BALKAN(S) NOW

Point of departure:

20 years after the war, 10 years after seminal - yet highly controversial- exhibitions such as “Blood and honey” curated by Harald Szeemann or “Die Schluchten des Balkan” at Friedericianum Kassel. Has all been said and done there? Where do we stand today? How come that Europe’s interest in the cultural production of most of the post-Yugoslav countries seems to be declining – now that there is a new generation of artists? How to consider current artistic practice in the former Yugoslav countries in its own right, i.e. without looking at it – still and again– through the prism of the post-war situation? We believe that a much-needed political artistic practice is being shaped in countries such as Serbia, Macedonia, the Kosovo or Croatia: a practice that relies on self-empowerment, strong networking across the region and a pro-European, yet critical attitude.

Indeed, Europe is the next step for those countries: Slovenia has entered the EU and Croatia is to become a member in 2013. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia feature different levels of economic and political stability and thus provide different ground for artistic engagement with the ‘Political’ as a dynamic set of relations, power structures and strong challenges regarding the visibility of non-hegemonic discourses.

Project curators: Gülsen Bal and Marlene Rigler

Program