Dimitirije Bašičević Mangelos, Notes, 1970s. Courtesy of Mario Bruketa and Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb.
MSU Zagreb, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, MG+MSUM Ljubljana, ZRC SAZU Ljubljana and L’Internationale
Zagreb and Ljubljana, May 24–29, 2024
School of Common Knowledge draws on the network, knowledge and experience of the L’Internationale museum confederation. Built on the basis laid by the Glossary of Common Knowledge, a project initiated by Zdenka Badovinac and Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana, it continues its co-learning methodology. Its ambition is to be both nomadic and situated, looking at specific cultural and geopolitical situations while exploring their relations and interdependencies with the rest of the world.
The pilot programme taking place in Zagreb and Ljubljana 24 – 29 May, 2024, speaks from central Europe and the western Balkans seeking to co-learn how to resist and transform the alliance of neo-liberal and neo-fascist forces in today’s world. The region has created and sustained specific ways of responding to and against globalisation and political hegemonies, as well as alternative ways of engaging with other parts of the world. Unique social models and imaginaries developed here, together with the region’s particular relations to coloniality and imperiality, are useful to reconsider in the light of present conflicts. Having access to the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana, which largely contain works by artists from the Balkans and the wider Eastern European region, as well as addressing the social and political histories of the socialist Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement, the programme offers ways to explore decolonisation, anti-fascist struggles and anti-war narratives through the voices and experiences of artists and cultural workers grounded in decolonial practices. Situated organisations and individuals from the Balkan region will narrate their practices of cultural production and the possibilities that emerge from them. Insisting on collaborative learning, the SCK will build a small temporary community that can learn to trust and antagonise each other through exchange and shared experiences.
In Ljubljana, Tomaž Mastnak will deliver a lecture entitled “Post-socialism” as part of the School of Common Knowledge on Tuesday, 28 May 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Museum of Modern Art.
