As It Once Was: The Art of Nation Building [electronic resource].

Mestna Galerija Ljubljana 2015

Open access content

At the OFF-Biennial, Fokus Grupa (Iva Kovač and Elvis Krstulović) presented different projects which, combined, made up an entirely new coherent whole. The basic premise of the gallery presentation has been to interpret public monuments in Croatia and question the power of national myths and mythical dimensions of established historical facts. Rather than representing a mere selection of the exist- ing works organised into a readable story, the exhibited projects have been brought together to form a dramaturgical arc that could be read as an exhibition with the classical elements of a Greek tragedy (the ancient Greek tragedy bore a ritual mean- ing and drew its themes from myths). Recently, the theme of monuments has continuously played a central role in Fokus Grupa’s artistic speech. Their careful research and observation of facts, as well as interpretation worked out to the last detail, question the role of public monuments, incitement of national sentiment through evocative suggestions present in important public sculptures, and consequent construction of myths. Fokus Grupa’s project may be linked to rituality, as it creates a unique drama precisely through the aesthetic perfection and apparent spontaneity of the presentation, both marked by documentary value and mise-en-scène of different yet complementary elements. The message of the exhibition aims to deliver a slap in the face to every individual who in the seemingly unproblematic imagery of the monuments recognizes their own carelessness and lack of judgment, and confronts their ambivalence…
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Artists
Nationalism
Nation-state
Performance Art

Text

Fokus Grupa
Alenka Gregorič
Jasna Jakšić
Vladimir Čajkovac
Karla Pudar
Zana Šaškin
Manca Gašperšič
Ajdin Bašić
Tor Johnson
Bojan Mrđenović
Ana Opalić
Ana Straže
Csaba Aknay
Dejan Habicht