Te Croaiapreeaioa e
54thBiennaledi Venezia
Artists:
AntonioG. LAUER
a.k.a.
Tomislav GOTOVAC
&
BADco.
Commissioners &Curators:
What,How & forWhom
/
WHW
Venue:
Arsenale
2
stuctualist an expeimentallm in the ome Yugoslavia,with
co.
–
‘Nameless uthors’ssoc.’
, a theate collective thatopeates as an inepenent atisticinitiative, oganisationally similato a numbe o pecaious cultualinitiatives ome in Coatia inthe late s an ealy sin opposition to the ominantcultual policy. The exhibitionis conceive as a el o iction between the cooinates o the atsystem an at’s autonomy thatinvolves the viewe in examiningthe wok o spectating.The title o the exhibition,
One Needs to LiveSel-Confdently... Watching
,
a quote taken om
Tomislav otovac
, in many ways summaises
otovac
’s atistic ceo,
but it is also a emanthat govene the ecision to engage with hiswoks in the Coatian pesentation at the eniceBiennale. t is an attempt to ask questions aboutthe meaning an actuality o
otovac
’s atisticlie, which spanne ve ecaes, o longe, i weconsie that o him lie an at pose a cuiouscombination that guie his continuous stivingto stuctue eality as at. hat is the actualityo his wok, his unestaning o eeom anatistic autonomy? How shoul we look at theothe sie o the notion o the atist-ebel?Shoul we view his autonomy not only asiniviual engagement stiving o moe atisticeeom an expeimentation, that pouceimpessive aesthetical coheence – which itcetainly i, but also as autonomy that engagewith the blin spots o powe in ways that aeimpotant o pesent times?The statement
One Needs to Live Sel-Confdently... Watching
is ubiquitous enough toinclue a eman o us to take
Responsibility or Things Seen
,
which is the title o the site-specic installation by
co.
Conceptualisingthe absence o peomes an the complex elo iction between a stage an exhibition space,thei installation sets the spatial paametes o the exhibition. The tansomation esults in thesuggestion o a peomance space behin a ooleaing to the ajoining stoage space, an theeplication o this wall in the space. This spatialisposition complicates the meanings o stagean backstage, taking into account the selectionan conitions o
otovac
’s pesentation. Onthe othe han
otovac
’s woks cannot escapethe conitions an poceues set by
co
’sinstallation, whose main inteest lies in anexamination o the ‘much maligne capacityo images to captue ou imagination’. Theiinstallation tansoms the exhibition space intoan analytical laboatoy o the examination o the powe o images, meiate esponsibility,ieent moes an conitions o viewing anthei citical an tansomative possibilities,using as its ‘mateial’ woks by
Tomislav otovac
.But the installation also aesses a boae seto questions elate to his pesentation in thenational pavilion as well as
otovac
himsel,the cult gue o the Coatian neo-avant-gae,the ‘aical’ atist whose ‘anachistic’ esie lehim to uncompomisingly sacice his comot
One
Needs to Live Sel-Confdently ...
The courage to open up towards the possibility not to see, is theproper tryout o the ‘new, dierent order o things’ and ‘the crisis o thinking’ that theatre & dance company BADco. is practicing sinceits ounding in 2000. It was then that two dancers/choreographersand two dramaturgs ounded the independent art company thatwas legally obliged to have a Croatian name. English word ‘BAD’ wasthus reinterpreted as an acronym or the
Nameless Author’s Society
(
Bezimeno autorsko društvo
). In this paradoxical twist, naming whichun-names, they have anticipated their uture tradition o openingup problems and endlessly deerring the end in the orm o thesolution to the interpretative situation. BADco. sees potentialitynot as a mental ghost, but as a proper mode o existence.
Una auer
, intouction to the publication
10
×
10
×
10,
on theoccasion o the th annivesay o
co.
’s wok
The exhibition,
One Needs to Live Sel-Confdently... Watching,
pesents
ntonio . auer
a.k.a.
Tomislav otovac
an theatecollective
co.
om Zageb. The at o
Tomislav otovac
is base on the iea o ‘global iecting’, not only as applie to lm iecting, but also as it extens into eveyay lie.
co
.’s atistic pactice, opeatingat the intesection o theate, peomance an ance, engages with aeenition o the peomative act, an o the establishe elations between the auience, peomes an peomance.The ocus o the exhibition is on a citical iscouse base on thethematisation o the poceues o watching, moes o spectating, anthe politics o attention, within exhibition conventions an beyon.The exhibition’s stance is one that
co.
escibes as
theatre by other means,
juxtaposing the atistic position o
Tomislav otovac
, the ecentlyecease atist consiee a pionee o boy at, peomance, an
Watching
.,
Responsibiliy or Things Seen: Tales in Negaive Space,
2011,poo:
Dinko Rupčić
3
“I can’t imagine liewithout art and Icouldn’t imagine artwithout anarchism. Idon’t like it when peopletreat other people’slives anarchically, but to behave anarchically inart is the main conditionor art to survive andkeep moving, to escapeossilization. Whatis more perect thanBach, Michelangelo, theEgyptian pyramids, theGreek columns, theRussian avant-gardeand avant-garde lm?They are it. What next?I think that people whoopen those small hiddenholes on all levels in artare really the greatestanarchists and they arethe ones who have tosacrice their successand their comorts inlie. Nothing will happenin art in any other way.”
“At is Reality”,
Tomislavotovac
in convesationwith
ranka Stipančić
,st publishe innewspapes
Vijenac,
8.10.1998,№ 12/VI, Zageban success an whose woks involving hisnake boy neve cease to shock.
co.
’s
Responsibility or Things Seen: Tales in NegativeSpace
is not a eaction o intevention into
otovac
’s wok, but takes ‘
otovac
’ as a poblemaoun which it evolves, which is moe than justan element o its ‘site-specicity’.
Tomislav otovac
’s pesentation inclueshis key stuctual an expeimental lms, ana seies o photogaphs om the ealy 6sthough to the en o the s. t ownplaysthe ecupeation o his opus within the naativeo Coatian national at histoy an the usualclichés o the uneepesente issient whoought o the eeom o atistic expession inthe ak times o communist epession, as thestoy goes in the stana eaings o the ‘boyin socialism’. The selection o his woks attemptsto accentuate specic poceues whose stictiscipline an analytical possessiveness otentespasse into excess an tansgession, toeinoce once again the systemic oganisingpinciple that unelies them, maintainingthei autonomy as the ultimate esponsibility
G. L
.k..
Tv Gv
,
The Forenoon o a Faun,
1963
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