Focus Belgrad
Fragments of Serbian Art and Culture

“God loves the Serbs” – this is the provocative title of the Serbian artist Rasa Todosijevic’s installation, which is presented at the ifa Gallery Berlin together with works by other established representatives of the oppositional art scene from Belgrade and Novi Sad. The exhibition “Focus Belgrade – Fragments of Serbian Art and Culture” traces the question of which aesthetic positions are formulated in reaction against the authoritarian-nationalist state and which artistic tendencies have developed out of the situation of restriction and seclusion as a result of the UN sanctions.

The works – all installations – by Jovan Cekic, b. 1953; Nina Kocic, b. 1961; Zoran Naskovski, b. 1960, Rasa Todosijevic, b. 1945; Milica Tomic, b. 1960 and the artist group Apsolutno (Dragan Miletic, b.1966 ; Zoran Pantelic, b. 1967; Bojana Petric, b. 1962; Dragan Rakic, b. 1957) offer an opportunity to engage with the latest artistic developments in this region and to take a look behind the scenes of official news narratives.

What language do the artists find for what cannot be verbally expressed, be it because of political restrictions to be feared or because of actual speechlessness in the face of the incomprehensible events of the last years. This is not a presentation of Serbian art in the national sense. The pictures are often very direct and shocking, interfering with the ethical and moral value system of the viewer. One can clearly see a tendency, in view of the frightening reality, to find even more frightening images in order to have any chance at all of being noticed. Thus, the installation and artworks often seem very provocative and are meant to be. The exhibition was curated by Bojana Pejic and Dejan Sretenovic.

Parallel to the exhibition, a symposium will take place on October 8 and 9, 1998 in cooperation with Podewil, where current film and video productions from the art scene and the Belgrade radio station “B 92” will be shown.