ACt Âžâˆ†â€˘ opo ‰ li6 š9 s 5 $ Bel â—ŠÂ Â? grĂĽÂ?A  de€‚ƒ„…† Aleksandar Nikolić • Aleksandra Sekulić i Ivica Ä?orÄ‘ević • Anica VuÄ?etić •Gradska Gerila • Irena Ristić • KURS • Mariela Cvetić • Marija RadoĹĄ • Miroslav Karić (Remont) • Marijana Cvetković • NebojĹĄa Milikić i Tadej Kurepa • Nikola Radić Lucati • UmetniÄ?ki kolektiv U10 • Urbani Inkubator • Vahida Ramujkić i Noa Treister Kustoskinja: mr Mirjana Boba Stojadinović
www.actopolis.net
https://www.facebook.com/actopolis/
FORMALLY INFORMAL – BELGRADE SELF-ORGANIZED CULTURAL PRODUCTION
The cultural sphere in Serbia, particularly in Belgrade, has drastically changed for the past twenty five years. The internal and external state circumstances have changed beyond recognition due to wars, sanctions, huge demographic changes, civil protests, bombing, decay of one political regime and its replacement with another, and then another again, territorial fragmentation, dramatic decrease of life standard, continual political, economical and social instability... In the meanwhile the wider context of Europe is itself engulfed in everlasting turbulent processes. Observing particularly the field of culture in Serbia for the last fifteen years, it turns out that many state institutions have been closed down, some permanently, some temporarily – including the October Salon, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Museum; one can observe a general festivalization of cultural production with amateur and folklore production emphasys. The official cultural politics, though never publicly articulated, gives preference to the ‘institutions of culture’ over the sector of professionals in culture who are not employed in state institutions, creating a polarization among professionals who work on both ‘sides’ (although in reality all are under-financed). Programme “FORMALLY INFORMAL. Belgrade Self-organized Cultural Production” is focussed on
questions of particular context of relevant Belgrade cultural production and its concentrated performative research. The programme gathers 14 artists, art groups and cultural practitioners of different orientations, who will give their response to the questions how, why and for whom the critical urban culture is being produced in times of crisis that have been ongoing in Serbia for over twenty five years. What marks the economy of cultural independence in Serbia fifteen years since the beginning of the century? What is the critical potential of self-organization? To what extent can self-organization secure an autonomy in thinking and acting? What is the response of institutions to the phenomenon of self-organization as their alternative? How do artists and cultural practitioners position themselves in relation to institutions, and how in relation to the wider public? This project is an effort to articulate the need for culture and art coming from non-institutional individuals, most often professionals in culture, which is directed towards the public – bottom-up – aiming at productions of non-commercial cultural climate of self-empowerment rather than focussing on financial and political sources of support. In the context of discontinuity as well as social, economical and political instability there is an individual necessity to produce meaning at the same time when the individual faces 1
one’s powerlessness. Unlike the notion of ‘independent’ practitioners in culture, who in practice most often depict financial and structural dependence, compromised by the practice of the non-government organizations1 in the nineties, the notion of selforganization can be perceived as an aspiration towards establishing an active critical relation towards the circumstances of productions since 2000. A question imposes itself: what is the economy of creative, critical and intellectual needs of today and their conditions of production? It is important to get an overview of the connections among the institutions and self-organized, or self-initiated, cultural practices – it turns out to be much more solid than it seemed at first. One cannot exist without the other. The institutions have a continual need for the ‘new’, and themselves they don’t seem to be able to produce it, but only to support it. At the same time self-organized cultural practices, though often internationally acknowledged, locally are in many cases marginalized; they have a need for institutional format, particularly today, with its resources for experiment and wider recognition. This connection is so strong that the definition of each of them depends on the mutural appreciation. Their practices are not competitive, but on
the contrary – they complement each other. The participants in the project are Aleksandar Nikolić, Aleksandra Sekulić and Ivica Đorđević, Anica Vučetić, Irena Ristić, KURS, Mariela Cvetić, Marija Radoš and Miroslav Karić (Remont), Marijana Cvetković, Nebojša Milikić and Tadej Kurepa, Nikola Radić Lucati, Umetnički kolektiv U10, Vahida Ramujkić and Noa Treister. City Guerilla and Urban Incubator also take part, two organizations developed after the initiative by Goethe-Institut in Belgrade. In terms of programme, besides artistic researches in different mediums such as exhibitions, workshops, urban interventions and art publications, there is a number of public discussions planed. Some of the formally informal art productions are to take place in public space, some in closed Belgrade alternative art scene spaces, and some in a space ‘conquered’ particularly for this occasion – the Actopolis apartment. Most of the programmes will take place throughout May 2016. Finally, Belgrade is to be visited by guests from other ACTOPOLIS cities – Athens, Bucharest, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Istanbul/Ankara and Oberhausen. They will bring their experiences from their cities and bring together and intertwine very different approaches within ACTOPOLIS.
