Books by Dejan Sretenovic
On Normality. Art in Serbia 1989-2001, 2005
The new media art in Serbia towards the end of the 20 th and at the beginning of the 21 st centur... more The new media art in Serbia towards the end of the 20 th and at the beginning of the 21 st century Artists' Biographies Chronology (edited by Aleksandra Mir~i})
Collective Practicies and Photography, 2018
Collective simulation of paranoiac delilirium in Belgrade surrealism
Otkrivanje drugog neba: Rastko Petrović, 2003
Etnografski modernizam Rastka Petrovića
Zbornik tekstova izdat povodom 50. godišnjice osnivanja Muzeja savremene umetnosti u Beogradu.
Branko Vučićević. Radnja mešovite robe. Sabrana dela. Knjiga 4, 2021
Branko Vučićević i Fluxus
Jesenja izložba. Vanredno stanje, 2021
Abstract
“Future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”
“We need a catastrophe in order to be... more Abstract
“Future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”
“We need a catastrophe in order to be able to re-examine the basic characteristics of the society in which we live”, Slavoj Žižek wrote in his book on the pandemic. Since history teaches us that terrible events can have positive consequences, then a pandemic, according to the Slovenian philosopher, can produce an “unintentional positive side effect of the crisis”. This also applies to art, which as a “non-essential” sphere of social praxis found itself in quarantine during the pandemic, which is not even remembered from the experience of the two world wars. This dystopian passage, said in medical language, “produced acute trauma and led to dysfunction”, if not paralysis of the art system, except for those activities that could have been reoriented to the telematic mode of operation. Quarantined, art found itself at a distance from both society and itself, and that distance represents a platform that enables unconventional and, if we want, a fresh review that would not be possible in “normal” conditions of artistic life.
What is the positive side effect of the state of emergency – what lessons have been learned in quarantine, can we talk about new figures of artistic thought, criticism and resistance – is a question that arises in itself, although the end of the pandemic is not yet in sight. If contemporary art is the avant-garde of society in imagining alternatives to globally integrated capitalism through aesthetic models and offering different approaches to the desired future, then a pandemic as a “general rehearsal” of a terminal catastrophe is a test for artistic imaginary and its political potential.
If we engage in speculative thinking, then we could come to the conclusion that the year 2020 is a new historical marker for the periodization of contemporary art, which inherits 1989 as one that has been in circulation for a long time. Being a “cutting fact”, the pandemic caused the end of the world as we know it because it seismically shook all its strata and produced consequences that are impossible to see in their entirety at this time. Periodizations are a tricky business in art history, and are always made after the event, from a time distance, but today we seem to have a plethora of firm indicators that call for the “end of the past” and the “beginning of the future”. But whatever path or paths the humankind takes and whatever narrative it develops, it must start from the truth that Jim Morrison’s half-century-old verse tells us here and now: “The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”.
Rad je izveden namenski, na poziv redakcije magazina za vizuelnu kulturu New Moment upu}enog grup... more Rad je izveden namenski, na poziv redakcije magazina za vizuelnu kulturu New Moment upu}enog grupi beogradskih umetnika da, povodom obele`avanja jubileja stogodi-{njice pronalaska filma (1995), "re`iraju" jednu scenu svog imaginarnog igranog filma koja }e biti publikovana u magazinu.
Protiv umetnosti. Goran Djordjević: kopije 1979-1985, 2011
Ljubomir Šimunić. Tajni život beogradske periferije. Fotografije i filmovi 1973-2012, 2012
Fluxus u Beogradu, 2014
flux [fl ks] (1.) s.1 tok, tečenje, tečnost; (com.) f l u x o f m o n e y opticanje novca, novčan... more flux [fl ks] (1.) s.1 tok, tečenje, tečnost; (com.) f l u x o f m o n e y opticanje novca, novčani opticaj. 2. nadolaženje, priliv, plima; f l u x a n d r e f l u x plima i oseka. 3. izlivanje, izliv, istek, istečeno; ispljuvak, baljenje, proliv; (path.) curenje, odliv; b l o o d y f l u x srdobolja; f l u x o f b l o o d krvavljenje. 4. (fig.) bujica, govorljivost; a p e r f e c t f l u x o f w o r d s prava bujica reči. 5. (fig.) tok, tečenje, proticanje, promicanje, prolaženje, (stalna) promena. 6. (phys.) struja, protok, brzina struje (električne, vodene, toplotne). 7. (maths.) (neprekidno) kretanje; a l i n e i s a f l u x o f a p o i n t linija je kretanje tačke. 8. (metall., chm.) sredstvo za ubrzanje topljenja ili spajanja; spajanje, topljenje priredio Branko Vučićević Salon Muzeja savremene umetnosti 5. decembar 2014-25. januar 2015.
