<nettime> Videomedeja4: -"Video is a form of survival".

[nina czegledy <ninaczegledy@yahoo.com>]

Videomedeja4: -"Video is a form of survival".

Videomejea'99, the Fourth International Video Summit
was held between December 3-5, 1999 in the Cultural
Center of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. This simple statement
hides a complex situation and a heroic organizational
effort. 

On December 2nd, I traveled to Novi Sad by train from
Budapest. Apart from a light sheet of snow covering
the country side, everything looked deceptively the
same as before. On arrival, the unfailing hospitality
by local hosts and friends was also very reassuring.
Next morning however, my first walk took me to the
Danube, where I was confronted by a surreal picture,
-a picture symbolizing the local situation. Huge steel
and concrete chunks of the collapsed bridges pointed
to the sky from the murky waters of the Danube below.
Up on the riverside, the surrounding buildings stood
intact. A few people -young and old- stood by the
shore and simply stared, while others briskly passed
by. The bridges were destroyed over a half year ago.
This act, more than any other damage, visibly touched
something very deep and lasting in the heart of the
city's inhabitants. In the course of the next few
days, several of the locally produced videos presented
at Videomedeja focused on the broken bridges as
metaphors for the recent war and destruction. But just
as the buildings stood untouched, (on the surface)
city-bustling Novi Sad  remained unchanged. Shortages,
unemployment, limited prospectives are mostly
invisible - furthermore there are twice as many
boutiques as last summer, full with merchandise.
Somehow people manage to purchase gas for their cars
and food for their table. Or so it seems.

Lately the very notion of video art as well as the
validity of festivals has been a hotly debated topic.
Videomedeja belies some of these "invalidity"
assumptions. The first Videomedeja in 1996 presented
works from 27 women from 9 East European countries. In
1999 -despite the extremely difficult conditions- 70
artists were represented from 17 countries. From the
very beginning the festival has been  promoting the
work of women, however for the first time this year
"men of Videomedeja" were also included.  This and
some other initiatives may be due to Balint Szombathy
the current festival director. "This year -Balint told
me- we introduced a retrospective program from earlier
programs including last year's Golden Sphinx Award
winner. The first competition program for young
artists was also initiated this year. Traditionally we
hold workshops -and  we have one running right now at
the Academy". Balint, justifiably, feels a sense of
victory by accomplishing the organization of a
festival only a few months after the bombing. "It
looked pretty hopeless, nothing worked -he said- yet
now, like a miracle, we have larger audiences than
ever before. It really shows how hungry young people
are for activites.  The scale of events shrunk
drastically in this city. At this point there is
simply no way for large projects. Currently the Modern
Museum has no on-going exhibits -only a functional
office space and in the end, the whole space might be
converted into boutiques."

Survival -an aptly chosen title- was the festival
theme of Videomedeja4. "The title of the festival came
to us quite naturally, -told me Sylvia Chamber one of
the enthusiastic, long time Videomedeja associates- 
we all had to develop survival tactics during the
bombing". Recently Videomedeja has established a
foundation and in the New Year the new Foundation
plans to organize various events, workshops and
presentations throughout the year.

Sylvia has been working from the very beginning with
Videomedeja.  I have asked her how the recent
situation is reflected in terms of the festival.  She
confirmed Balint's words. Due to funding cuts many
events such as "Brahms" an established annual
festival, was canceled last summer and so were others.
 Consequently each event gained a new significance.
"After the bombing, festivals became much more
important. -observed Sylvia- This year we received
many more submissions than before, especially from
young female  Yugoslav artists. When some people who
sent us work, were told that they have not been
selected, their response was: it doesn't matter - we
still will come."  And they all came. The theater was
filled up for each and every screening. My
presentation of new Canadian videos was for example on
late Sunday evening, outside rain was pouring and I
was convinced nobody will turn up. I was wrong. In
addition to the theater,  all the other spaces such as
the "galerija" where the installations were shown or
the NS Time Club were some other events took place,
proved to be too small to accommodate the audience.

