dvajsetega stoletja sooča flamenko, je specifičen zaradi neenakosti razvoja svojih bistvenih sestavnih delov – petja, plesa in kitare. Preraščanje lastnih zgodovinsko postavljenih okvirjev je v sodobnem ustvarjanju flamenka postalo skoraj maksima, krog ustvarjalcev je že davno prerasel izvorne geografske meje. Obenem pa v svoji srčiki, petju, ostaja bistveno nespremenjen, medtem ko kitara in ples doživljata renesanso.

Evolucija ekspresije, ki se je kot atribut marginaliziranega družbenega okolja dvignila iz najnižjih slojev prebivalstva spodnje Andaluzije in pridobila status avtonomnega, univerzalnega umetniškega izraza, je danes deležna mnogih polemik.

Sveta, ki je ustvaril flamenko, danes ni več, a vendar se ohranja. Ta paradoksalna razpetost med včerajšnjim ohranjanjem tradicije in današnjim vdorom novih izraznih možnosti spodbuja nadaljnjo evolucijo in jo hkrati zavira v strahu, da bi avtonomni flamenko po eni strani odmrl, po drugi strani pa, da bi se z modernizacijo spremenil v vsebinsko izpraznjen krovni pojem. Tako se vzpostavljata dva nasproti si stoječa svetova, povezana z željo po izrazu: eden, definiran z ljubosumnim ohranjanjem tradicije, živeč v majhnih, še vedno vaških skupnostih v zaprtih, skoraj družinskih krogih; in drugi, svet flamenka, ki povezuje in zavezuje k doprinosu ustvarjalce in ljubitelje po celem svetu, s tem pa ustvarja nove izrazne načine.

Kje so torej meje, do kod segajo možnosti? Lahko govorimo o flamenku kot izrazu ljudstva ali kot univerzalni umetnosti? Je flamenko »njihov«, ljudi, ki izhajajo iz omejenega geografskega območja, ali je »naš«, vsakogar, ki ga doživlja in čuti?

Ana Pandur (Maribor, 1981) končuje študij filozofije in španskega jezika ter književnosti na Filozofski fakulteti v Ljubljani. Področji njenega zanimanja sta flamenko (je plesalka, koreografinja in učiteljica plesa flamenko) in flamenkologija. Med letoma 2002 in 2004 je študirala ples flamenko in flamenkologijo v Madridu, v Centro de Arte Flamenco y Danza Espanola Amor de Dios.

Flamenco yesterday and today – the Tension between the Self-contained People’s Expression and the universally Applicational Artistic Expression

The phenomenon which flamenco has been confronting since the second half of the twentieth century, is specifical for the unequal evolution of its basic components – the singing, dancing and guitar. In the contemporary creation of flamenco, the outgrowth of its own historically fixed frames has almost become a maxim, and the circle of artists expanded beyond the original geographic borders of flamenco a long time ago. At the same time, flamenco in its nucleus, the singing, has not changed at all, while dancing and guitar are experiencing a renaissance.

The evolution of expression, which rose from being the attribute of the marginal social environment of the lower Andalusia to become an autonomous artistic expression, is nowadays the topic of various polemics.

The world which created flamenco today no longer exists, though still preserving its presence. This paradoxical tension between yesterdays tradition-consciousness and todays invasion of new possibilities of expression is encouraging subsequential evolution on one hand, and on the other, it is impeding it out of fear of autonomous flamenco withering away, or, by modernizing it, becoming an empty conception. This way there are two opposite worlds being restored, fastened together by the desire of expresivity: one, defined by the jealous preserving of tradition, living in small, still rural communities in closed, almost familiar circles; and the other, the world of flamenco that binds and obligates to contribute creators from all over the world, exploring new ways of expression.

Therefore, where are the limits, how far do the possibilities reach? Is it legitimate for us to speak of flamenco as an expression of the people or could we consider it an universal art form?

Is flamenco “theirs”, the people’s originating from a limited geographic area, or is it “ours”, everyone’s experiencing and feeling it?

Ana Pandur (Maribor, 1981) is finishing her studies of Philosophy and Spanish language and litterature at the Faculty of arts in Ljubljana. The fields of her interest are flamenco (she is a dancer, a choreographer and a flamenco dance teacher) and flamencology. Between the years 2002 and 2004 she studied flamenco dance and flamencology at the Centro de Arte Flamenco y danza Espanola Amor de Dios in Madrid.

