Books by Lana Zdravković
Social impact in arts and culture : the diverse lives of a concept, 2022
Pornography and performance art have been strongly intertwined since the 60s/70s when sexual revo... more Pornography and performance art have been strongly intertwined since the 60s/70s when sexual revolution, influenced by breakthroughs of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, Marxism and counterculture, opened up the space for sexual liberation, freedom of the body and resistance to cultural norms. Transgressive strategies of blurring the boundaries between artist and artwork and involving the audience within sexual imagery is crucial to many postmodern artworks where sex serves as an artistic metaphor, as a critique and as a subversive element. This process was constitutive for women’s performance art that emerges within the second wave feminism as a specific “deconstructive strategy” that allies postmodernism and feminism. Derived from the dominant system of representation, which established women as “the objectified other”, it added the critique of gender inequality under patriarchal dominant matrix to the already established critique of modernism and built a position of woman’s identity within the postmodern theory of the subject as constructed by cultural practices. Manifesting the slogan that “the personal is political”, the woman’s body, burdened with all the ideological connotations, became a battlefield for opposing, mocking, challenging the male gaze in order to confront the complex processes of objectification. “Performing gender” became the most important strategy of third and fourth wave feminism, which became established through a vast critique towards the historical failure of feminism from the suffragettes to modern white middle class movement to include women who experienced oppression on multiple levels (such as race, class, sexual orientation or gender expression). New identities raised within LGBTIQ movement shaped themselves within a postcolonial agenda presupposing that desire is not constructed by male, therefore is patriarchal, but is colonized by the dominant norm, therefore is heteronormative. Art practices developed under this paradigm strived for performative embodiment of “deviation” from the dominant body, sex or gender norm, modifying the classical feminist motto into “the private is political”.
Complex relationship between art and pornography has been shaped through moral/ethical dispute that oscillates between conservative understandings of pornography as obscenity that has to be censured and liberal ones who see it as freedom of speech that has to be legally regulated according to harm principle. Different attitudes towards the issue has deeply polarized the feminist movement and resulted in “feminist sex wars” started in the late 70s and early 80s, initiating a vast debate on matters of sexuality including pornography, erotica, prostitution/sex work, lesbian sexual practices, the role of transgender women, sadomasochism and other sexual issues, which lasts until today.
Any attempt to distinguish art from pornography has become ultimately obsolete within the aesthetic argument of postmodernism, which established itself by attacking the modernist “formal” distinctions between good and bad art, high art and popular mass culture and the sanctity of the art context and real life. The aim of this article is to present some of the most interesting examples of the appropriation of porn by performance art, in order to discuss why the transgressive strategies that go from self-objectification, over-sexualisation to total pornographisation are considered subversive. The article claims that in a situation where transgression became the norm, no emancipation can follow.
Citizenship as a challenge : dimensions of an evolving process , 2022
The concept of citizenship is in itself contradictory and exclusive since the process of its nati... more The concept of citizenship is in itself contradictory and exclusive since the process of its nationalization, when it lost its political potential. The nation-state, with all its ele- ments, reduces citizenship into membership of a national community, to the exclusion of all the others. Such a concept has thus failed to establish a political subject. I believe that we need to think of citizenship as a political concept as defined by H. Arendt, É. Balibar, J. Habermas and others. We need to think about citizenship as acting in the public sphere, as vita activa which refers to citizenship as thinking and acting as a public rather than a private matter, with an ear for the world and is the responsibility towards future generations which inherit the state of the world. In this way, practising citizenship is not a private activity of maximization of happiness but engagement on the foundations of care for all (Arendt). The politics of citizenship is in a communica- tive engagement of active people working in the public deliberation (Habermas). We need to invent a new concept of citizenship where modes of belonging are founded on the development of citizenship, and not vice versa (Balibar). This includes the right of entry and residence, work, education, political participation in any country for every - one, not as (neo)liberal principle of ‘free choice’ but as real dissemination and respect for human rights, which requires the rebalancing of the rights of all citizens, co- living in a particular country (community). Thus it represents a fundamental ethical require- ment for radical political equality. This designates citizenship as a process, practice and activity rather than a concluded form. It is always in the making.
