Ivan Antunović : What's the point?

3. 5.

15. 5. 2019.

Ivan Antunović What’s the point?

SAMOSTALNA IZLOŽBA GRAFIČKOG DIZAJNA / SOLO GRAPHIC DESIGN EXHIBITION

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Predgovor Marko Golub

Ivan Antunović je jedna od enigmatičnih figura recentnog hrvatskog dizajna, netko tko se kreće izvan uobičajenih tokova unutar kojih se etabliraju njegovi kolege, tko ne slijedi i ne prepisuje trendovske estetike aktualnog trenutka, netko tko, uostalom, kontekst za veliki dio onog što dizajnira ili stvara sam ili ga pak pronalazi na mjestima koja su daleko od kulturnog mainstreama i ne puno bliže prominentnijim lokalnim alternativama. Stvar čini kompliciranijom činjenica da je riječ o polivalentnom autoru: osim što je grafički dizajner, Antunović je i kultni muzički autor i izvođač koji je u proteklih dvadesetak godina nastupao pod čitavim nizom autorskih imena, a uz to se dugo bavi i muzičkim izdavaštvom te ista izdanja sam i grafički oblikuje. To donekle definira i krug u kojem se kreće – nezavisna klupska i glazbena scena, izvođači i etikete iz Hrvatske, Srbije, Austrije, Velike Britanije, Španjolske, Francuske itd, različiti individualci, organizacije i inicijative koje dijele njemu blizak Do-It-Yourself svjetonazor, neki među njima odavno etablirana imena, dok su drugi manje vidljivi ali čine vitalan dio kreativne mreže koja nadilazi granice svojih lokalnih sredina.

U njegovom slučaju važnost tog presijecanja glazbe i grafičkog dizajna ne može se preuveličati, no ne radi se o tome da je Antunović kao dizajner inspiriran glazbom kao takvom ili obratno, nego o kapacitetu grafičkog dizajna i glazbe da evociraju i nadograđuju jedno drugo, da se prepliću i rezoniraju među sobom i s još čitavim ni-

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zom drugih stvari na intertekstualan način.

Omotnice nosača zvuka, plakati, muzički magazini i fanzini, fotografija, biografski detalji, apokrifne priče i anegdote, cijela filozofija koja se vrti oko glazbe i onih koji je stvaraju, zajedno čine ambijent u kojem je doživljavamo, imaginarij u kojem sam zvuk ponekad doista nije najvažniji, a ponekad je baš on najmanje zanimljiv. Antunovićev dizajn za glazbu stoga i nastaje s visokom ambicijom stvaranja muzičkog skladišta slika, ali istovremeno je i jedan od glavnih načina putem kojih nastaje – upravo posezanje za već postojećim artefaktima iz istog tog skladišta. Uzori su mu (većinom britanski) dizajneri koji stupaju na scenu krajem 70-ih i početkom 80-ih godina – Peter Saville, Vaughan Oliver, Neville Brody, Mark Farrow, Jon Wozencroft i Bruce Licher; na njih se direktno naslanja otprilike onim redom kako su i spomenuti.

Neke estetske, ali i ideološke odlike njegovog dizajna također daleko više pripadaju tom vremenu nego današnjici, Antunović voli teksture i distorzije kakve su nekad proizvodili fotokopirni strojevi, voli čari rasterske slike i njenih uvećanja, a ponajviše voli beskonačne petlje citatnosti.