Red Horizon. Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1919-1932, 2020
The book Red Horizon. Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1919 – 1932, is the first study to... more The book Red Horizon. Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1919 – 1932, is the first study to focus on the Yugoslav avant-gardes from the perspective of the history of left-wing political ideas. Bearing in mind that the Yugoslav avant-gardes were politically oriented towards the radical left, and considered the aesthetic revolution an integral part of the social revolution, the book explores the modes of manifestation of the ideas of Marxism and anarchism in the programmes and activities of the avant-gardes, ranging from Expressionism, through Zenitism, Dadaism, Hipnism, Constructivism to Surrealism. The policies of the Yugoslav avant-gardes are considered in the context of European avant-garde currents and ideational struggles on the left cultural front, as well as in the light of the development of Marxist aesthetics and the attitudes organised Communism assumed towards modern art. The book is structured in the form of a historical-theoretical narrative, starting from the interpretation of the avant-Garde and Communism as the two great epic narratives of the 20th century, and telling of the rebellions, dreams, conflicts, victories and defeats of those who wanted to radically change the society and art of their epoch.
Red Horizon. Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1919-1932, 2020
The book Red Horizon. Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1919 – 1932, is the first study to... more The book Red Horizon. Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1919 – 1932, is the first study to focus on the Yugoslav avant-gardes from the perspective of the history of left-wing political ideas. Bearing in mind that the Yugoslav avant-gardes were politically oriented towards the radical left, and considered the aesthetic revolution an integral part of the social revolution, the book explores the modes of manifestation of the ideas of Marxism and anarchism in the programmes and activities of the avant-gardes, ranging from Expressionism, through Zenitism, Dadaism, Hipnism, Constructivism to Surrealism. The policies of the Yugoslav avant-gardes are considered in the context of European avant-garde currents and ideational struggles on the left cultural front, as well as in the light of the development of Marxist aesthetics and the attitudes organised Communism assumed towards modern art. The book is structured in the form of a historical-theoretical narrative, starting from the interpretation of the avant-Garde and Communism as the two great epic narratives of the 20th century, and telling of the rebellions, dreams, conflicts, victories and defeats of those who wanted to radically change the society and art of their epoch.
Papers by Dejan Sretenovic
Skulptura: medij, metod, socijalna praksa, 2016
Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, Nov 30, 2020
Ausgehend von der Ontologie der Performance von Peggy Phelan versucht der Artikel die Ontogenese ... more Ausgehend von der Ontologie der Performance von Peggy Phelan versucht der Artikel die Ontogenese der Performance aufzuzeigen, indem er zeigt, wie sich Performance seit ihren Anfangen in verschiedenen Formen manifestiert hat. Der Begriff der Performance wird im Kontext einer neuen kunstlerischen Praxis der 1960er und 1970er Jahre analysiert, zu einer Zeit, als durchlassigere Grenzen zwischen den kunstlerischen Disziplinen zu einer fruchtbaren Durchdringung von Performance, Fotografie, Video, Film und Konzeptkunst fuhrten. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Medienspezifitat der Performance als nicht-materielle Kunstform und auf ihre Reprasentation, Dokumentation, Archivierung und Ausstellung gelegt. Der letzte Abschnitt des Textes widmet sich der Re-Performance als einer neu entstandenen Form der Wiederholung und Dokumentation sowie dem Einsatz von Performance vor dem Hintergrund eines zunehmenden Interesses an der konservatorischen Sicherung von zeitbasierter Kunst.