Performative Gestures Political Moves, 2014
Edited by Katja Kobolt and Lana Zdravković
With contributions by Angela Dimitrakaki, Ana Perai... more Edited by Katja Kobolt and Lana Zdravković
With contributions by Angela Dimitrakaki, Ana Peraica, Barbara Orel, Dunja Kukovec, Grupa Spomenik and DeLVe, Marija Ratković, Marina Gržinić, Martina Pachmanová, Milijana Babić, Suzana Milevska, Tea Hvala, Waldemar Tatarczuk
The publication Performative Gestures Political Moves evolved from the epony-mous symposium held in Ljubljana (at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts, June 2010) and organised by the City of Women-Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture Ljubljana. While acknowledging the "problem of performativity", the present volume, however, (still) lingers on the term, exploring its echoing in the research fo-cused on what should thus also be considered as an effect of the performance of power-on the art and theory production in so-called "Eastern Europe". A huge body of critical texts has been written in the last decade, emphasising the inscribed geopolitical and (neo)colonial power in the terms "Eastern Europe", "Former East", "Post-Socialist" and similar denotations, which have left their footprint (at least partly) on many exhibitions and art projects as well, and collections devoted to the art production from the variably named region. However, as also presented in the following contributions, the region shares, since the dissolution of state socialism(s), (ethno)nationalistic, neoliberal and neoclerical as well as patriarchal, homophobic and racist reversals-most of which are, however, a Pan-European, if not global even, "continental Post-Socialist reality" with regional specificity and intensity.
While acknowledging the “problem of performativity”, Performative Gestures Political Moves (2014), however, (still) lingers on the term, exploring its echoing in the research focused on what should thus also be considered as an effect of the performance of power – on the art and theory production in so-called “Eastern Europe”. The book does not (only) represent the research on performance art and performativity in a region denoted as “East European”, but also produces positions that go beyond the representation(s) of what performance art, performativity in/and “Post-Socialist Europe” are. Performative Gestures Political Moves therefore also raises questions of historisation(s) and their ideological positioning. Especially within feminist art history but also in feminist curating, the question of labelling art production as feminist has been till today a burning subject. How, what, when, why, where, by whom and for whom is (performance) art feminist, obviously does not have an unambiguous answer. The same is true for art and feminism as such. Therefore, the publication has aimed to foster a reflection on research positions and theoretical considerations of performativity, performance art, feminism, historisation and, above all, their political implications in/and/for the “continental Post-Socialist” condition.
The Scars of the Erasure, 2010
What happens to a person whose valid identification document is taken away and invalidated by the... more What happens to a person whose valid identification document is taken away and invalidated by the representatives of the state in which he/she lives? What happens to the identity of a person whose identification document, which co-creates his/her identity and proves it in socio-political, official and legal contexts, is destroyed in front of his/her eyes? What can such a person do, one who has been expelled from the official, legal and socio-political system of a country and has all of a sudden become just a “human being”?