Reference, citati, citati citata, sljedovi asocijacija koje uvijek imaju svoju razmjerno preciznu značenjsku logiku, ali bez pomoći autora ili barem osnovnog poznavanja onog što njegov rad adresira nije ih uvijek lako odgonetnuti. Među jednostavnijima su npr. predmeti na programskim letcima / razglednicama dizajniranim za bečki klub AU, u kojima reciklira simbole, ikonografske detalje (najčešće odjevne i upotrebne predmete) koje povezuje s omiljenim glazbenicima, a ključ za čitanje daje u kratkim citatima tekstova njihovih pjesama. Ponekad su te asocijacije iznenađujuće prozaične, npr. crvena mrlja na kolažiranom

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plakatu za koncert Popsimonove označava njenu prepoznatljivu intenzivnu šminku, a ponekad kriptične kao na plakatu za koncert Clock DVA s kiborškim Bowiejem iza čijeg lica imaginarna kazaljka otkriva pikselizirano lice Marcela Duchampa. No kao i kod spomenutih tehničkih postupaka, odnosno najčešće njihovih računalnih emulacija („efekt“ fotokopiranja, rasterske slike itd.), kod Antunovićevog dizajna prepoznavanje ovih referenci nije najvažnije – on ne dizajnira da bi nas zadivio svojom sposobnošću da recikliranjem starih stvara nova značenja, njega prije svega zanima stvaranje atmosfere začudnosti, u kojoj obične ili poznate slike odškrinjuju vrata u nepoznato.

o nekoj nadrealnoj inverziji, u kojoj su se svi pragmatični aspekti naših života preselili u potpuno komodificiranu virtualnu sferu, a cijela njihova imaginacijska, simbolička, značenjska dimenzija je prebjegla u fizičku stvarnost.

Drugim riječima, ne zanima ga samozadovoljstvo connaisseurske publike, nego aktivna imaginacija receptivne publike.

Plakati iz serije Baustellung za spomenuti klub AU bazirani su npr. na minuciozno izvedenim ilustracijama nečeg nalik arhitekturi, čiju izometrijsku logiku namjerno narušava kadriranjem u rombove. Antunović je svjestan i evokativne snage tipografije, bilo da je riječ o komponiranju uz pomoć znakova postojećih tipografskih pisama, ili o kreiranju sasvim nove tipografije kojom će ispisati likovno upečatljiv tekst na nekom ovitku ili plakatu. No ponajviše je svjestan toga kako je malim pomacima u teksturi, kadriranju i slično moguće dobiti očuđujući efekt, primjerice u omotu za Marinadin CD Sve je savršeno točno. Konačno, Antunovićev dizajn napaja se simboličkom snagom kulture dijeljenja koja, ironično, baš u vrijeme kada nam tehnološki uvjeti digitalnog doba omogućavaju naizgled slobodnu distribuciju zvuka i slika, svoje najljepše i najpoticajnije manifestacije ponovno nalazi u analognom, u tiskanoj, fizičkoj formi. Ovi predmeti kao da svjedoče

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Preface Marko Golub

Ivan Antunović is one of the enigmatic figures of recent Croatian design: someone who ranges outside the regular currents in which his fellow designers become established, who does not follow and does not copy the trending aesthetics of the moment, someone who, in fact, either creates the context for most of what he designs himself, or finds it in places that are far away from the cultural mainstream and not much closer to the more prominent local alternatives. The whole thing is made more complicated by the fact that this is a polyvalent artist. As well as being a graphic designer, Antunović is a cult music author and performer who in the last score of years has appeared under a whole series of authorial names, also engaged, in addition, in music publishing, graphically designing his publications himself.

This is to an extent defined by the circle in which he moves – the indie club and music scene, performers and labels from Croatia, Serbia, Austria, the UK, Spain and France and so on, different individuals, organisations and initiatives that share the do-it-yourself worldview that is close to him, some among them being names established long ago, while others, less visible, make up a vital part of the creative network that extends beyond the borders of their local settings.

In his case it is impossible to overstate the importance of this interlocking of music and graphic design; yet it is not a question of Antunović being, as designer, inspired by music, as such, or vice versa,

but rather about the capacity of graphic design and music to evoke and upgrade each other, resonating and interweaving with each other and a host of other things as well in an intertextual manner.