Nietzsche’s Reception of Wagner: the Impact of Wagner (and Wagnerism) on the Changes in Nietzsche’s Philosophy as a Reflection of the Artworld in Nineteenth-Century Germany

This paper is concerned with the complex relations between institutional politics and aesthetics in nineteenth-century Germany. The relationship between Richard Wagner (1813–1883) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) is studied here in order to see how the institutions (or cults) of Beyreuth and Wagnerism impacted on the philosophy of Nietzsche. The works of Wagner and Nietzsche were closely related in one period of their lives. They met in 1868 and, soon after their first meeting, Nietzsche became one of the most important figures in, so called, „Wagner’s circle”. There are two phases in the relationship between these two men: the first (from 1868 until 1876) is the phase of their friendship (and Nietzsche’s worship of Wagner), and the second (from 1876) is the one in which Nietzsche took the role of one of the most famous Wagner’s critics. Having in mind Arthur Danto’s theory of artworld, Nietzsche and Wagners’relationship is presented here as an example of the socio-political and aesthetical network at that time in Germany. Their relationship is analysed in order to explore two related questions. First, which are those key works of Nietzsche where we can analyse his attitude towards Wagner? Second, how and what do those works tell us about the artworld of nineteenth-century Germany? In response to the first question, the paper points out that we can trace the changes of Nietzsche’s philosophy chronologicaly, that is, from The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music (1872), until The Case of Wagner (1888). In that context, the specific position has the essay On Music and Words (1871) in which we can trace the network of different influences on Nietzsche, both Wagnerian and non-Wagnerian (although it was written at the time of Nietzsche and Wagners’ friendship). In response to the second question, the paper argues that it is possible to see how the institution of Beyreuth (and the cult of Wagnerism in general, as well as Wagner himself) dictated what could (or should) have been recognised as art (and that seemed to be Wagner’s gesamtkunstwerk). The paper also points out how an artworld can be under the hegemony of one particular cultural center (Beyreuth) and one particular man – Richard Wagner.

Ana Petrov (Smederevo, 1982) is in the fifth year of her studies at the Department of Musicology at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She also finished Music High School very successfully. During her studies, she is writing seminar papers (using references in English, German and French) which are concerned with socio-political and aesthetical context or with the application of new musicology methods.

Redefining the Status of Art (Musical) Work in Techno Age: the Case of Pierre Schaeffer's musique concréte

The dominant thesis in traditional discourses about music is the one about musical work as a closed concept which secures the autonomy of music as art. During the 20th century Pierre Schaeffer (1910–1995) had a key role between many composers who were trying to break with musical conventions by subverting traditional musical concepts and representing music (art) as an open concept. For Schaeffer, music is not a psychological, emotional, isolated phenomenon, but a concrete manifestation of sounds. Schaeffer claimed that traditional (classical) music, „made by putting notes on paper”, represents nothing but abstract musical concept and fiction. As opposed to „abstract music” Schaeffer coined the term „concrete music” (musique concréte, 1948) to describe music built in collage fashion from real-world sounds (like noise, sounds from railway stations, speech, musical fragments, sounds from advertisements). He used that term to indicate that this use of real sounds (sound objets) makes a break from the formalism and dependency of preconceived sounds or musical abstractions. The concept of concrete music was also based on collaboration with non-artistic disciplines in different mediums and influenced by the evolution of recording technology (his training as an electronical engineer encouraged him in that process). Schaeffer's method was to record sounds from the real world on disk or tape, isolate them in a studio, re-record them onto other disk with different manipulations and broadcast them through the radio. In that way Schaeffer rejects postulates which define musical work as traditional (closed) concept – musical materials are replaced by real sounds, musical scores are replaced by recorded objects and radio broadcasting substitutes the institution of public concert. Schaeffer negated the traditional functions of composer, performer and listener, redefined the idea of a musical work and acquired for his concrete works the status of art placing them in the system of new technologies. The concept of concrete music represents an example that one artwork depends not on characterics, but on the context in which artwork appears. In other words, as Arthur Danto said, „to see something as art requires something the eye cannot decry – an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of the history of art: an artworld”.

