Syndicate: Post-Yugoslavia videos at Art in General, New York

[Perry Bard <minx@bway.net>]

    Art in General  79 Walker Street New York NY 10013 (212) 219-0473
		Third Annual 12 to 12 Video Marathon
			13 January 2001

3:10: - 4:20 - Post-Yugoslavia.
              Organized by Perry Bard

On December 1, 2000 in a performance  at the gallery Zlatno Oko  which
kicked off  the Videomedeya video festival in Novi Sad, Balint Szombathy
placed a map of former Yugoslavia on the floor. On it he placed souvenir
ashtrays from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Macedonia, Serbia,
Montenegro: one from each of the former states of Yugoslavia. He pulled out
a pack of cigarettes one from each of the former states and smoked one
cigarette from each pack alternating puffs comparing the taste. The
performance ended when there were no more puffs to be had, a succinct
summary of the current state of affairs.

Each of the videos in this program is a response to the political events of
the last ten years. The group Skart, reflecting on the division of the
former republic has written a new national anthem (Armatura 93/94,6:45),
Janko Baljac's Crime that Changed Serbia (1995,35:00) is a view of the
social situation through the lens of the criminal. Dragana Zarevac (Ocaj/Le
Deuil 1996, 5:20)layers medieval mourning tradition with media images from
the war in '91. Breda
Beban (Let's Call It Love, 2000, 10:00) uses the nostalgic image of a
record spinning as a counterpoint to the media image of bomber jets
familiar from the
UN intervention. Renata Poljak's personal response in Jump (2000, 4:00)
becomes a commentary on a collective unrest. Noise by Zoran Todorvic
(1998-99, 25:00) is a database of responses gathered by placing a video
camera in public spaces and asking people to speak up, a feat in itself in
a regime where those who spoke against Milosevic mysteriously disappeared.

Breda Beban, Let's Call It Love (2000, 10:00 min, Croatia/UK)
A close up of a record spinning Chet Baker's tune is interrupted
			  		the sound/image of bomber jets
flying across a clear blue sky.

Skart, Armatura (1993-94, 6:45, Yugoslavia)
As a strategy to reunite Yugoslavia a national anthem whose text is "The
armature is the thing that connects us" is written and ridiculously
performed.

Dragana Zarevac, Ocaj/Le Deuil (1996, 5:20, Yugoslavia)
A Serbian medieval mourning song and a communist revolutionary
song are set to media images used as Serbian propaganda during the war in
former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Janko Baljac, The Crime That Changed Serbia (1995, 35:00, Yugoslavia)
Young criminals discuss their concepts of crime for crime sake and
crime as a result of events in war-torn Serbia.

Renata Poljak, Skok/Jump (2000, 4:00, 2000, Croatia)
A woman walks back and forth on a diving board repeating "Shall I
jump or not" whilethe sweat from her pacing causes her makeup to
run down her face.

Zoran Todorovic, Noise (1998-99, 25:00, Yugoslavia)
Shot in Belgrade by inviting the public to record on a video camera
placed in 3 different locations (street, mental institution, prison) this
video offers each voice the opportunity to be heard.

* the entire 12 hour program is online at www.artingeneral.org




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