Symptoms of Society

In the process major themed sections evolved addressing different issues of contemporary society: the city and its urban development, national histories and art histories, “common” art systems and histories, territory, politics etc. While most works directly comment upon the present political and social reality, analyse the past, or scrutinize the position of the individual in these turbulent times of rapid change, they also possess a timelessness and universality that render them easily translatable into other social and political contexts. Questioning history and investigating the role and responsibility of the individual have always been at the heart of the interests, polemics and critiques of artists from the South-East Europe.

The picture in Eastern Europe changed in the 1990s, as the new sociopolitical orders gave rise to new cultural policies, thereby redefining the old and forming new art systems. But the circumstances were not the same across the board; in the region of former Yugoslavia, for instance, war raged for years in some of the newly-founded states. In the turbulent period after the dissolution of the common state, the systems in the new states developed along slightly different lines, implementing the models of the cultural policies and the art system of the capitalist West with varying degrees of success. Nonetheless, some common problem areas persist. For example, the art market continues to be just a buzzword used in national cultural strategies in all of the countries of former Yugoslavia. The cultural policy climate in Eastern European countries thus evidently calls for the critical reflection of artists and other workers in culture on the system of art in their countries.

The exhibition is featuring artists: Marina Abramović & Ulay, Maja Bajević, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Jasmina Cibic, Nemanja Cvijanović, Lana Čmajčanin, Braco Dimitrijević, Vadim Fiškin, Tomislav Gotovac, Ion Grigorescu, Flaka Haliti, Ibro Hasanović, Irwin, Hristina Ivanoska & Yane Calovski, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Sanela Jahić, Dalibor Martinis, Radenko Milak in Roman Uranjek, Ivan Moudov, Alban Muja, Vladimir Nikolić, Adrian Paci, Neša Paripović, Lia Perjovschi, Dan Perjovschi, Anri Sala, Sašo Stanojkovik, Mladen Stilinović, Miha Štrukelj, Raša Todosijević, Milica Tomić, Sislej Xhafa, Katarina Zdjelar.