Sveti ljudi
Holy people exhibition
Obračun s fotografijom
Confronting photography
Radovi objedinjeni pod nazivom Sveti ljudi nastali su kao diplomski rad pri Akademiji dramskih umjetnosti u Zagrebu, utjelovljujući ne samo fotografsku seriju već i višemjesečno istraživanje, druženje, razgovore, aktivizam i analitičke tekstove koji su im prethodili u cilju postizanja društveno relevantne, angažirane i sadržajne umjetničke koncepcije. Utoliko možemo govoriti o fotografiji koja odstupa od tradicionalne forme i ulazi u multimedijalno umjetničko i istraživačko djelovanje – društveno, prostorno i vremenski uvjetovano i omeđeno.
Work collected under the name Sveti ljudi (Holy people) came into existence as final thesis at Academy of dramatic arts in Zagreb, embodying a series of photographies and research that lasted for several months, meetings, talks, activism and analytical texts that preceded, all with one goal in mind: to achieve socially relevant, engaged and substantial art concepts. In so far, we can talk about photography that rises from traditional form and enters multi - medial artistic and research ways of functioning – socially, spatially and time conditioned and bounded.
Izložba se sastoji od tri dijela: portreta 11 imigranata (tražitelja azila), video - foto montaže autorovih intervencija plakatima u javnom prostoru te fotografija propadanja istih.
Exhibition consists of three parts: portraits of 11 immigrants (asylum seekers), photo - video montage of author’s intervention with posters to public space, photographies of those posters in the process of decaying.
Povodom proslave godišnjice ulaska Hrvatske u Europsku uniju, na pročelju Ban centra na južnoj strani novo uređenog Trga Europe, gdje je svoju ekskluzivnu rezideniciju pronašla Kuća Europe – sjedište Europske komisije u Hrvatskoj – našli su se u visoko produciranoj promotivnoj kampanji potreti nasmiješenih građana EU, koji su, sudeći po naglašenom multikulturalnom predznaku, trebali slaviti ‘europske vrijednosti’, toleranciju i intergraciju stranaca na Starom kontinentu. Razotkrivanje niza pukotina u tim pripovijestima /mitovima glavna je nit vodilja umjetničkog rada Davora Konjikušića, a progovaranje umjetničkim sredstvima o restriktivnoj migrantskoj politici ‘tvrđave Europe’, rastakanju sustava socijalne zaštite u našoj neoliberalnoj stvarnosti koja na mobilnost i migraciju gleda samo iz ekonomske perspektive, može činiti logiku funkcioniranja umjetničkog polja doista ograničavajućim zadatkom.
During the celebration of Croatia joining European Union, the facade of Ban center at the south side of the new Square of Europe, where we can also find an exclusive residency of House of Europe – headquarters of European commission in Croatia, was decorated with portraits of happy and smiling EU citizens as a part of highly produced promo – campaign, and those citizens, judging by emphasized multicultural touch, were there to represent the celebration of ‘european values’, tolerance and integration of foreigners on the Old Continent. The exposure of numerous flaws of the represented narrative /myth is the motif of Davor Konjikušić's art work, and the art discourse used to talk about restrictive migrant politics of ‘European fortress’, having in mind the disintegration of social care in our neoliberal reality to which mobility and migration are just economic factors and the work logic of art field, can seem as somewhat limited task.
