Bosniacs out! (Workers without frontiers)

Andreja Kulunčić (artist)

Osman Pezić, Said Mujić, Ibrahim Čurić (co-authors)

On-site project for exposition Museum in the Street

Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2008

Design: Dejan Dragosavac-Ruta

The project raises the issue of the Slovenes' attitude towards workers from Bosnia. The artist has developed the project in collaboration with three construction workers from Bosnia who, at the time of the project's creation, were working at the restauration of the Moderna galerija building in Ljubljana. All four of them have signed the Author's Agreement with Moderna Galerija, and have worked together on the project under the same conditions, at the premises of the dislocated Museum.

The end result of the collaboration was the city-lights campaign in the center of Ljubljana. The focus on four main subjects – working conditions, life in a bachelor's home, poor quality nutrition and separation from their families – and the direct manner of the campaign raise awareness of the stereotype of Bosniacs in Ljubljana and present their „good“ working and living conditions to the Slovenes.

Poster inscriptions 

Shut up and work!

My workday starts early in the morning, and I never know when it’s gonna end. Depends on the foreman; he can say I got to work late into the night, and he doesn’t ask if I’m too tired to hold up. I do very hard, manual labor.

Keep your kids at home!

We’d like to bring our families from Bosnia, but it’s not possible, we don’t make enough money. No one here would stand for their family to suffer like ours do.

Enough for you!

We eat on the construction site, often in the street, in the rain, in the winter, in the hot sun. The food’s always the same, and there’s not much of it. We’re often hungry.

Bosnians out!

I gotta work, no matter what the conditions, because my work visa is sponsored by my employer. Getting fired automatically means leaving Slovenia. I can’t even look for a better job.

It'll do for you!

I’ve been in Slovenia a long time. I’ve gone from one rooming house to another, and I have yet to see one that’s fit for a human being, maybe for an animal: damp, cockroaches, mice, you can’t even leave your laundry out, let alone food. Toilets are a major problem, we’re lucky we’re not diseased. 

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Andreja Kulunčić’s art practice is characterised by the exploration of new models of social and communication relations, as well as an interest in socially involved topics. Kulunčić makes her own interdisciplinary networks, perceiving art as an investigation, a process of collaboration and self-organisation. She launches collaborative and collective projects, confronting with diverse audience, whose active participation she often pleads for in order to “complete” her works. Some of Andreja Kulunčić's frequent subjects are correlations between economy, transition, feminism and racism.

Her work has been presented at international exhibitions, including: Documenta11 (Kassel), Manifesta4 (Frankfurt/Main), 8.Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul), Liverpool Biennial04 (Liverpool), 3.Tirana biennial (Tirana), 10.Triennial-India (New Delhi) among others. At solo shows, including: Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City), Museo MADRE (Napoli), Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade), Art in General (New York), Artspace Visual Art Canter (Sydney), Darat Al Funun (Jordan), Gallery NOVA and Galery Miroslav Kraljevic (Zagreb). At collective shows in museums, including: Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), PS1 (New York), Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis), Museum MUAC (Mexico City), Kumu Art Museum (Tallin), Museum of Contemporary Art (Zagreb), Modern Museum (Ljubljana), Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Warshaw), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Rijeka), Lentos kunstmuseum (Linz), Museum of Modern Art (Saint-Etienne), Ludwig Museum (Budapest).

She lives in Croatia, where she teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Department of New Media.

Artist's web page: www.andreja.org