Biljana Srećković (Belgrade, 1982) is in the final, fifth year of her studies at the Department of Musicology at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She also finished Music Grammar School (Department of Instrumental Music and Department of Music Theory). During her studies she wrote many papers which were based on aesthetical, philosophical concepts, also on approaches of new musicology and cultural studies.

First there are the utopias. Utopias are sites with no real place (...). There are also, probably in every culture, in every civilization, real places (...) which are something like counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia in which the real sites (...) are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted.

My presentation reflects the potential of contemporary art in public space and presents a set of artistic solutions that Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas und Swiss fine artist Thomas Hirschhorn provide on this topic.

I would like to suggest that both applied art (such as architecture) and fine art (such as installation art) are able to create Heterotopias and that the concept of Heterotopia can be considered as a very productive model of perceiving art in public space today. Heterotopias, by definition of French philosopher Michel Foucault, are spaces of existing utopia, spaces that differ entirely from the world around them. This is pretty much how we would expect spatial art like buildings and installations to work. As they enter our well known environment they offer us new experiences within the ordinary. But the model of Heterotopia has far more to offer. It implies a special relationship with the world around it, a relationship of interdependence. Thus Heterotopia in art does not mean excluding social, political, economical realities that pervade public space. It means dealing with them, making them visible and commenting on them. Allowing new experiences within the given, this to me is the chance and the challenge for art in public space today. I shall further discuss this argument, following John Dewey´s notion of “art as experience” and applying it to contemporary givens.

Koolhaas´ and Hirschhorn´s spatial work responds to this concept in two different ways: firstly regarding its sculptural qualities and secondly regarding its architectural qualities (enabling experience in space).

I will look at Thomas Hirschhorns “Bataille-Monument”, a temporary architecture, realizied at documenta11 in Kassel 2002 such as a small selection of architectural designs by Rem Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Theoretically my reading of the art of Koolhaas and Hirschhorn is essentially based on the essay “Of Other Spaces” (1967) by Michel Foucault and the philosphical treatise “Art as Experience” by John Dewey (1934).

Tanja Runow (Cologne, Germany, 1977; lives in Berlin) studied Art History, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature in Berlin and Barcelona. Is currently graduating with a thesis on spatial conceptions in contemporary art, focusing on the architecture of Rem Koolhaas and the installation work of Swiss fine artist Thomas Hirschhorn. Also works as a radio and print journalist on cultural issues.

1. Revision of the concept of “postsocialism” as a dominant theoretical model for the interpretation and reading of the artistic practices in the former communist systems;

2. Reference to biopolitical theory of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt as a potentially useful framework for further interpretation of the concept of “postsocialism”.

The concept of “postsocialism” in theory can be understood as a part of the wider concept of the “postmodern”. Marina Grzinic, for example, interprets postsocialism as a parallel to Jameson’s postmodernism, i.e. postsocialism is the “second world” of postmodernism. Opposite to this, Hardt and Negri interpret their concept of Empire as a social and ideological system after postmodernism. Reference to Hardt’s and Negri’s theory of Empire can be useful for the reconstruction of the idea of postsocialism; I would use the term of Marina Grzinic but I would make the difference between 1. late socialism, 2. postsocialism and 3. period of the transition. I would interpret the terms of late socialism and postsocialism similar to Marina Grzinic (as a parallel to Jameson’s postmodernism), but, on the other hand, the term of transition would be interpreted as a correlate to Hardt’s/ Negri’s concept of Empire as an order after postmodernism.

The expected aim of the exposure is to answer the question on how to read the ideological position of the political art in postsocialist countries (i.e. post-avant-gardes) in the relation to those three theoretical, i.e. ideological frameworks: the aim is to make the difference between the critical position of the post-avant-gardes in the age of the late (bureaucratic) socialism, the marginal position of the post-avant-gardes in the period of the nationalistic postsocialism (Serbian art of the nineties is a good example for this) and the assimilation of the political post-avant-gardes in the age of globalization (the best example is so called “Balkan art” and its relation to international art market.).

Nikola Dedić (1980) graduated at the Department of The History of Modern Art, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade in 2004. He is currently undertaking his MA studies at the Faculty of the Fine Arts, Belgrade, Theory of Arts and Media Department. His current research, based on post-Marxist thought, revolves around the issue of ideology of postsocialism, status of artistic practices in late socialism and postsocialism, and ex Yugoslavian conceptual art. The title of his MA thesis is Toward the Radical Critic of Ideology: from Socialism to Postsocialism. His work in the field of interdisciplinary analyses of contemporary visual arts and theory has been published in many periodicals.