(Published in The scars of the erasure : a contribution to the critical understanding of the erasure of people from the register of permanent residents of the Republic of Slovenia. Ljubljana : Peace Institute, 2010. E-book: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/izbrisani/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/the_scars_of_the_erasure_peace_institute_2011.pdf)
Izbrisana, 2014
Izbris, ali dejanje administrativnega etničnega čiščenja, kot ga imenujejo nekateri, je globoko z... more Izbris, ali dejanje administrativnega etničnega čiščenja, kot ga imenujejo nekateri, je globoko zaznamovalo etičnost slovenske osamosvojitve. Kakršnokoli špekuliranje na temo, ali se je izbris zgodil ali ne, in kakršnakoli brezbrižnost do tega vprašanja sta izjemno nevarna in lahko peljeta le v ponovitev tega akta na neki novi skupini ljudi (odvisno od konteksta, časa in prostora). Izbris se je nedvomno zgodil in predstavlja črn madež na suverenosti Slovenije – s tem se je treba soočiti. Kot tudi s tem, da so posledice izbrisa grozljive in da jih je na individualni ravni nemogoče popraviti. Uničenih in izgubljenih življenj ne more povrniti noben zakon, nobena odškodnina, nobeno opravičilo. Kar ne pomeni, da tako zakonov kot odškodnin in opravičil ne potrebujemo. A zavajanja, manipulacije in podžiganje sovraštva, ki so še vedno sestavni del procesa utrjevanja mita o nastanku slovenske države, k urejanju statusa izbrisanih in razumevanju fenomena izbrisa prav nič ne pripomorejo.
(Spremna beseda romanu Izbrisana, Miha Mazzini, Novo mesto : Goga, 2019. E-dostop: http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-HZX4FB7Y)
Razor-Wired. Reflections on Migrant Movements through Slovenia in 2015, 2016
In light of the increased arrivals of migrants in Europe, and consequently also in Slovenia, the ... more In light of the increased arrivals of migrants in Europe, and consequently also in Slovenia, the text critically reflects the notion of the state as a nation-state, which produces the situation where the national (if not ethnic) identity is the prototype of the identity as such. Consequently, the image of the migrant is perceived as nothing else, but the Other, someone who deconstructs the imaginary homogenous national community. This Otherness is produced systematically and is prescribed in the dominant understanding of community, which is understood as the community of “us”, or as “our community”. Within this context, the migrant can be legally excluded, discriminated and even killed. In the text I claim that for understanding the roots of this production of Otherness – which always has bloody consequences – we should start by analysing the production of individuality and identity as such. I claim that the real process of emancipation as political subjectivation is generated not in the consolidation of identity, but just on its borders. Creating a real political community as the community without the Other is based on the process of disidentification as the only real emancipatory action.
(Published in Kogovšek Šalamon, N. and Bajt, V. (eds.) 2016. Razor-Wired: Migration Movements through Slovenia in 2015. Ljubljana: Peace Institute. E-book: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Razor_wired_publikacija_web.pdf)
Papers by Lana Zdravković
Anthropos, May 31, 2023
Tekst obravnava specifično modalnost konca, ki se kaže kot vsesplošno prisoten občutek nenehne, n... more Tekst obravnava specifično modalnost konca, ki se kaže kot vsesplošno prisoten občutek nenehne, neposredne in realne grožnje totalnega uničenja planeta, globalnega spopada ter izginotja človeške vrste (virusi in pandemije ter naravne katastrofe, jedrska grožnja, grožnja umetne inteligence). Tematiko konca umesti skozi predstavitev najpomembnejših in najaktualnejših eshatoloških teoretizacij radikalne politično-filozofske misli predvsem leve, postmarksistične provinience, kamor sodijo avtorji, kot so W. Benjamin, J. Taubes, G. Agamben, S. Žižek, A. Badiou, ki pri svoji politični teologiji izhajajo iz sv. Pavla. Namen teksta je pokazati, kako se v situaciji, ko se je izčrpal emancipatorni potencial konceptov, ki bi lahko ponudili konstrukcijo nekega političnega nadaljevanja v času konca, najradikalnejši politični misleci premikajo na efemerno onkrajpolitično področje, kjer politično upanje gradijo na teoloških konceptih. V nadaljevanju tekst prinaša premislek o tem, kakšno politično dinamiko, implikacije in posledice lahko takšne teoretizacije vzpostavijo ter kako nam le-te lahko pomagajo pri premišljevanju današnjega časa konca. V zaključnem delu tekst trdi, da se koncu lahko izognemo le, če politični emancipatorni potencial zastavimo teološko, to je če ga napolnimo s teološkimi pojmi odrekanje, samokontrola, samožrtvovanje. To pomeni, da je za konstrukcijo nekega možnega nadaljevanja v času konca ključno iznajti načine za izstop iz ekonomske logike, ki se je globoko zažrla v vse vidike življenja. Le konstrukcija užitka onkraj kapitalistične logike nas lahko iztrga nihilizmu sedanjega časa. Za razliko od ideje množične (kot zbira, kvantitete) kulture individualnosti, ki temelji na razliki, na ideji Drugega, je treba ponovno utemeljiti emancipatorno pojmovanje politike, ki temelji na ideji, da »obstaja en sam svet«, ki ga soustvarjamo vsi in ki se gradi na ideji skupnosti, kolektivitete (kot kvalitete), na ideji Istosti.