... Some of the artists, such as Marina Abramovic and Komar & Melamid, are well known interna... more ... Some of the artists, such as Marina Abramovic and Komar & Melamid, are well known internationally. Others, such as Alexander Brener, Sanja Ivekovic, Laibach, Paul Neagu, and Marko Peljhan, are known to special audiences in the East and West. See Other Titles In: ...
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Books by Dejan Sretenovic
“Future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”
“We need a catastrophe in order to be able to re-examine the basic characteristics of the society in which we live”, Slavoj Žižek wrote in his book on the pandemic. Since history teaches us that terrible events can have positive consequences, then a pandemic, according to the Slovenian philosopher, can produce an “unintentional positive side effect of the crisis”. This also applies to art, which as a “non-essential” sphere of social praxis found itself in quarantine during the pandemic, which is not even remembered from the experience of the two world wars. This dystopian passage, said in medical language, “produced acute trauma and led to dysfunction”, if not paralysis of the art system, except for those activities that could have been reoriented to the telematic mode of operation. Quarantined, art found itself at a distance from both society and itself, and that distance represents a platform that enables unconventional and, if we want, a fresh review that would not be possible in “normal” conditions of artistic life.
What is the positive side effect of the state of emergency – what lessons have been learned in quarantine, can we talk about new figures of artistic thought, criticism and resistance – is a question that arises in itself, although the end of the pandemic is not yet in sight. If contemporary art is the avant-garde of society in imagining alternatives to globally integrated capitalism through aesthetic models and offering different approaches to the desired future, then a pandemic as a “general rehearsal” of a terminal catastrophe is a test for artistic imaginary and its political potential.
If we engage in speculative thinking, then we could come to the conclusion that the year 2020 is a new historical marker for the periodization of contemporary art, which inherits 1989 as one that has been in circulation for a long time. Being a “cutting fact”, the pandemic caused the end of the world as we know it because it seismically shook all its strata and produced consequences that are impossible to see in their entirety at this time. Periodizations are a tricky business in art history, and are always made after the event, from a time distance, but today we seem to have a plethora of firm indicators that call for the “end of the past” and the “beginning of the future”. But whatever path or paths the humankind takes and whatever narrative it develops, it must start from the truth that Jim Morrison’s half-century-old verse tells us here and now: “The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”.
Papers by Dejan Sretenovic
“Future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”
“We need a catastrophe in order to be able to re-examine the basic characteristics of the society in which we live”, Slavoj Žižek wrote in his book on the pandemic. Since history teaches us that terrible events can have positive consequences, then a pandemic, according to the Slovenian philosopher, can produce an “unintentional positive side effect of the crisis”. This also applies to art, which as a “non-essential” sphere of social praxis found itself in quarantine during the pandemic, which is not even remembered from the experience of the two world wars. This dystopian passage, said in medical language, “produced acute trauma and led to dysfunction”, if not paralysis of the art system, except for those activities that could have been reoriented to the telematic mode of operation. Quarantined, art found itself at a distance from both society and itself, and that distance represents a platform that enables unconventional and, if we want, a fresh review that would not be possible in “normal” conditions of artistic life.
What is the positive side effect of the state of emergency – what lessons have been learned in quarantine, can we talk about new figures of artistic thought, criticism and resistance – is a question that arises in itself, although the end of the pandemic is not yet in sight. If contemporary art is the avant-garde of society in imagining alternatives to globally integrated capitalism through aesthetic models and offering different approaches to the desired future, then a pandemic as a “general rehearsal” of a terminal catastrophe is a test for artistic imaginary and its political potential.
If we engage in speculative thinking, then we could come to the conclusion that the year 2020 is a new historical marker for the periodization of contemporary art, which inherits 1989 as one that has been in circulation for a long time. Being a “cutting fact”, the pandemic caused the end of the world as we know it because it seismically shook all its strata and produced consequences that are impossible to see in their entirety at this time. Periodizations are a tricky business in art history, and are always made after the event, from a time distance, but today we seem to have a plethora of firm indicators that call for the “end of the past” and the “beginning of the future”. But whatever path or paths the humankind takes and whatever narrative it develops, it must start from the truth that Jim Morrison’s half-century-old verse tells us here and now: “The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”.