INDEPENDENT ART  FROM SERBIA

INDEPENDENT ART FROM SERBIA

VIENNAFAIR 2014
2. – 5. October 2014
Messe Wien
Messeplatz 1
1020 Vienna

 

BLOCKFREI proudly announces its appearance at the 10th VIENNAFAIR on which occasion will present the project Independent Art from Serbia.

BLOCKFREI will act as an umbrella association and exhibit art pieces by five artists closely connected with the independent initiatives active in the Serbian contemporary art scene during the past decade.

Selected artists and initiatives are the following:

Aleksandrija Ajduković / The Street Gallery – Micro Art
Dejan Kaludjerović / BLOCKFREI
Mane Radmanović / The Big Gallery – KC GRAD
Siniša Ilić / TkH – Walking Theory
Žolt Kovač / Supervizuelna
Remont Contemporary Art Data Base / Remont – Independent Artistic Association

 

Selected on the basis of their achievements at home and abroad, the artists and initiatives are transmitting messages related to the questions of responsibility, manipulation, variables of violence, critic of populist ready-made philosophies, phenomenon on globalization and other dominating elements of the society they are living in.

Furthermore, the selection of the artists has been done in relation to the media they are using, in order to represent the current scene in Serbia (drawing, painting, photography) in an adequate manner. Aside from presenting the selected artists, the BLOCKFREI stand at the VIENNAFAIR will include an internet portal with a Serbian contemporary art database, a long term project from the Independent Artistic Association – Remont, as well as the artist Dejan Kaludjerović, who has been active both in Serbian and Austrian contemporary art scenes for the past decade.

For one of BLOCKFREI’s missions is to promote and affirm contemporary art and culture from Serbia, this project strives to present an overview of the Serbian scene by introducing several different initiatives to an international audience. BLOCKFREI considers VIENNAFAIR to be a significant platform for achieving such a goal, having in mind its international importance as well as its focus which it has on central, eastern and south-eastern art.

 

The Context behind the initiative

The social and political environment in Serbia is influencing in a large degree the ways in which the art scene is developing. Although certain public bodies within the state apparatus recognize the importance of culture and art for the development of modern society, the majority exercises a level of ambivalence and a tendency to marginalize contemporary art production. More traditional and patriarchal cultural models are prioritized and implemented, while some of the pillars of cultural identities are closed to public eyes for nearly a decade now, e.g. the National Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.

As a result, a number of civil initiatives have risen to the challenge to create and nurture a different and independent culture, influenced by many complex and intense processes and events that took place in the last two decades – from war, isolation, transition, political instabilities, corruption, etc. From this pool of ideas and aspirations, a fresh and original production of art came out, which will be presented in this project – an interesting, imaginative and vibrant community, creating their art in a self-constructed environment, with their own rules and directions of development. In the presented artworks, one can see the obvious links to the contemporary art in Europe, while at the same time these works are telling the story about the Serbian society and environment, with authentic features and characteristics, developed in the complicated and harsh social, political and cultural context.

 

Goal of the project

During the four days of the VIENNAFAIR the BLOCKFREI-project Independent Art From Serbia endeavors to contribute not only to the breakthrough of Serbian contemporary art in the global market, but also on the Austrian art scene. By utilizing VIENNAFAIR as a platform for connecting and communicating the art outside of the country’s borders, the project will seek to enable a network between the represented initiatives and artists from Serbia with the Austrian and the international contemporary art scene and furthermore with artists from Austria with south-eastern Europe immigrant background, as well as with the general audience present at VIENNAFAIR.

 

The project is supported by Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, National Tourism Organisation of Serbia, Austrian Federal Chancellery, ERSTE BANK – More VALUE Sponsoring Program.

 

CATALOG

 

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