Record covers, posters, music magazines and fanzines, photographs, biographical details, apocryphal stories and anecdotes, the whole philosophy that swirls around the music and those who make it, all together make up the setting in which we perceive it, an imaginary in which the sound itself sometimes is not the most important factor, sometimes perhaps the least interesting. Antunović’s design for music then comes into being with a vaulting ambition for the creation of a musical storehouse of images; but at the same time it is one of the main ways via which it comes into being – the actual reaching out for artefacts already existing in this same storehouse. His models are (mainly British) designers who appeared on the scene at the end of the 70s and in the early 80s – Peter Saville, Vaughan Oliver, Neville Brody, Mark Farrow, Jon Wozencroft and Bruce Licher; he draws on them directly in about the same order in which they are listed. Some aesthetic and ideological features of his design also belong much more to that period than to the current age, Antunović loving the textures and distortions once produced by photocopiers, loving the magic of the raster image and enlargements of it, and loving above all the endless loops of citationality.

There are references, quotes, quotes of quotes, sequences of associations that always have their own fairly precise semantic logic, which however are not always easy to decipher without the help of the author or at least of the basic knowledge of what his work is addressing. Among the most simple are, for example, objects on

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the programme fliers / postcards designed for the AU Club in Vienna, in which he recycles symbols, iconographic details (most frequently of clothing or use items) that he links with his favourite musicians, giving clues to the reading in brief quotes of the texts of their songs. Sometimes these associations are staggeringly prosaic; for example, the red blotch on a collaged poster for a concert by Popsimonova stands for her recognisable heavy makeup, and sometimes they are cryptic, as on the poster for a Clock DVA concert with a cyborg Bowie, behind the face of whom an imaginary hand reveals the pixelated face of Marcel Duchamp. But as with some of the mentioned technical procedures, or most often with computer emulations of them (the effect of photocopying, raster images and so on) in Antunović’s design too it is not the recognition of these references that is the most important – he does not design to amaze us with his ability to create the new by recycling old meanings, but above all is interested in the creation of an atmosphere of wonder, of making-strange, in which common or known images crack open the door into the unknown.

visually striking text on a cover or poster.

But above all he is aware of how with small shifts in texture, framing and so on he can get the making-strange effect, on the cover of the Marinada CD Sve je savršeno točno / It’s all perfectly exact. Finally, Antunović’s design draws energy from the symbolic strength of the sharing culture that, ironically, just at the time when the technological conditions of the digital age enable apparently free distribution of sounds and images, finds the finest and most thought-provoking manifestations once again in analogue, printed, physical form. These objects seem to tell of some surreal inversion, in which all the pragmatic aspects of our lives have moved out and taken residence in a completely commodified virtual sphere, their whole imaginative, symbolic, semantic dimension having up-sticked into physical reality.

In other words, he’s not interested in the self-satisfaction of the connoisseur public, but, rather, in the active imagination of the receptive audience. His posters from the Baustellung series for the AU Club already mentioned are, for example, based on meticulously produced illustrations of something like architecture, the isometric logic of which he deliberately distorts by framing it in rhomboids. He is also aware of the evocative strength of typography, whether it is about composing with the help of signs of existing topographic scripts, or the creation of an entirely new typography with which to write out a

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Zastranienie – Digitalni veltťmerc B1 plakat za postav Dan D, Zagreb, 2013

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Clock DVA B2 koncertni plakat, Peek & Poke, Rijeka, 2017

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Udentitet B2 plakat za tematski postav “Društvene reprize” ZGRAF-a 12, Zagreb, 2017

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KunstbAUstelle 6 plakat 1, AU, Beč, 2018

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KunstbAUstelle 6 plakat 2, AU, Beč, 2018

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Mitra Mitra – Marionettes LP omot, Polytechnic Youth, UK, 2018

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Vasko Atanasoski – Pazi kuče LP omot, Geenger Records / Balkan Veliki, HR / MK, 2017

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Gosti iz galaksije / Visitors From The Galaxy LP omot, Fox & His Friends, HR, 2017

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Exportdrvo novi vizualni identitet, Zagreb, 2017

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Vinylograph vizualni identitet, Beč, 2016

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Ivan Antunović Ivan Antunović rođen je, živi i radi u Zagrebu.