Sveti ljudi ili homines sacri u rimskom su pravu predstavljali prognanike ili izopćenike, one koji su izgubili sva građanska prava – odakle autoru i ideja za aluziju korištenjem termina koji podcrtava razgraničenje i Drugost. U kontekstu suvremenog društva kontrole i biopolitike, sveti ljudi se tek nazivaju drugim imenima, a nose iste etikete i nadgledaju se sličnim mehanizmima. Imigranti i tražitelji azila kojima se Konjikušić bavi, samo su jedni u nizu nadgledanih i kontroliranih u ‘krugu’ netransparentnog i sveprisutnog Panoptikona; sofisticirane disciplinske mjere nevidljice, ali jasno centralizirane hijerarhije moći. Ulaskom Hrvatske u eu, Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova dostavilo je fotografima ‘šablonu za provjeru ispravnosti biometrijske fotografije’ – simptomatičnu i sugestivnu kontrolnu matricu u koju Konjikušić ukalupljuje lica imigranata, namjerno ih ‘žigosajući’ antropometrijskim linijama koje u svojoj idealnoj funkciji uskraćuju svaku osobnost i ekspresiju lica, što autor u svome radu ne poštuje u potpunosti, dopuštajući osobi ispred objektiva minimalnu količinu individualnosti koja ima za cilj podcrtati subjekt i zaobići objekt. Intervencijom naizgled još jednog ukalupljivanja i ušutkivanja šablonom, Konjikušić postiže suprotno - prikazanim osobama daje glas i čini ih vidljivima, prvo na simboličkoj razini, zatim i konkretnim intervencijama u javnom prostoru. Naime, fotografije 11 azilanata otiskuje na plakatima dimenzija 120 x 100 cm (a kasnije, u sklopu 13. UrbanFestivala, i na zagrebačkim jumbo plakatima) i lijepi na desetke lokacija, javnih površina Zagreba i Beograda, čime potiče vidljivost i javni dijalog o bazičnim demokratskim pitanjima i problemima marginalizacije i nevidljivosti. Kontekst u koji plakat ‘ulazi’ (poput onog s ostacima pozadinskog teksta ‘za hrvatsku koja misli’), vrlo je sugestivan i nudi iščitavanje slojeva borbe za mjesto, vidljivost, pravo i promociju raznih reklamnih materijala, oglasa, aktivističkih poruka i sl. U navedenom semantičkom kaosu Konjikušićevi portretni plakati vidljivi su tek svojom recentnošću, činjenicom da su zadnji u nizu, a njihova komunikacijska strategija namjerno je pročišćena i ne nudi dodatne reference i tekstualna pojašnjenja, izmičući uobičajenoj agresivnoj ‘pornografiji’ oglasnih materijala. Nakon nekoliko dana i tjedana autor prepoznaje novu dimenziju rada i počinje bilježiti proces mijenjanja i propadanja materije, ne samo uslijed atmosferilija vremenskih uvjeta i uvjeta urbanih mikrolokacija, već i djelovanjem anonimne ljudske ruke koja u plakat usputno ili planski upisuje novo značenje – devastacijom, crtežom, simbolom, potpisom, komentarom i sl. Istraživački proces navedenim je propadanjem i sam završio, zaokruživši cjelinu jednog promišljanja, propitivanja, kreiranja, interveniranja i na koncu bilježenja, ali i otvorivši vrlo složenu problematiku u kojoj je ovakav umjetnički rad tek poticaj senzibilizaciji nekolicine ponovno Drugih (rjeđih nego češćih), koji u društveno – političkoj i komunikacijskoj buci imaju volje i sluha detektirati bitno. Marija Borovičkić
Sveti ljudi (Holy people) or homines sacri in Roman law represent pagans and outcasts, the ones that lost all civil rights – from where the author got the idea to use the term that underlines demarcation and otherness. In the context of modern society and the usage of control and bio politics, sveti ljudi (holy people) are merely differently named, but they wear same tags and are monitored by similar mechanism. Immigrants and asylum seekers, the ones of Konjikušić's interest, are only another set of monitored and controlled in the circle of intransparent and omnipresent Panopticon: a sophisticated discipline measure with invisible but clear centralized power hierarchy. After Croatia's accession to the eu, the Ministry of inner affairs delivered to photographers a ‘cliché to verificate biometrical photography’ – symptomatically suggestive control pattern into which Konjikušić molds the faces of immigrants, deliberately ‘branding’ them with anthropometrical lines which in their ideal function delete even a hint of face distinction and expressiveness; author does not fully commit to it in his work, he lets the person in front of the objective a minimal expression of individuality which aims to underline the subject and bypass the object. Intervention that may seem as another molding and silencing but now with cliché, Kunjikušić achieves the opposite: photographed people are now visible and can speak, first on symbolic level and then in concrete intervention in public space. In fact, photographies of 11 asylum seekers Kunjikušić prints in 120 x 100cm posters (later on, as a part of 13th UrbanFestival, they were printed in jumbo size billboards) and puts on a dozen of different public locations in Zagreb and Beograd, which stimulates visibility and public dialogue about basic democratic issues and problems of marginalization and invisibility. The context that poster enters (like the one with the remains of prior poster which says: ‘for croatia that thinks’), is highly suggestive and offers means to recognize the layers of struggle for space, visibility and rights to have and promote advertising materials, activist messages etc. In this semantic chaos, Konjikušić's portrait pieces are visible only by their synchronicity with now – the fact that they are the last in the line, and that their communicational strategy is clean and doesn't offer more references and textual explanations, escaping the usual aggressive ‘pornography’ of advertising materials. After several days and weeks, the author recognizes the new dimension of the work and starts to record changing and decaying of the matter; not only by weather conditions and ones of urban micro-locations but also by doings of anonymous human hand which (un)consciously inserts new meaning – by devastation, drawings, symbols or signing, by commentary etc.