BRILL eBooks, Nov 16, 2021
Filozofski vestnik. - ISSN 0353-4510 (42/1, pp. 153-180), 2021
The text attempts to rethink the concept of emancipation and how it is structured as political ac... more The text attempts to rethink the concept of emancipation and how it is structured as political action, while describing its historical origins and how it is further understood by the three important political philosophers: Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt, and Jacques Rancière. All three of them – specifically and with substantial differences – understand politics as a space for political action that leads to emancipation in the name of equality. In order to determine the historical origin of the concept in more detail, the argumentation of the text rely upon its elaboration within the school of “conceptual history”, which deals with the historical semantics of terms and sees the etymology of and the change in the meaning of terms as forming a crucial basis for a contemporary cultural, conceptual, and linguistic understanding, and afterwards it links this “pre-history” with Marx’s, Arendt’s, and Rancière’s understanding of the concept of emancipation, and see how they differ and are related to each other, considering what theoretical conclusions about the concept of emancipation we can take from these relations. Particular interest is aimed at how the concept of emancipation is perceived today, who the subject of emancipation is, what the method and final goal of emancipation is, and, finally, how these understandings can help us in the present time when it seems that we need emancipation more than ever.
Misliti revoluciju kao stvaranje univerzalnog -neetatističkog, nepredstavničkog, neidentitetnog -... more Misliti revoluciju kao stvaranje univerzalnog -neetatističkog, nepredstavničkog, neidentitetnog -prostora politike »za sve« Sažetak U radu se razmatra mogućnost mišljenja i prakticiranja revolucionarne politike u suvremeno doba, kroz osvrt na nasljeđe revolucionarne misli-prakse 20. stoljeća te revolucionarne događaje u 21. stoljeću koji eksperimentiraju s konstitucijom revolucionarne moći bez zauzimanja vlasti. Izlazeći iz povijesne situacije obilježene tvrdnjom da revolucija »jede svoju djecu«, tvrdim kako istinska revolucija ne znači preuzimanje vlasti, već suprotno, ukidanje instance koncentrirane moći. Revoluciju treba nanovo osmisliti te je postaviti na kartu povijesti kao emancipacijski proces uspostavljanja politike jednakosti, što znači stvaranje univerzalnog -neetatističkog, nepredstavničkog, neidentitetnog -prostora politike »za sve« odnosno za »bilo koga«, bez Drugoga. To pretpostavlja osmišljavanje i redefiniranje revolucionarnog subjekta, revolucionarne metode i revolucionarne organizacije. Ključne riječi revolucija, misao-praksa, emancipacijska politika Uvod: misliti revoluciju Revoluciju, prije svega, treba ponovo izmisliti, tvrdili su još situacionisti (Situacionistička internacionala: 121), napuniti je subverzivnim, konfliktnim, emancipacijskim potencijalom. 