Otvorenje: 13. 4. 2023. u 19:00 sati
Autorica koncepcije/ The author of the concept: Neva Lukić
Kustosica/ Curator: Valentina Radoš
Izložba Eksploatacija – aproprijacija: Slučaj M.S. vrlo izravnim radovima internacionalnih umjetnika dotiče se mnogo slojevitijih dijapazona sociološki intoniranih tema suvremenoga globalnog masmedijskog društva, no što se čini na prvi pogled. Ponajprije, tu je postmoderno, a sada već i post-postmoderno, pitanje citatnosti u suvremenoj umjetnosti te se stoga kao polazište izložbe uzimaju dva kultna rada Mladena Stilinovića: Eksploatacija mrtvih (1984. – 1990.), dovršen uoči raspada Jugoslavije, i An Artist Who Cannot Speak English Is No Artist (1992.), koji nastaje s rasplamsavanjem globalizacije, samo nekoliko godina nakon pada Berlinskog zida. U prvome je radu Stilinović umjetnik koji aproprira, odnosno eksploatira, a drugi je rad jedan od globalno najeksploatiranijih radova suvremenog umjetnika s ovoga područja, što se nastoji pokazati izložbenim konceptom.
U Eksploataciji mrtvih riječ je o eksploatiranju mrtvih slikarskih poetika – suprematizma, socijalističkog realizma, geometrijske apstrakcije te (za umjetnika) mrtvih znakova. Stilinović ističe važnost svijesti umjetnika o brutalnosti takvoga čina te stoga sam taj akt imenuje eksploatacijom, pojmom s negativnim predznakom. S druge strane, kroz problematiku engleskog jezika i njegova drugoga epohalnog rada An Artist Who Cannot Speak English Is No Artist put nas vodi do suvremenih umjetnika, koji u svojim radovima apropriraju, odnosno eksploatiraju to djelo. Ključne riječi nekih radova poput funding ili network, a koje su objedinjene na društvenim platformama poput Instagrama, pokazuju kroz sam jezik koliko je Business English, nažalost, sveprisutan i prihvaćen unutar globalnog svijeta umjetnosti. Kao što je Stilinović rekao, engleski danas sve strukturira - i povijest i povijest umjetnosti i politiku. Toga nismo ni svjesni. Zato to i jest bol. Međutim, njegovi su radovi još uvijek pokazivali naznake dekonstrukcije velikih ideja modernizma, dok je suvremena bol tupa, obojena karijerizmom i kapitalom. Je li ova izložba bunt protiv post-postmodernog vremena u kojemu živimo? Je li ovdje riječ o malenome globalnom antipokretu, omeđenom državama iz kojih ti umjetnici dolaze: Iran – Njemačka, Rumunjska, Makedonija, Kosovo, Srbija, Hrvatska? Aproprijacije – eksploatacije Stilinovićeva rada možemo interpretirati kao (uznemirujuće) semantičke vizualizacije pravca u kojemu se svijet (umjetnosti) razvija.
Umjetnici: Anca Benera i Arnold Estefan, Vlad-Lucian Brăteanu, Boris Burić, Jakup Ferri, Antonio Grgić, Igor Grubić, Đorđe Jandrić, Zlatko Kozina, Ivica Malčić, Nada Prlja, Anahita Razmi, Driton Selmani, Mladen Stilinović
The exhibition Exploitation-Appropriation: The case of M.S. through the very direct works of international artists touches on a much more layered range of sociologically intoned topics of contemporary global mass media society, yet seemingly at first glance. First of all, there is the postmodern, and now also the post-postmodern question of citation in contemporary art, and therefore the starting points of the exhibition are two iconic works by Mladen Stilinović - Exploitation of the Dead (1984-1990), completed before the breakup of Yugoslavia, and An Artist Who Cannot Speak English Is No Artist (1992), which was created with the outbreak of globalization, only a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the first work, Stilinović is the artist who appropriates, that is, exploits, whereas the second work represents one of the globally most exploited works of a contemporary artist from this region, which is what this exhibition concept aims at showing.
Exploatation of the Dead focuses on the exploitation of dead painting poetics – Suprematism, socialist realism, geometric abstraction and (for the artist) dead signs. Stilinović emphasizes the importance of the artist's awareness of the brutality of such an act and therefore names the act itself exploitation, a term with a negative connotation. On the other hand, through the issue of the English language and his second epochal work, An Artist Who Cannot Speak English Is No Artist, the path leads us to contemporary artists who in their works appropriate, or exploit, that work. The keywords of some works such as funding or network, and which are aggregated on social platforms such as Instagram, show through the language itself how Business English is, unfortunately, ubiquitous and accepted within the global art world. As Stilinović said - English today structures everything – history, history of art as well as politics. We are not even aware of that. That is why it is pain. However, his works would still show signs of deconstruction of the great ideas of modernism, while contemporary pain is dull, painted by careerism and capital. Does this exhibition represent a rebellion against the post-postmodern times we live in? Is this a small global anti-movement, confined to the countries from which these artists come - Iran-Germany, Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia? Appropriations-exploitations of Stilinović's work can be interpreted as (disturbing) semantic visualizations of the direction in which the (art) world is developing.
Artists: Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan, Vlad-Lucian Brăteanu, Boris Burić, Jakup Ferri, Antonio Grgić, Igor Grubić, Đorđe Jandrić, Zlatko Kozina, Ivica Malčić, Nada Prlja, Anahita Razmi, Driton Selmani, Mladen Stilinović.
