Soros Centre for Contemporary Art – Ljubljana (1993-1999)
16. 5.–6. 6. 2019
Gallery Skuc, Stari trg 21, Ljubljana
Opening: Thursday, 16. 5. 2019, at 19. uri
The artists and the artist, Michael Brodsky, Circulation of 2, Vuk Ćosić, IRWIN, Marko Peljhan, Nataša Prosenc Stearns
Curator: Jasna Jernjek, Miha Kelemina
17 participants participate in the preparation and implementation of the exhibition. years of school world of art: Tia Chicec, Kristina Ferk, Katja Filovski, Lara Mejac, Anja Senicic, Rea Vogrincic
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The world of art, the school for curatorial practices and critical writing , with the exhibition supervision < cultivation > Development, explores Soros ' Centre for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana*, which operated between 1993 and 1999 as one of the programs of the Open Society Institute.
The exhibition focuses on several segments of the Soros centre, its funding mechanisms, exhibition activity, art direction and co-creation of the local art scene. It raises questions as to whether the cultivation of new environments – both by distributing financial resources that change working conditions and by promoting the development of specific areas – can be freed from ideological indoctrination and whether it already contains elements of control due to the particular interests of investors.
The exhibited works of art were part of the program of the so-called annual exhibitions of the Soros Center in the nineties, or were created through grants and travel scholarships. They draw a frame of reference indicating different aspects of the centre's functioning, while addressing cultivation, which includes both control and development. By appropriating marketing strategies, the work of Ursula Noordung of the IR 6TIN collective imitates the launch of a new product on the market. The interactive video installation Big Brother room by Natasha Prosenc Stearns thematizes the control of the masses as well as the decision of the individual to participate in the control process. In the nineties, artists approached the topic of control differently than today, when control is subtly woven into the very fabric of society and control technology. The download of Michael Brodski's interrupted and Mark Peljhan's video Park of culture are both an early consideration of surveillance on the web and in the media. On the other hand, Vuk Ćosić, with the work of a Day in the life of the strength of the artist's thinking on the functioning of the outside of the stable funding mechanisms, and the art system. The selection of works is rounded off by the interactive sound work sleep – maybe Dream ... Collective circulation 2, made especially for the exhibition.
The artworks are juxtaposed with archival material, analysis of art direction and video interviews. The Archive presents an overview of the operation of the Ljubljana centre, which was part of the network of twenty Soros centres (SCCA net Animatork), established in the nineties in the former socialist and communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The SCCA network sought to establish a narrative of Contemporary Art in the "East", which it sought to achieve through regional networking, historicizing artistic tendencies, collecting documentation on artists and art, exhibitions and projects, its own contemporary art magazine, and funding cultural activity. The network played an active role in guiding the arts, establishing parallel communication channels and promoting the use of new media and technologies.
The SCCA network can be understood as an institutional mechanism of post – socialist transition, whose primary role was the modernization of the artistic discourse of former socialist countries and participation in the process of “normalization” - a process that, in a society where control is realized through a diffuse network of power and knowledge, is based primarily on the norms of economic and social progress. The effects of the post-western tendency were more visible in some environments than in others. Due to the specificity of the local environment with the already existing art infrastructure, cultural and social paradigm, the operation of SCCA-Ljubljana should be understood as part of a broader attempt to establish hegemony in contemporary art.
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* Soros Center for Contemporary Arts-Ljubljana was founded in 1993 as one of the programs of the Open Society Institute – Slovenia (OSI), which supported numerous individuals and non-governmental organizations (Ljudmila, Peace Institute, etc.), in line with its mission of promoting the values of an open society and Western democracies. He was active in various fields - from education, media, culture and art, civil society, to health and humanitarian activities. In countries that went through political and economic transformation in the nineties, he tried to introduce the Western cultural model, using contemporary art as one of the tools. All the newly created centers were a mapping of the SCCA-Budapest Documentation Center, established in 1984. At the time of its establishment, each centre was provided with a manual with recommendations on structure and content, which the individual centres more or less consistently adapted to the needs of the local environment. The activities of SCCA-Ljubljana spanned the areas of exhibition activity (annual exhibitions and projects), research, archiving (documentation of video History), Education (World of art), while the key was the granting of grants to art projects, grants for curatorial exhibitions and grants for non-programme costs. As a result of the transformation of the Soros foundations, in 2000 the SCCAS became independent and began operating as non-governmental organizations, joining larger institutions or ceasing to operate. SCCA-Ljubljana was transformed into the Institute for Contemporary Art SCCA – Ljubljana.