The three day program  included international video
screenings, installations, round table discussions and
performances. We saw some curated programs from other
countries, however only a few individual tapes came
from abroad.  "Somehow Yugoslavia became too exotic" -
said Sylvia.

On Friday the 3rd of December, following the screening
of the retrospective selection, and the official
festival opening by Nina Czegledy and Branka Parlic, 
Videomedeja4 featured the premiere of Milica
Mrdja-Kuzmanov's "Amarissima:Katalin Ladik and the
Novi Sad Artistic Scene in the Seventies".  This video
lovingly recapturing the performances of Ladik,
received standing ovation. Later the same evening we
saw an eclectic selection of Finnish Female Video
Artist's works. This was followed by the first Men of
Videomedeja program. At least two tapes of this
program focused on the Novi Sad "bridge" issue. "The
name of the game" by D. Zivancevic adopted an
especially wry point of view, by showing a ball game -
as it turned out in the end - on one of the fractured
bridges.  The "Live Coals" performance by Natasa
Teofilovic was also scheduled for Friday evening. Due
to the large crowd and my small size, I was simply
unable to see any of it.  

On Saturday afternoon Biljana Tomic moderated
"Survival", a well attended round table session. In
her introduction she described the important
contributions of the video pioneers of the sixties and
seventies. "Today the video scene is a different story
in this country, however Videomedeja is a pioneer
attempt to give a chance to young people. Video is a
form of survival". Then the discussion focused on
various other issues such as access to (high or
low)technology, the question of "East" versus "West",
politicized art etc., The conclusion was that in a
difficult situation -political or otherwise- a sense
of humour is the only way out. 

The Bulgarian video installations were formally
presented on Saturday evening. These included the
highly successful tapes by Borjana Dragoeva (showing
her screaming present self and using her two year old
voice) and the intimate work of "Close to the Body" by
Zornitsa-Sofia Popgancheva as well as "Conversation"
the two channel installation by Ivan Moudov and Simeon
Nikolov. This voiceless conversation was conducted via
passing back and forth a joint (in skillfully edited
close-ups), while the viewer was sandwiched between
the two monitors. 
 
The Romanian program from the University of Arts,
Bucarest, curated 
by Roxana Trestioreanu and presented by two of her
students was one of the highlights of the festival.
Gaspar Csongor's "Can I swim Wearing a Tampoon" was
one of the most popular tapes of the festival.

Late at night, a considerable crowd vied to see the
"Whites"
performance by Olga Egorova and Natalia Pershina
Kakimanskaya
from St. Petersburg. The performers used video
projections (of earlier performances), sound and live
action, including the participation of a local
(slightly bewildered) homeless person. He was served a
full meal by the elaborately costumed performers,
while a recorded voice recited the tale of the
"Whites".

On Sunday noon, we were treated to a reception in the
elegantly renovated City Hall, which was followed by a
further round table discussion and Stephen Kovats's
presentation of the Ostranenie '93 '95 '97 Forums. 

Taste of Landscapes a current video selection by
Canadian women
was presented by me, Nina Czegledy and the festival
was concluded with the jury's announcements. The jury
consisted of Andrej Tisma, Sava Stepanov, Darka
Radosavljevic. The Bogdanka Poznanovic prize to the
best emerging artist went to Biljani Klaric. Vesna
Vesic received  first prize  for "Wash me and I shall
Be Whiter Than Snow". Olga Egorova and Natalia
Pershina Kakimanskaya for the performance Whites
shared second prize with the ATA Center for
Contemporary Art in Bulgaria for their program. The
Golden Sphinx for a lifetime contribution was awarded
to Dragana Zarevac.

Videomedeja4 proved to be a testament to the artistic
vigor, enthusiasm and heroic "survival" of the Novi
Sad artists and festival organizers.



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