1 Vratiti joj politički naboj. Društvo je spektakla -kao »pogled na svijet koji se je materijalizirao« (Debord, 1967: 9), kao režim koji je »u isto vrijeme rezultat i cilj vladajućeg oblika proizvodnje« (Debord, 1967: 10) i kao »ništa drugo nego ekonomija koja se razvija zbog sebe same« (Debord, 1967: 12) -iskrivilo pojam revolucije do te mjere da se može reći da pojam djeluje još samo kao zavodljivi prazni označitelj koji uspješno pospješuje prodaju, reklamira proizvode i reproducira tržišnu logiku. Intenzivno makar posljednjih stotinu godina, što od prvog izdanja Marxova Kapitala iz 1867. godine i nije neka novost, marketing se -najprije na »razvijenom Zapadu«, a potom, kao posljedica uspješnog »širenja demokracije« i diljem svijeta -služi označiteljem revolucionarno pri prodaji svojih artikala. 2 Problem nije sama upotreba riječi revolucija, već simptom na 1 Rad je djelomično rezultat znanstvenog projekta J5-1749 naslova »Prekid tradicije: Hannah Arendt i konceptualna promjena«, koji je financira slovenska istraživačka agencija. 2 Pomislimo samo na »revolucionarnu moć« rezanja britvice, upijanja uložaka ili usisavanja usisivača, a da »revolucionarnu tehniku« najnovijeg modela automobila, mobitela ili FILOZOFSKA ISTRAŽIVANJA 157 God. 40 (2020) Sv. 1 (151-166) L. Zdravković, Misliti revoluciju kao stvaranje univerzalnog -neetatističkog …
Tekst pocinje ocjenom Richarda Rortya da je Kuhnova Struktura znanstvenih revolucija uz Rawlsovu ... more Tekst pocinje ocjenom Richarda Rortya da je Kuhnova Struktura znanstvenih revolucija uz Rawlsovu Teoriju pravednosti najvažnija filozofska knjiga napisana na engleskom jeziku u XX. stoljecu. Autor smatra da je takva ocjena primjerena, jer je nemoguce sjetiti se djela iz filozofije ili povijesti znanosti koje je dramaticnije uzburkalo i nadahnulo javnost kojoj i nije bilo izvorno namijenjeno. Premda je u svojem djelu Kuhn imao na umu filozofe i znanstvenike koji se bave prirodnim znanostima, to je djelo bilo izvoriste velikih i plodnih rasprava u kojima su sudjelovali, ili koje nisu mogli previdjeti, antropolozi, sociolozi, kulturolozi, politolozi, filozofi morala, lingvisti, pravnici i mnogi drugi. Autor prikazuje neke od Kuhnovih epistemoloskih ideja koje su neepistemolozi kreativno razradili, preradili i rekontekstualizirali. Tekst ima dva dijela. U prvome autor ukratko prikazuje kljucne Kuhnove pojmove izložene u Strukturi znanstvenih revolucija (paradigma, normalna znanost, revo...
Zahvaljujem se najprej svojemu mentorju Radu Rihi, ki mi je z nasveti, napotki in komentarji odpr... more Zahvaljujem se najprej svojemu mentorju Radu Rihi, ki mi je z nasveti, napotki in komentarji odprl prostor razmišljanja o vprašanjih emancipacije, radikalne enakosti in možnosti nemožnega. K razvoju ideje doktorske disertacije so prav tako pomembno prispevala predavanja in besedila ter pogovori in nasveti profesorjev Petra Klepca in Jelice Šumič-Riha. Posebna zahvala gre Gorazdu Kovačiču, ki si je vedno vzel čas zame, najine debate o politiki in političnem v vseh teh letih pa so pomembno prispevale k profiliranju moje misli, ter Levu Kreftu, mojemu dolgoletnemu direktorju, sodelavcu in kolegu, pogovori s katerim so neizčrpen vir inspiracije, navdiha in zagona na različnih področjih. Hvala vsem prijateljem in prijateljicam, kolegom in kolegicam, tovarišem in tovarišicam, ki s svojim delovanjem utrjujejo mojo vero v radikalno enakost, in me nenehno navdihujejo skozi neskončne burne debate, snovanja različnih akcij in omamne nočne trenutke. Danijeli Tamše hvala za temeljit jezikovni pregled besedila. Nazadnje se zahvaljujem Nenadu Jelesijeviću, sodelavcu, prijatelju in ljubimcuza brezpogojno ljubezen, nepopustljiva stališča in iskrice v očeh.