Konjikušića zanima povijest uloge fotografije u kriminalizaciji siromašnih i postavke devetnaestostoljetnog Bertillonovog antropometrijskog sustava kontrole i nadzora koji je i danas jedan od temeljnih sustava zaštite Schengenske granice. Fizičke karakteristike ljudskih lica gledane kolonijalnim okom antropologa – poput tipologije i širine nosa, visine čela, razmaka među očima, oblika glave i tipa ušiju – ključni indikatori kreiranja policijskog portreta ‘kriminalca’ 19. stoljeća – suvremenim (i manje vidljivim) tehnologijama utkani su i u ulaznicu za ‘Obećanu zemlju Europu’, biometrijsku putovnicu. Oni koji je ne posjeduju, a koji nisu pokopani u bezimenim grobovima Lampeduse, po različitim zemljama Europe čekaju svoje državljanstvo, prvi među nejednakima. U Galeriji sc izloženi su njihovi portreti, obrubljeni žutim i crvenim (biometrijskim) linijama koje umjetnik nazivom ciklusa pretvara u aureolu, ali i aplicira tako da savršeno pristaju na raznolika lica, na taj način simbolički poništivši njihovo značenje instrumenta kontrole i isključivanja. Ovakva je gesta svojevrstan obračun s Konjikušićevim primarnim medijem izražavanja, fotografijom. Međutim on to ne čini samo u mediju fotografije, već iz svijesti o nužnosti iskoraka iz sfere reprezentacije, kojoj fotografija nikako ne može umaći, radi iskorak na granicu umjetničkog polja prema aktivizmu, prema kolektivnom radu, praksama koje žele emancipirati a ne reprezentirati subjekte, raditi s njima a ne za njih. U praksi to znači niz sastanaka s tražiteljima azila i zajedničko promišljanje o tome kako umjetnički alati i načini komunikacije mogu pomoći da se kritika migrantske politike Europske unije plasira u javnu sferu, pristajanje na gubitak kontrole i na suradnički rad s drugim aktivistima, umjetnicima i kustosima u hibridnom izvođenju rada, koji tako već duboko zalazi u polje aktivističke akcije. Ipak treba imati na umu da rad i tada ostaje između reprezentacije i emancipacije, s obzirom da su migranti zaista u poziciji onih koji ne mogu govoriti, jer je svaki njihov javni istup i pojavljivanje, makar i samo u vidu javno objavljenje fotografije na utvrdivom mjestu i vremenu, moguća prepreka i komplikacija u rješavanju statusa. Potencijal fotografije da bude (zlo) upotrebljena kao sredstvo kontrole vraća se poput bumeranga, upućujući nas na činjenicu da se politička pitanja moraju i trebaju tematizirati kroz umjetnost (kao njezina samokritika i, kao kritika onog što umjetnost radi), ali i da umjetnost nije dovoljna. Ivana Hanaček, Ana Kutleša – [blok]
Konjukušić is interested in historical role of photography in criminalization of poor and the postulate of Bertillions anthropometrical system of control and surveillance (dating back in 19th century) which is used even today as fundamental principal in protecting the Schengen borders. Physical features of human faces perceived through colonial anthropological eye – such as typology and width of nose, forehead height, the gap between the eyes, the shape of head and type of ears – are key indicators in creating police portraits of ‘criminals’ in 19th century – and in modern (and less observed) technologies they are incorporated in biometrical passport, the key that opens the door to ‘Europe, the Promised land’. The ones that don't own the passport, and which are not buried at nameless graves of Lampedusa but scattered across different countries in Europe, first among equals, are still waiting for their citizenship. Their portraits exhibited at Galerija sc are bordered with yellow and red (biometrical) lines which artist transform to aureole, but also apply so perfectly that they fit to different faces, and by doing that the artist symbolically annuls their meaning as instruments of control and exclusion. This gesture is some sort of Konjikušić's confrontation with his primal medium – photography. However, he does not do that only to confront the medium, he does it from the necessity of stepping out from the sphere of representation, from which photography can never escape, he is moving step forward in using art as activism, he is moving to collective work, practices that offer emancipation and not representation of subjects, to work with them not for them. In practice, that means numerous meetings with asylum seekers and joint thinking of how can art and ways of communicating help in order to put the criticism of migrant politics in public sphere, acceptance of losing control and collaborative work with other activist, artists and curators in hybrid representation of work which is by now immersed in the field of activist practice. It should be noted that even in that case the work stays between representation and emancipation, considering the position of migrants – they are the ones that cannot speak because every public action on their side can only cause more complication in solving their status, even if it is a mere photography taken at recognizable time and space. Potential of photography to be (miss) used as an instrument of control returns to us like boomerang, leading us toward two important facts: first, political questions must be thematized through art (as self (criticism) of art); second, art is not enough.