MORE ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Production: SCCA, Institute for Contemporary Art – Ljubljana / world of art, school for curatorial practices and critical writing
Co-Production: Skuc Gallery
The exhibition is supported by: Ministry of culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Municipality of Ljubljana, Department of culture.
Thanks to: Tomaz Kucer / MG+MSUM, Jure Sajovic / Kapelica Gallery, Teja Merhar, Jana Intihar Ferjan/MG + MSUM, Samanta FO/, Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, Association Computer Museum, Nevenka Shivavec
Special thanks to the participants in the video interview: Barbara Borchi/, Vuk/, Miran Mohar, Sasha Nabergoj, Lilijana Stepancic, Beti Zherovc
Delovanje Sorosovega centra za sodobne umetnosti – Ljubljana (1993–1999)
16. 5.–6. 6. 2019
Galerija Škuc, Stari trg 21, Ljubljana
Odprtje: četrtek, 16. 5. 2019, ob 19. uri
Umetniki in umetnica: Michael Brodsky, Cirkulacija 2, Vuk Ćosić, IRWIN, Marko Peljhan, Nataša Prosenc Stearns
Kuratorka in kurator: Jasna Jernejšek, Miha Kelemina
Pri pripravi in izvedbi razstave sodelujejo udeleženke 17. leta šole Svet umetnosti: Tia Čiček, Kristina Ferk, Katja Filovski, Lara Mejač, Anja Seničar, Rea Vogrinčič
O RAZSTAVI
Svet umetnosti, šola za kuratorske prakse in kritiško pisanje , z razstavo nadzor < kultivacija > razvoj raziskuje Sorosov center za sodobne umetnosti – Ljubljana*, ki je deloval med letoma 1993 in 1999 kot eden od programov Zavoda za odprto družbo.
Razstava se osredotoča na več segmentov delovanja Sorosovega centra, njegove mehanizme financiranja, razstavno dejavnost, usmerjanje umetnosti in sooblikovanje lokalne umetniške scene. Postavlja (si) vprašanji, ali je kultivacija novih okolij – tako z razdeljevanjem finančnih sredstev, ki spremenijo pogoje dela, kakor tudi s spodbujanjem razvoja specifičnih področij – lahko osvobojena ideološke indoktrinacije in ali zaradi partikularnih interesov vlagateljev že vsebuje elemente nadzora.
Razstavljena umetniška dela so bila v devetdesetih letih del programa t. i. letnih razstav Sorosovega centra, ali pa so nastala z dotacijami in potovalnimi štipendijami. Zarišejo referenčni okvir, ki nakazuje različne vidike delovanja centra, hkrati pa naslavljajo kultivacijo, ki sovseblja tako nadzor kakor razvoj. Delo Uršula Noordung kolektiva IRWIN s prisvajanjem marketinških strategij posnema lansiranje novega izdelka na trg. Interaktivna video instalacija Soba velikega brata Nataše Prosenc Stearns tematizira nadziranje množic kakor tudi odločitev posameznika, da v procesu nadziranja sodeluje. Umetniki in umetnice so se v devetdesetih letih teme nadzora lotevali drugače kot danes, ko je nadzor subtilno vtkan v samo tkivo družbe in tehnologije nadzora. Deli Prenos prekinjen Michaela Brodskega in video Park kulture Marka Peljhana sta tako zgodnji premislek prav o nadzoru na spletu in v medijih. Na drugi strani Vuk Ćosić z delom Dan v življenju omrežnega umetnika razmišlja o delovanju zunaj ustaljenih mehanizmov financiranja in umetnostnega sistema. Izbor del zaokrožuje interaktivno zvočno delo Spati – morda sanjati … kolektiva Cirkulacija 2, narejeno posebej za razstavo.