Družboslovne Razprave, 2016
Prispevek premišljuje emancipatorni potencial gibanj v vstajah 2012–2013, najbolj silovitih v zgo... more Prispevek premišljuje emancipatorni potencial gibanj v vstajah 2012–2013, najbolj silovitih v zgodovini samostojne Slovenije. Ne glede na njihovo organizacijsko obliko (iniciativa, kolektiv, neformalno združenje, društvo, zavod, politična stranka …), čas nastanka ali številčnost je v središču predvsem njihovo razumevanje politike in potencial za razvoj strategij za politično delovanje. Pri tem avtorica izhajam iz temeljnega aksioma, da resen premislek o politiki nujno vključuje premislek o temeljni radikalni enakosti med ljudmi, to je politiki emancipacije, ki ji je inherentna egalitarna norma. Analiza temelji na intervjujih s sogovorniki iz 19 gibanj, aktivnih v času vstaj, in pokaže na nasprotja, ki so se vzpostavila med gibanji znotraj paradigme »možnega«, kjer je politika razumljena kot vladavina, in tista na področju »nemožnega«, to je izumljanja prostorov politike, ki bi temeljili na radikalni enakosti onkraj boja za oblast.
Interventions against child abuse and violence against women, 2019
Synthesis Philosophica, 2015
The text reflects on the emancipatory potential of the uprisings in Slovenia (2012–2013). These a... more The text reflects on the emancipatory potential of the uprisings in Slovenia (2012–2013). These are understood as a local manifestation of the global phenomenon, recently seen all over the world. Drawing on Badiou’s understanding of the universal the uprisings in Slovenia are understood as a singular impulse of the universal struggle of the oppressed, or, with Ranciere, “the not-counted”. In times that Badiou describes as “capitalo-parliamentarism”, this impulse opens up basic political questions: issues of common life, justice, and equality. I focus of the specific group of rebels who, with their demands, slogans, and activities, radicalized the entire process of rebellion, pushing it into the direction of true politics of equality, and opened up spaces of real political subjectivation, due to its understanding and practice of politics as a singular demand for the universal validity of its statements.
Synthesis Philosophica, 2016
Filozofska istraživanja, 2020
U radu se razmatra mogućnost mišljenja i prakticiranja revolucionarne politike u suvremeno doba, ... more U radu se razmatra mogućnost mišljenja i prakticiranja revolucionarne politike u suvremeno doba, kroz osvrt na naslijeđe revolucionarne misli prakse 20. stoljeća te revolucionarne događaje u 21. stoljeću koji eksperimentiraju s konstitucijom revolucionarne moći bez zauzimanja vlasti. Izlazeći iz povijesne situacije obilježene tvrdnjom da revolucija ‘jede svoju djecu’, tvrdim kako istinska revolucija ne znači preuzimanje vlasti, već suprotno, ukidanje instance koncentrirane moći. Revoluciju treba nanovo osmisliti te je postaviti na kartu povijesti kao emancipacijski proces uspostavljanja politike jednakosti, što znači stvaranje univerzalnog – neetatističkog, nepredstavničkog, neidentitetnog – prostora politike ‘za sve’ odnosno za ‘bilo koga’, bez Drugoga. To pretpostavlja osmišljavanje i redefiniranje revolucionarnog subjekta, revolucionarne metode i revolucionarne organizacije.