Davor Konjikušić Sveti ljudi
galerija sc | 1. – 6. 9. 2014.
izdavač za izdavača realizator voditeljica likovnog programa voditeljica galerije predgovor lektura prijevod oblikovanje tisak naklada —
Studentski centar, Kultura promjene Pejo Pavlović Kultura promjene Marta Kiš Ksenija Baronica Marija Borovičkić i Ivana Hanaček, Ana Kutleša – [blok] Mika R. Kukić Marija Andrijašević Farkaš / Ratkaj Kerschoffset 200 primjeraka
Izložba je realizirana uz financijsku potporu Gradskog ureda za obrazovanje, kulturu i šport Grada Zagreba i Ministarstva kulture RH
— galerija sc
Ivana Hanaček, Ana Kutleša – [blok]
Savska 25, 10 000 zagreb, tel > 385 1 4593 602 radnim danom > 12,00 do 20,00 h subotom > 10,00 do 13,00 h
Research process ended with that decay and also encircled the complex of thorough work of examination, questioning, creating, developing, intervening and recording; it also scratched the surface of highly complicated issue to which this kind of artistic work is merely an act of sensibilisation to very few of Others (rare ones), which in this social and political communicational noise still have enough will to listen and detect what matters.
galerija@sczg.hr http://www.sczg.hr/galerija/
Izložbu su podržali:
Marija Borovičkić www.balboa.hr
biografija
biography
Davor Konjikušić, rođen 1979. godine u Zenici, bih, trenutno je apsolvent diplomskog studija fotografije na Akademiji dramske umjetnosti u Zagrebu, gdje je prethodno završio dodiplomski studij snimanja. U svome radu služi se fotografijom kao primarnim medijem za artikulaciju svog autorskog koncepta u kojem propituje odnose između osobnog i javnog, intimnog i društveno - političkog. U svojoj umjetničkoj praksi fotografiju povezuje s tekstom, arhivom, nađenim predmetima i videom. Zanima ga uloga fotografskog medija u uspostavljanju odnosa moći i kontrole. Za svoj rad Genogram nagrađen je u kategoriji umjetničkog koncepta na Rovinj Photodays 2013.
Davor Konjikušić was born in Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1979 and is about to defend his ma thesis at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where he has also completed his ba studies as cameraman. His work uses photography as a primary medium in articulating his artistic concept, in which he explores the relationships between public and private, intimate and socio - political. In his artistic practice, Konjikušić has been combining photography with text, archive, found objects, and video. He has been interested in the role of the photographic medium in establishing the relations of power and control. His artwork Genogram has been awarded in the category of artistic concept at Rovinj Photodays 2013.
zahvala
thanks
Ovaj projekt ne bi mogao biti realiziran bez slijedećih ljudi. Hvala vam od srca. Svim izbjeglicama i tražiteljima azila s kojima sam surađivao, Prince Sonyi, Ana Kutleša & Ivana Hanaček blok, Tea Vidović & Julija Kranjec cms, Marija Borovičkić, Srđa Vučo, Neven Petrović, Rade Dragojević, Mario Pućić, Darije Petković i Katedra za fotografiju adu, Bojan Benussi, Branimira Lazarin, Selma Banić, Matija Kralj, Ksenija Pantelić.
This project could not be realized without these people, and I thank them from my heart. They are: all refugees and asylum seekers I collaborated with, Prince Sonyi, Ana Kutleša & Ivana Hanaček blok, Tea Vidović & Julija Kranjec cms, Marija Borovičkić, Srđa Vučo, Neven Petrović, Rade Dragojević, Mario Pućić, Darije Petković and Department for Photography at adu Zagreb, Bojan Benussi, Branimira Lazarin, Selma Banić, Matija Kralj, Ksenija Pantelić.
Davor Konjikušić Sveti ljudi