Fotografija kot medij niha med dvema poloma. Na eni strani vedno predstavlja določeno upodobitev sveta, bodisi realno ali imaginarno, na drugi strani pa fotografija vedno tudi nekaj pripoveduje: pripoved, običajno skrito v sliki, ki jo kaže posamična fotografija, katere razsežnosti pa brez izjeme presegajo vizualno. V fotografijo vtkana pripoved se venomer poleg slikovnega dotika tudi verbalnega.

Prispevek Fotografija – ujetost med pripovedjo in podobo se loteva osvetlitve dveh vidikov fotografske razpetosti med pripoved in podobo. Prvi je primerjava fotografije s slikarstvom. Natančneje, kako in če sploh lahko slikarsko razlikovanje med sliko in risbo apliciramo na razlago fotografij. Kakšne fotografije so bližje risbam in kakšne so tiste, ki so bolj podobne slikam? V tem odseku se, v teoretskem smislu, prispevek opira predvsem na dela Jeana Baudrillarda, Victorja Burgina ter Lyinde Nead.

Drugi vidik nihanja med pripovedjo in podobo v fotografiji predstavlja poskus novega načina branja/gledanja fotografij(e). V bistvu gre za iskanje sodobne in koherentne fotografske analize, ki bi bila tako teoretsko konsistentna kot tudi praktično uporabna.

V tem odseku se prispevek opira zlasti na delo Michela Foucaulta in Jacquesa Lacana, in sicer na aplikaciji njunih konceptov diagonale ter zaslona v teoriji fotografije.

Pavel Koltaj (Ljubljana, 1976) je leta 2003 diplomiral iz sociologije kulture in filozofije na Filozofski fakulteti v Ljubljani. Trenutno študent tretjega letnika podiplomskega študija filozofije na isti fakulteti. Delovni naslov doktorata je Pripovedni vidiki fotografije v luči psihoanalize. Dela kot fotograf, pisec in prevajalec.

Photography as a medium oscillates between two poles. On the one hand it is always a certain representation of the world, real or imaginary, but on the other hand photography is also always telling us something: a narrative, usually hidden in every single photographic picture, whose proportions transgress the visual without exception. Narrative incorporated in photography concerns verbal as well.

Presentation Photography – caught between the narrative and the image deals with elucidation of two aspects of photographical strain between the narrative and the image. Firstly it compares photography with painting. To be more precise it questions whether and if we can apply comparison between the painting and the drawing, native to the theory of art painting, in photography. What kind of photographs are closer to drawings and how do the ones that are closer to paintings look like? In this section, in theoretical sense, the presentation relies on the works of Jean Baudrillard, Victor Burgin and Lyinda Neal.

Second aspect of photographical straining between the narrative and the image tries to explore a new way of looking at photography/photographs. To be precise it seeks an up to date and coherent photographic analysis which would be both theoretically consistent and practically applicable. Presentation in this section is based mostly on the works of Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan and the application of their concepts of the diagonal and the screen in the theory of photography.

Pavel Koltaj (Ljubljana, 1976) graduated from sociology of culture and philosophy in 2003 at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. Currently a third year Ph.D. student of philosophy at the same university. The thesis's working title is Narrative photography in the light of psychoanalysis. Works as a photographer, writer and translator.

By this essay I want to actualise a question, in what ways artwork could functionalise and how much its meaning/contextualisation depends on the role of the curator?

As examples of these I will focus on works of Zoran Todorović (SCG) and Goran Bertok (SLO).

Works, as Noise (1998/9) by Z. Todorović and G. Bertok’s Burning Cross (2002), (with Dean Verzel) and Stigmata (2003.), were presented on the exhibition Blut und Honig, curated by Harald Szeemann[1], which was the second of the three West-European exhibitions curated during 2002/3, having problematised Balkan as the Other.[2]

It is evident that frequency of Balkan as a curatorial topic in German countries, is striking in only two years’ time. However, it is important to emphases that „balkanized“, or „transitory“ exhibitions were very noticeable on the Balkan territories, even earlier. Thus, the material for foreign curators had already been prepared.