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Books by Lana Zdravković
Complex relationship between art and pornography has been shaped through moral/ethical dispute that oscillates between conservative understandings of pornography as obscenity that has to be censured and liberal ones who see it as freedom of speech that has to be legally regulated according to harm principle. Different attitudes towards the issue has deeply polarized the feminist movement and resulted in “feminist sex wars” started in the late 70s and early 80s, initiating a vast debate on matters of sexuality including pornography, erotica, prostitution/sex work, lesbian sexual practices, the role of transgender women, sadomasochism and other sexual issues, which lasts until today.
Any attempt to distinguish art from pornography has become ultimately obsolete within the aesthetic argument of postmodernism, which established itself by attacking the modernist “formal” distinctions between good and bad art, high art and popular mass culture and the sanctity of the art context and real life. The aim of this article is to present some of the most interesting examples of the appropriation of porn by performance art, in order to discuss why the transgressive strategies that go from self-objectification, over-sexualisation to total pornographisation are considered subversive. The article claims that in a situation where transgression became the norm, no emancipation can follow.
With contributions by Angela Dimitrakaki, Ana Peraica, Barbara Orel, Dunja Kukovec, Grupa Spomenik and DeLVe, Marija Ratković, Marina Gržinić, Martina Pachmanová, Milijana Babić, Suzana Milevska, Tea Hvala, Waldemar Tatarczuk
The publication Performative Gestures Political Moves evolved from the epony-mous symposium held in Ljubljana (at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts, June 2010) and organised by the City of Women-Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture Ljubljana. While acknowledging the "problem of performativity", the present volume, however, (still) lingers on the term, exploring its echoing in the research fo-cused on what should thus also be considered as an effect of the performance of power-on the art and theory production in so-called "Eastern Europe". A huge body of critical texts has been written in the last decade, emphasising the inscribed geopolitical and (neo)colonial power in the terms "Eastern Europe", "Former East", "Post-Socialist" and similar denotations, which have left their footprint (at least partly) on many exhibitions and art projects as well, and collections devoted to the art production from the variably named region. However, as also presented in the following contributions, the region shares, since the dissolution of state socialism(s), (ethno)nationalistic, neoliberal and neoclerical as well as patriarchal, homophobic and racist reversals-most of which are, however, a Pan-European, if not global even, "continental Post-Socialist reality" with regional specificity and intensity.
While acknowledging the “problem of performativity”, Performative Gestures Political Moves (2014), however, (still) lingers on the term, exploring its echoing in the research focused on what should thus also be considered as an effect of the performance of power – on the art and theory production in so-called “Eastern Europe”. The book does not (only) represent the research on performance art and performativity in a region denoted as “East European”, but also produces positions that go beyond the representation(s) of what performance art, performativity in/and “Post-Socialist Europe” are. Performative Gestures Political Moves therefore also raises questions of historisation(s) and their ideological positioning. Especially within feminist art history but also in feminist curating, the question of labelling art production as feminist has been till today a burning subject. How, what, when, why, where, by whom and for whom is (performance) art feminist, obviously does not have an unambiguous answer. The same is true for art and feminism as such. Therefore, the publication has aimed to foster a reflection on research positions and theoretical considerations of performativity, performance art, feminism, historisation and, above all, their political implications in/and/for the “continental Post-Socialist” condition.
(Published in The scars of the erasure : a contribution to the critical understanding of the erasure of people from the register of permanent residents of the Republic of Slovenia. Ljubljana : Peace Institute, 2010. E-book: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/izbrisani/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/the_scars_of_the_erasure_peace_institute_2011.pdf)
(Spremna beseda romanu Izbrisana, Miha Mazzini, Novo mesto : Goga, 2019. E-dostop: http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-HZX4FB7Y)
(Published in Kogovšek Šalamon, N. and Bajt, V. (eds.) 2016. Razor-Wired: Migration Movements through Slovenia in 2015. Ljubljana: Peace Institute. E-book: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Razor_wired_publikacija_web.pdf)
Papers by Lana Zdravković
Complex relationship between art and pornography has been shaped through moral/ethical dispute that oscillates between conservative understandings of pornography as obscenity that has to be censured and liberal ones who see it as freedom of speech that has to be legally regulated according to harm principle. Different attitudes towards the issue has deeply polarized the feminist movement and resulted in “feminist sex wars” started in the late 70s and early 80s, initiating a vast debate on matters of sexuality including pornography, erotica, prostitution/sex work, lesbian sexual practices, the role of transgender women, sadomasochism and other sexual issues, which lasts until today.
