Art at Work
At the Crossroads between Utopianism and (In)Dependence
22 September 2022 – 29 January 2023, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova +MSUM, Ljubljana
OPENING PROGRAM
THURSDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2022
15:00–17:00 | Džuverović (she/her)
The Yugoslav Non-Aligned Movement Solidarity Archive, the documents of Olja Džuverović.
The first meeting of the working group in which invited participants will gather (virtually and in person) to explore the Non-Aligned Movement Solidarity Archive, the documents of Olja Džuverović. The group aims to be a space for in-depth engagement with the material in the archive, moving beyond simply showcasing the archive in an exhibition context (more).
PERFORMANCES AT THE OPENING:
20:15–20:40 | Damir Avdić
Me, the Anarchist
The concert performance Me, the Anarchist is based on a true story of a man who moved to the United States (San Francisco) after the war, to come face to face with the banality of his convictions there.
From 20:15 | Hristina Ivanoska
Easy Accumulation of Capital
Easy Accumulation of Capital is a research-based performance that focuses on the issues of discrimination against women in the Macedonian textile industry. The title of the project is partly taken from the book Accumulation of Capital by Rosa Luxemburg, which was the result of a thorough review of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital.
During the exhibition opening, Ivanoska will embroider a new sentence extracted from Rosa Luxemburg's book Accumulation of Capital on the original textile work.
20:40–21:00 | Siniša Labrović
Work on Yourself
In the performance Work on Yourself the artist performs exercises based on Pilates, body workout, and similar forms of training. The aim of his exercises is to present a series of figures from art history.
Music: »Dus - Sheeboom«, Zvonimir Dusper
21:00–21:30 | Biljana Tanurovska - Kjulavkovski and Ivana Vaseva
“How my life turned into a cultural worker – cultural workers take the stage”
Lecture-presentation-performance
“How my life turned into a cultural worker – cultural workers take the stage” is a dissection of the lives of two cultural workers from different generations working on the non-institutional scene in North Macedonia, condensed in the form of a lecture performance done by the two authors and dramaturgically developed together with the dramaturge Rok Vevar from Slovenia.
21:30–22:00 | Via negativa
EXTIMA: Fertile Soil
Based on research into the close relationship between the logic of civilization and the environment, the performance Fertile Soil looks into the disproportionate impact of ecological degradation on women, with a special focus on environmental and gender injustice.
Fertile Soil is the first part of a four-year project under the common title EXTIMA. In it, Olja Grubić explores the externalization of the intimate as a basic gesture of the artist on the one hand, while on the other hand she opens up the complex relationship between private and public, personal and social.
Author and performer: Olja Grubić
Coauthors and performers: Lana Zdravković, Kristina Aleksova Zavašnik, Barbara Kukovec, Nohemi Barriuso
Music: Andrej Fon, Vid Drašler
Production: Via Negativa
FRIDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2022
11:00–15:00 | Assembly debate and workshops
Assembly debate: 11:00–12:30
Regions of former Yugoslavia have a shared history, and they also share a similar experience of more or less brutal integration into the Western capitalist market. The cultural models in most of these countries are a complex conglomerate of vestiges of self-managed socialist structures of public institutions and freelance cultural workers combined with neoliberal project-based work and precarization that does not provide for a decent living.
Moderated by Biljana Tanurovska – Kjulavkovski
Workshop 1: 13:30–15:00
Organization of cultural workers
In a situation of individualization of post-Fordist work patterns, where workers have no job positions or immediate superiors and when precariousness pervades not only our working conditions, but also our lives and relationships, we need to rethink the possibilities of labor organizing in the cultural sector.
Moderated by Miha Zadnikar
Workshop 2: 13:30–15:00
Advocacy policies and changes to the cultural model
The power discourse pushes us to understand the inability to survive in culture through a field of individual failures, when in fact it is clear that this is a systemic problem that requires a systemic, not an individualized solution. What are examples of good practice in labor rights protection in culture in the territory of former Yugoslavia, which concrete changes to the cultural model are required today and how can they be achieved?
Moderated by Vida Knežević
SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2022
10:30–12:30 | Džuverović (she/her)
Yugoslav Non-Aligned Movement Solidarity Archive, the documents of Olja Džuverović
In the second meeting of the work group, invited participants will begin to discuss the material held in the Non-Aligned Movement Solidarity Archive, the documents of Olja Džuverović. The group aims to be a space for in-depth engagement with the material in the archive, moving beyond simply showcasing the archive in an exhibition context (more).