Ivan Antunović was born in Zagreb, which is where he lives and works.

Po završetku školovanja (Škola primijenjene umjetnosti i dizajna u Zagrebu, odjel grafičkih tehnika, 1994.), grafičkim dizajnom profesionalno se počinje baviti 1995. godine i kontinuirano u struci djeluje do danas. Dugogodišnje iskustvo stekao je radom u oblikovnoj i oglašivačkoj industriji, nakon čega početkom 2012. godine kreće u samostalne vode. Član je Hrvatskog dizajnerskog društva, ULUPUH-a i Hrvatske zajednice samostalnih umjetnika.

Danas radi i stvara u statusu samostalnog umjetnika.

After his secondary schooling (School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, the graphic techniques department, 1994), he started his career in professional design, the discipline in which he still works. He acquired years of experience working in the design and advertising industry. In 2012, he set out on a freelance career. He is a member of the Croatian Designers Association, of ULUPUH and the Croatian Association of Freelance Artists. Today he works and creates as a freelance artist.

Proteklih godina povremeno je sudjelovao u sklopu skupnih izložbi kod nas i u inozemstvu (ZGRAF i Izložba hrvatskog dizajna u Zagrebu, te Međunarodni summit jeftine laserske grafike u Beču), samostalno je izlagao u prostoru HDD galerije u Zagrebu i u prostoru bečkog Museumsquartiera, uključujući nekoliko gostovanja/predavanja vezano uz njegov rad (Studij dizajna u Zagrebu, “Summer Of Sounds” / “Artists In Residence” u Beču i Umjetnička akademija u Splitu (UMAS)).

Aktivan je i u području nezavisne glazbene scene, povremeno surađuje s drugim autorima, piše glazbene recenzije i intervjue.

During the years gone by he has from time to time taken part in group exhibitions at home and abroad (ZGRAF, Exhibition of Croatian Design in Zagreb, International Summit of Cheap Laser Graphics in Vienna), had solo shows in the premises of the CDA gallery in Zagreb and in the Viennese Museumsquartier, involving several guest appearances / lectures related to his work (School of Design in Zagreb, “Summer of Sounds” / “Artists in Residence” in Vienna and the Art Academy in Split (UMAS).

He is also active in the indie music scene, from time to time working with other authors, writing music reviews and doing interviews.

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Nakladnik / Publisher:

Organizator izložbe / Organizer:

ULUPUH – Hrvatska udruga likovnih umjetnika primijenjenih umjetnosti, Preradovićeva 44/1, Zagreb

ULUPUH – Hrvatska udruga likovnih umjetnika primijenjenih umjetnosti, Preradovićeva 44/1, Zagreb Tel: ++385 1 4552 595 ulupuh@zg.t-com.hr www.ulupuh.hr

Za nakladnika / For the publisher:

Ivana Bakal, predsjednica ULUPUH-a Urednici / Editors:

Ivan Antunović Bella Rupena Predgovor / Preface:

Marko Golub Prijevod na engleski / English translation by:

Graham McMaster Fotografije / Photographs:

Ivan Antunović Grafičko oblikovanje i priprema / Design and layout:

Lidija Novosel Tisak / Print:

Izložba je realizirana uz financijsku potporu Ministarstva kulture RH i Grada Zagreba / Exhibition has been put on with the support of Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and Zagreb City Council for Culture

STEGA TISAK d.o.o., Zagreb; svibanj 2019.

Naklada / Print run:

300 primjeraka ISBN:

978-953-327-164-4 Likovni postav izložbe / Exhibition layout:

Ivan Antunović Prostor održavanja izložbe / Exhibition space:

Galerija ULUPUH, Tkalčićeva 14, Zagreb Tel: ++385 1 4813 746 galerija-ulupuh@zg.t-com.hr

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