Any attempt to distinguish art from pornography has become ultimately obsolete within the aesthetic argument of postmodernism, which established itself by attacking the modernist “formal” distinctions between good and bad art, high art and popular mass culture and the sanctity of the art context and real life. The aim of this article is to present some of the most interesting examples of the appropriation of porn by performance art, in order to discuss why the transgressive strategies that go from self-objectification, over-sexualisation to total pornographisation are considered subversive. The article claims that in a situation where transgression became the norm, no emancipation can follow.
With contributions by Angela Dimitrakaki, Ana Peraica, Barbara Orel, Dunja Kukovec, Grupa Spomenik and DeLVe, Marija Ratković, Marina Gržinić, Martina Pachmanová, Milijana Babić, Suzana Milevska, Tea Hvala, Waldemar Tatarczuk
The publication Performative Gestures Political Moves evolved from the epony-mous symposium held in Ljubljana (at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts, June 2010) and organised by the City of Women-Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture Ljubljana. While acknowledging the "problem of performativity", the present volume, however, (still) lingers on the term, exploring its echoing in the research fo-cused on what should thus also be considered as an effect of the performance of power-on the art and theory production in so-called "Eastern Europe". A huge body of critical texts has been written in the last decade, emphasising the inscribed geopolitical and (neo)colonial power in the terms "Eastern Europe", "Former East", "Post-Socialist" and similar denotations, which have left their footprint (at least partly) on many exhibitions and art projects as well, and collections devoted to the art production from the variably named region. However, as also presented in the following contributions, the region shares, since the dissolution of state socialism(s), (ethno)nationalistic, neoliberal and neoclerical as well as patriarchal, homophobic and racist reversals-most of which are, however, a Pan-European, if not global even, "continental Post-Socialist reality" with regional specificity and intensity.
While acknowledging the “problem of performativity”, Performative Gestures Political Moves (2014), however, (still) lingers on the term, exploring its echoing in the research focused on what should thus also be considered as an effect of the performance of power – on the art and theory production in so-called “Eastern Europe”. The book does not (only) represent the research on performance art and performativity in a region denoted as “East European”, but also produces positions that go beyond the representation(s) of what performance art, performativity in/and “Post-Socialist Europe” are. Performative Gestures Political Moves therefore also raises questions of historisation(s) and their ideological positioning. Especially within feminist art history but also in feminist curating, the question of labelling art production as feminist has been till today a burning subject. How, what, when, why, where, by whom and for whom is (performance) art feminist, obviously does not have an unambiguous answer. The same is true for art and feminism as such. Therefore, the publication has aimed to foster a reflection on research positions and theoretical considerations of performativity, performance art, feminism, historisation and, above all, their political implications in/and/for the “continental Post-Socialist” condition.
(Published in The scars of the erasure : a contribution to the critical understanding of the erasure of people from the register of permanent residents of the Republic of Slovenia. Ljubljana : Peace Institute, 2010. E-book: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/izbrisani/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/the_scars_of_the_erasure_peace_institute_2011.pdf)
(Spremna beseda romanu Izbrisana, Miha Mazzini, Novo mesto : Goga, 2019. E-dostop: http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-HZX4FB7Y)
(Published in Kogovšek Šalamon, N. and Bajt, V. (eds.) 2016. Razor-Wired: Migration Movements through Slovenia in 2015. Ljubljana: Peace Institute. E-book: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Razor_wired_publikacija_web.pdf)