1 The Non-government organizations are defined as: “Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state. Further globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the communist system.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/
MFA Mirjana Boba Stojadinović Curator of belgrade edition of ACTOPOLIS, April 2016
wiki/Non-governmental_organization#History
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ACTOPOLIS BEOGRAD FORMALLY INFORMAL: BELGRADE SELF-ORGANIZED CULTURAL PRODUCTION Event calendar Actopolis apartment @ Bulevar despota Stefana 36 Exhibitions opening hours: Mon-Fri 4-7pm •• KM8 GALLERY, RETROSPECTIVE LOOPS / Sara Radonja i Ivan Šuletić, Urban Incubator ••• KAMENZIND BELGRADE, video "Our Belgrade Waterfront", Urban Incubator
Wednesday, 20 April 2016 at 7pm @ Goethe-Institut library ACTOPOLIS BELGRADE PROJECT LAUNCH Presenting the projects and participants and a critical discussion on the project FORMALLY INFORMAL: Belgrade Self-organized Cultural Production
Wednesday, 11 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment OPEN LIBRARY SALON, School of Urban Practices, City Guerilla
WALL NEWSPAPER: The Actopolis edition of Wall Newspapers will be available throughout the city and in the Actopolis apartment. Author KURS.
Thursday, 12 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment GG DIALOGUES, Theater without space, NK Studio, discussion, City Guerilla
BGD ART: Printed city plan with monthly programme of the art spaces will be available in public spaces throughout the city and in the Actopolis apartment. Author Aleksandar Nikolić
Saturday, 14 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment HERMES, performative acting-out, Puls, City Guerilla
Friday, 6 May 2016 at 8pm @ Actopolis apartment DA:SEIN ‒ CITY GUERILLA PERFORMATIVE ACTING-OUT
Sunday, 15 May 2016 5-7pm @ Actopolis apartment BIKE KITCHEN BELGRADE, workshop, Urban Incubator
Wednesday, 18 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment FORMALLY INFORMAL: Belgrade Self-organized Cultural Production Exhibition opening at the apartment Works by Art Collective U10, Nikola Radić Lucati, Mariela Cvetić, Irena Ristić |1| Public discussion
Monday, 23 May 2016 at 8pm @ Actopolis apartment Performing the REHEARSAL by Irena Ristić 'As if' inquiry that results in the polymedia work about modelling self-organized cultural scene in Belgrade is Irena Ristić's art-response to the Actopolis Belgrade theme of self-organization. Her artwork evolves through several stages.
Tuesday, 24 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment |3| Public discussion Public presentation and a discussion on the WALL NEWSPAPER Actopolis edition
Thursday, 19 May 2016 at noon @ Plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy "indivisible unalienable"; Vahida Ramujkić and Noa Treister ‒ The Ignorant Schoolmaster and his Committees Round table with guests: The relation among the institutional, academic and activist production of knowledge
Wall Newspaper is a visual and informative media form that uses texts and illustrations to rethink various social issues and critically refer to the processes of neo-liberal capitalism.
Normalization of private propriety in all spheres of social relations and human existence constantly adjourns us from imagining any other concept of social relations and property.
Thursday, 26 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment |5| Public discussion Presenting the project REMONT – CASE STUDY, DESCRIPTION OF THE POSITION by Marija Radoš and Miroslav Karić
Friday, 20 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment |2| Public discussion on a phenomenon of druga scena (Marijana Cvetković) DRUGA SCENA – BELGRADE CULTURAL SCENE SELFORGANIZED PLATFORM
There is a need to illuminate unsustainable conditions of cultural models in order to redefine them and find a way to bring them back to social environment as its organic part.
This research will try to uncover reasons for the deletion from public memory of druga scena and will found its arguments in the ideology shift in early 2000s in Serbia.
Friday, 27 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment |6| Public discussion Presenting the project GAUDEAMUS IGITUR: SELF-ORGANIZED ARTIST IN THE STATE OF DOMESTIC AGORAPHOBIA by Mariela Cvetić
Sunday, 15 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment Public presentation of the workshop and an end event in the apartment RECORDING A DAYDREAM (flanerie + photowalk), Savamala Walks, City Guerilla
10 – 15 May 2016 @ Actopolis apartment Exhibition opening: Tuesday, 10 May 2016 at 7pm • SAVAMALA 3D MONSTER EXHIBITION, Savamala Walks, City Guerilla 3
In the form of an artist’s book and public lecture the project questions the role of (educational) institutions in the age of self-organization in art.