Balkan as a metaphor for the Western Other is not a new topic, but became very popular, after the wars and conflicts in some parts of the region and transitory process, which was developing on the most Balkan territories. Mentioned exhibitions were conceived exactly on that way, presenting Balkan as a strange, exotic, barbarian Otherness, emphasising local under global elements.

However, mentioned works, which were „functioning“ on those first-degree discoursed, geo-politized exhibitions (here, Blood and Honey), were also „functioning“ on the exhibitions that dealt with topics related to contemporary theories, netted in global discourse: CTRL[SPACE] Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother[3] and Shock and Show[4].

It is necessary to notice that letter exhibitions were problemising, it could be said, extreme socio-political phenomena: 1. phenomenon of foucaltian observer society – CTRL[SPACE]; exhibition on which was presented the work of Z. Todorović, 2. phenomenon of extreme art praxis, expressed mostly by presentations of the body – Shock and Show; exhibition on which were presented the works of G. Bertok.

The conclusion which could be made by those examples; the presents of the same works on geo-politically conceived exhibitions, as well as on the exhibitions which were rethinking art works through the global point of view, shows us that art work is directed by the curator.

Here is also noticeable the problem of the „extreme“ art presentation/praxis[5], which is (obviously) easy to use through the politically conceived discourse.

Tatjana Orbović (Belgrade, 1974), Art historian and Postgraduate student of Art and Media Theory at the University of Arts, Belgrade. Attended School for Art Theory and History at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Belgrade, as well as curatorial workshops. Member of International section of AICA and ULUPUDS. Works as free-lance curator and art critic. From 1998–2003 exhibited as an artist.

My contribution to the colloquium is based on reflections deriving from my own practice as an artist and curator.

One achievement of digital technology is the progressing convergence of disciplines in art such as sound, imagery, design, media art or architecture. As a result, new forms of expression beyond existing categories are emerging and in turn suggesting to interpret and reevaluate such dichotomies as global/local, real/virtual, creator/user or work/leisure time as contiguous rather than opposite qualities.

In autumn 2005 “MobLab” (Mobile Laboratory), a project with artists from Japan and Germany, travelled Japan in a converted and technologically augmented bus to explore the use of mobile digital technology for their artistic practice. For three weeks seven artists from various disciplines and different cultural background set out to investigate the potential and the limitations of artistic production in a mobile environment.

For the project a public transport bus served at once as an intimate space for the artists to work and spend time together, and at the same time as a public space for the exhibition of their work in progress and the exchange of ideas. Equipped with a permanent connection to the internet the bus offered a third spatio-temporal layer and field of agency in virtual space.

Travelling a number of hosting institutions throughout Japan, the artists created events to meet the public. By connecting to different local realities after another and situating the bus in a tensional field between ephemeral monument, working space and living room the project was questioning the role of contemporary art institutions in turn.

Based on the experience and insight I have gained from my perspective as a participant in this project, I will elaborate on its theoretical framework. After an introduction of the project with images and video clips I shall focus on its further implications relevant to the context of the symposium.

The starting point will be a reflection on the notions of mobility and virtualisation in the context of an artistic project like MobLab. A discussion of the conditions and possibilities of artistic production and presentation opened up by a mobile environment will lead on to an analyses of its effects of blurring the distinction of private and public. Not at least MobLab aimed to be a platform for a practical experiment in art in public space. I will close my presentation with an intercultural perspective on the differences in affirmation and critique of technology and its social implications.

Stefan Riekeles (1976) is working as an artist and curator in Berlin. Since 2002 he has been involved in the programming and curating of Berlin's international media art festival, transmediale. He is currently preparing his graduation in cultural studies and aesthetics from the Humboldt University Berlin.

[1] Klosterneuburg, Vienna, 2003.

[2] In search for Balkania, exhibition curated by Roger Conover, Eda Čufer and Peter Weibel, held in Graz at 2002. has opened curatorial problem as Balkan as a topic; the following was Szeemann’s exhibition Blood and Honey, Klosterneuberg (2003), Vienna, and finally In the Gorges of Balkans, by Rene Block, Kassel, 2003.

[3] Curated by Thomas Y. Levin, Karlsruhe, 2001/02

[4] Curated by Maria Campitelli, Trieste, 2002.

[5] By „extreme“ art work/praxis I conceive art works which reveals functioning, or make cracks/lacks in the Symbolic order.