Umetniška dela so sopostavljena z arhivskim gradivom, analizo usmerjanja umetnosti in video intervjuji. Arhiv odstira pogled na delovanje ljubljanskega centra, ki je bil del mreže dvajsetih Sorosovih centrov (SCCA Network), ustanovljenih v devetdesetih letih v nekdanjih socialističnih in komunističnih državah srednje in vzhodne Evrope ter Sovjetske zveze. Mreža SCCA si je prizadevala vzpostaviti narativ sodobne umetnosti na “Vzhodu”, kar je poskušala doseči z regionalnim povezovanjem, zgodovinjenjem umetniških tendenc, zbiranjem dokumentacije o umetnikih in umetnosti, razstavami in projekti, lastno revijo za sodobno umetnost in financiranjem kulturne dejavnosti. Mreža je imela aktivno vlogo pri usmerjanju umetnosti, vzpostavila je vzporedne komunikacijske kanale ter spodbujala rabo novih medijev in tehnologij.
Mrežo SCCA lahko, kakor v besedilu The Managed Avant-Garde zapiše Octavian Eșanu, razumemo kot institucionalni mehanizem postsocialistične tranzicije, katerega primarna vloga je bila modernizacija umetniškega diskurza nekdanjih socialističnih držav in sodelovanje v procesu “normalizacije” – procesu, ki se v družbi, kjer se nadzor udejanja preko razpršene mreže moči in vednosti, utemeljuje predvsem na normah ekonomskega in družbenega napredka. Učinki težnje po pozahodnjenju so bili v nekaterih okoljih bolj vidni kakor v drugih. Delovanje SCCA-Ljubljana pa je treba – zaradi specifike lokalnega okolja z že obstoječo umetnostno infrastrukturo, kulturno in družbeno paradigmo – razumeti kot del širšega poskusa vzpostavljanja hegemonije v sodobni umetnosti.
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* Sorosov center za sodobne umetnosti – Ljubljana je bil leta 1993 ustanovljen kot eden od programov Zavoda za odprto družbo – Slovenija (OSI), ki je podpiral številne posameznike in posameznice ter nevladne organizacije (Ljudmila, Mirovni inštitut, idr.), v skladu s svojim poslanstvom promoviranja vrednot odprte družbe in zahodnih demokracij. Dejaven je bil na različnih področjih – od izobraževanja, medijev, kulture in umetnosti, civilne družbe, do zdravstva in humanitarnih dejavnosti. V državah, ki so šle v devetdesetih letih skozi politično in ekonomsko transformacijo, je poskušal vpeljati zahodni kulturni model, pri tem pa je kot eno od orodij uporabljal tudi sodobno umetnost. Vsi novo ustanovljeni centri so bili preslikava dokumentacijskega centra SCCA-Budimpešta, ustanovljenega leta 1984. Vsak center je ob ustanovitvi dobil priročnik s priporočili glede strukture in vsebin, ki so jih posamezni centri bolj ali manj dosledno prilagodili potrebam lokalnega okolja. Delovanje SCCA-Ljubljana je segalo na področja razstavne dejavnosti (letne razstave in projekti), raziskovanja, arhiviranja (dokumentiranje zgodovine videa), izobraževanja (Svet umetnosti), ključno pa je bilo podeljevanje podpor oz. dotacij likovnim projektom, dotacij za kuratorsko razstavo in dotacij za neprogramske stroške. Zaradi preoblikovanja Sorosovih fundacij so se leta 2000 SCCA-ji osamosvojili in začeli delovati kot nevladne organizacije, se pripojili večjim institucijam ali pa prenehali delovati. SCCA-Ljubljana se je preoblikoval v Zavod za sodobno umetnost SCCA – Ljubljana.
VEČ O RAZSTAVI
Produkcija: SCCA, Zavod za sodobno umetnost – Ljubljana / Svet umetnosti, šola za kuratorske prakse in kritiško pisanje
Koprodukcija: Galerija Škuc
Razstavo podpirata: Ministrstvo za kulturo RS, Mestna občina Ljubljana, Oddelek za kulturo.
Zahvala: Tomaž Kučer/MG+MSUM, Jure Sajovic/Galerija Kapelica, Teja Merhar, Jana Intihar Ferjan/MG+MSUM, Samanta Foxx, Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije, Društvo Računalniški Muzej, Nevenka Šivavec
Še posebej hvala sodelujočim v video intervjuju: Barbara Borčić, Vuk Ćosić, Miran Mohar, Saša Nabergoj, Lilijana Stepančič, Beti Žerovc