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Saturday, 28 May 2016 at 7pm @ Actopolis apartment ACTOPOLIS MICRO-RESIDENCY 1: presenting the projects in other Actopolis cities and an open discussion (*in English) Actopolis guests come from Istanbul, Sarajevo and Oberhausen
Monday, 30 May 2016 at 7pm @ KC Grad ACTOPOLIS MICRORESIDENCIES 2: DELICATESSEN MONDAY Actopolis guests come from Istanbul, Sarajevo and Oberhausen
ACTOPOLIS | ART OF ACTION Project by Goethe-Institut and Urbane Künste Ruhr Head of project: Juliane Stegner (Goethe-Institut Athens) • Concept: Angelika Fitz • Artistic directors: Katja Aßmann; Angelika Fitz, Martin Fritz • Project coordination: Natalia Sartori (GoetheInstitut Athens) • Project management / Urbane Künste Ruhr: Daniel Klemm • Design © NODE Berlin Oslo • Co-Production: Goethe-Institut Ankara: Thomas Lier, Raimund Wördemann, Goethe-
Thursday, 16 June 2016 at 8pm @ Goethe-Institut library ACTOPOLIS MICRORESIDENCIES 3: presenting the Athens Actopolis project and an open discussion (*in English) Actopolis guest Glykeria Stathopoulou, Athens curator
Sunday, 29 May 2016 at 6pm @ Actopolis apartment |4| Public discussion Presenting the project KAMENDYNAMICS by Nebojša Milikić and Tadej Kurepa How to visualize and possibly contextualize with a mural the class relations and dynamics in periphery capitalism?
Institut Belgrad: Matthias Müller-Wieferig, Goethe-Institut Bucharest: Beate Köhler, Evelin Hust, Goethe-Institut Bosnia and Herzegovina: Charlotte Hermelink, Goethe-Institut Croatia: Katrin Ostwald-Richter, Theater Oberhausen: Peter Carp • Curators: Ankara/Mardin: Pelin Tan, Athens: Elpida Karaba / Glykeria Stathopoulou, Belgrade: Boba Mirjana Stojadinović, Bucharest: Stefan Gheniciulescu / Raluca Voinea, Oberhausen: geheimagentur, Sarajevo: Danijela Dugandžić, Zagreb: Ana Dana Beroš ACTOPOLIS BELGRADE • Co-Production: Goethe-Institut Belgrad • Head of project: dr Matthias Müller-Wieferig • Curator: MFA Boba Mirjana Stojadinović • City Guerilla and Urban Incubator project
Friday, 24 May 2016 at 8pm @ Goethe-Institut library ACTOPOLIS MICRORESIDENCIES 4: presenting the Zagreb Actopolis project and an open discussion (*in English) Actopolis guest Saša Šimpraga, Zagreb Actopolis artist
Sunday, 29 May 2016 at 6pm @ Matrijaršija (Đorđa Čutukovića 13) LOW-FI VIDEO REMEMBERED, REVIVING THE ARCHIVE OF A MICROCINEMA (Aleksandra Sekulić / Ivica Đorđević) Exhibition, film projections and performances
Thursday, 21 July 2016 at noon @ Plateau in front of the Local Community Stevan Sinđelić and Local Community Vojvoda Putnik, Ustanička 194 "indivisible unalienable" by Vahida Ramujkić and Noa Treister, The Ignorant Schoolmaster and his Committees Round table with guests: Work is Property?
Exploring the possibilities to adequately enable the archive of Low-Fi Video movement online, carefully developed to evoke the particular continuity of “radical amateurism” in SFR Yugoslavia.
Sunday, 29 May 2016 INITIATIVES by Anica Vučetić Closed event
Normalization of private propriety in all spheres of social relations and human existence constantly adjourns us from imagining any other concept of social relations and property.
One-day assembly of colleagues, involved in art and culture, discussing work conditions and functioning of the local visual arts scene.
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coordinator: Zorica Milisavljević • Secretariat: Milica Lalić • Coordinator: Sunčica Šido • Participants: Aleksandar Nikolić, Aleksandra Sekulić & Ivica Đorđević, Anica Vučetić, Irena Ristić, KURS, Mariela Cvetić, Marija Radoš & Miroslav Karić (Remont), Marijana Cvetković, Nebojša Milikić, Nikola Radić Lucati, U10 Art Collective, Vahida Ramujkić & Noa Treister, City Guerilla, Urban Incubator • PR: Ana Đokić • Blog: Sandra Stojanović • Photographer: Marija Piroški • Layout: Kristina Pavlak
www.actopolis.net https://www.facebook.com/actopolis/
Detailed descriptions of the individual programmes see here: https://issuu.com/bobaart/docs/actopolis_belgrade-programme_cards-/1
ACTOPOLIS | the Art of Action a project by the Goethe-Institut and Urbane Künste Ruhr