Andreas Broeckmann on Wed, 23 Jun 1999 08:46:00 +0100 |
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Syndicate: Igor Antic: HUMANITARIAN |
From: Vesna Rajcic <vesnarajcic@hotmail.com> Subject: Fwd: igor hitno poslati Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 23:00:11 PDT >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 15 JUNE 1999 > >HUMANITARIAN >a project by Igor ANTIC >at the 48th International Exhibition of Contemporary Art of Venice >Biennale: APERTO overALL > >The inauguration of the 48th Venice Biennale unfolds in the shadow of >the Yugoslav conflict. The use of the word HUMANITARIAN has escalated >wordwide in direct proportion to the mass of victims. With its >universal emotional charge, the word HUMANITARIAN has gained currency >as a sort of reverse hallmark, validating atrocities; it has been >rendered meaningless. HUMANITARIAN aid- HUMANITARIAN rallies- a >HUMANITARIAN war. > >Igor Antic has applied this over-familiar term to yet another context, >assuming the role of a "refugee" squatter amongst the national >pavillions diring the Biennale inauguration. The project was designed >to mirror reality as closely as possible, within the confines of a >venue in which individual countries present their cultural aspirations. > >Antic rested, ate and placed himself in relation to various artworks. >Visitor's attention was focussed upon the squatter's presence and >action through the use of several dozen white plastic carrier bags, >bearing the word HUMANITARIAN printed in red. Installed around his >temporary encampments, or attached to his itinerant person, these >accessories to which no "aesthetic" value might be attached, acquired a >purely symbolic function. A plastic bag is a shapeless, worthless and >familiar object, which may serve as a suitcase, wrapper, garment, >construction material, territorial marker- even a status symbol. > >The main question Antic's HUMANITARIAN project adresses are:to what >extent has political discourse contaminated the world of art? Are >artworks affected by the context in which they are exhibited? Are we >really able to resist national rhetoric, manipulation by media, >bureaucratic jargon, appeals to surrender to our own agressiveness, >hatred and indifference? In the flood of quasi-democratic verbiage, >freedom's boundaries have shrunk: where now can artists take shelter? > >A recto-verso flayer bearing two emblematic images was produced to mark >Antic's action: the close-up of a terrain devasted by an explosion, and >the view of a plot delineated by plastic-bag markers. This document is >available at the Biennale Press Office. > >ABOUT THE ARTIST: > >Igor Antic was born in Novi Sad(Yugoslavia) in 1962. His site-specific >work aims to explore and highlight the economic and political forces >operating within a given context. Antic creates objects and situations >as physical 'grids', beyond which emerges the social, cultural or >geographical context of the chosen site. > >After studies at the Novi Sad Fine Arts Academy, Antic attended the >Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beauw-Arts and the Institut des Hautes >Etudes en Arts Plastiques (Paris). In 1995 he founded the 'Pokret' >Encounter center in Novi Sad. > >Igor Antic has participated in numerous group exhibitions in France, >Germany, Greece, Island, Japan and Yugoslavia. He has recently held >one-man shows at the Chinati Foundation (Texas) and La Chambre Blanche >(Quebec). > >e-mail: igorantic@yahoo.com > >INFORMATION BY LA NAPOULE ART FOUNDATION, FRANCE ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress