It is not enough to write a revolutionary poem

Photo: Hrvoje Franjić / Drugo more (Flickr gallery)
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As part of the sixteenth edition of Mine, Yours, Ours program, on the sixtieth anniversary of the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, we proudly present the exhibition Southern Constellations: Poetics of the Non-Aligned (It is not enough to write a revolutionary poem), curated by Bojana Piškur and organized in collaboration with Moderna galerija, Ljubljana.
 
Presented at Filodrammatica Gallery (Korzo 28/1, Rijeka) from September 24 to October 15, 2021, the exhibition includes works by artists Dan Acostioaei, Nika Autor, Đorđe Balmazović, Ferenc Gróf, Ibro Hasanović, Dubravka Sekulić, Hyun-Suk Seo and Mila Turajlić, cartography of SFR Yugoslavia’s international collaborations in culture with developing countries (by Teja Merhar), and selected archival materials of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The exhibition will open on Friday, September 24 at 6 p.m., remaining open until October 15, Monday through Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m.

In accordance with the currently valid measures and recommendations for the prevention of coronavirus infection, the number of visitors to the gallery space is limited. Visitors are urged to maintain physical distance and wear protective face masks properly.

“It is not enough to write a revolutionary poem is an adapted version of the Southern Constellations: Poetics of the Non-Aligned exhibition that was first shown in the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana in 2019. The second edition was presented in the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea in 2020. The exhibition in Rijeka is conceptualized in a different way as it happens on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the first NAM conference in Belgrade. It focuses on the historical cases as a kind of introduction to the cultural politics of the non-aligned movement; projects and researches presented are related to the cultural exchanges and cultural programs between Yugoslavia and the non-aligned countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The exhibition also includes contemporary works that examine the relevance or the use of NAM’s ideas for today from the position that “it is not enough to write a revolutionary poem”. The reasons for that are many: disillusions in the current global world order, especially rapid neo-liberal globalization which has created huge problems – the inequality, the rise of new forms of economic and political dependency, the rise of right-wing politics and fascisms and so on. Exhibition in Rijeka therefore suggests rethinking the following: Can the non-aligned Internationalism which at some point had a significant force be revived again? How to use these ideas in a practical and political sense? And what to do with NAM’s cultural heritage; with archives, works of art, collections? To truly reconsider this legacy in the sphere of culture today more radical measures would need to be considered not only on a declarative, but on the applicative levels: on the level of governance, knowledge production and heritage. This is becoming increasingly difficult because of the existing and the new emerging historical revisionist right-wing politics in our region and further which are systematically destroying not only the ideas of anti-fascism, socialism and the non-alignment but also violating our rights and our freedom of expression.

It is not enough to write a revolutionary poem, one must become this poem.”

Bojana Piškur
curator

About the exhibited works & their authors:

(find more about each work in the exhibition catalog )

Dan Acostioaei

Seas under Deserts

video, 2016–2017

Dan Acostioaei, Seas under Deserts, 2016–2017; video still

Employing a multi-layered narrative that superposes personal memories and geopolitical analysis, the photographic and video installation Mări sub pustiuri (Seas under Deserts) proposes an articulation of an affective knowledge in relation to the socialist legacy. The personal and political ties intertwine against a dense cultural and ideological background that combines multiple temporalities. The starting point for the work consists of documents, images and material traces left by my father during his dispatch as a construction engineer in Syria from 1975 to 1978 and in Iraq from 1981 to 1983…

Dan Acostioaei lives and works in Iaşi, Romania. He is a visual artist and teaches at the George Enescu University of Arts. He is a founding member of the Vector Association. His works focus on the identity models of the Romanian society in transition, as well as on the ideological borders between the economy and the conditions of artistic production in Eastern Europe. His projects have been shown at exhibitions such as One Sixth of the Earth – Ecologies of Image, MUSAC, Leon, Spain (2012), Transitland: Videoart in Central and Eastern Europe 1989–2009, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2010), Illuminations, Level 2 Gallery, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2007), In Times of Hope and Unrest, MNAC, Bucharest, Romania (2015), and Art Encounters, Timişoara and Arad, 2017.

Nika Autor & Newsreel Front

Newsreel 63 – The Train of Shadows

video, 2017

Nika Autor & Newsreel Front, Newsreel 63 – The Train of Shadows, 2017; video still

Newsreel 63 follows newsreel-related practices and tries to position and understand a particular image – a shred of video taken on the once famous Belgrade – Ljubljana rail-line, where refugees now travel not in couchettes but between the train’s wheels. Newsreel 63 drifts into a visual investigation of railways and explores its historical, social and political narrative. The essayistic and associative elements of Newsreel 63 link this historical narrative to our pursuit of happiness, the idea of voyage in the current social constellation, where our longing for happiness is all too often tied to the idea of travelling somewhere – or indeed the need to secure the means for mere basic survival…

Nika Autor undertook her BA and MA studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and obtained her PhD in Practice at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her practice is primarily based on experimental videos and documentary films, film essays, photography, collages, drawings and spatial video installations. The focus of her work is research into invisibilities/inaudibilities in relation to concealed topics of the forgotten past and the silenced present. Her work focuses on the production of particular images, specific constructions of collective memory as well as on personal/oral narratives. Her works examines asylum and migration policies, workers’ rights and politics of memory. She is part of the collective Newsreel Front (Obzorniška Fronta), an informal collective of workers hailing from film theory and art practice fields.

Đorđe Balmazović

Non-aligned cross-cultural pollination

drawings, 2020/2021

Đorđe Balmazović – drawings from the series “Non-aligned cross-cultural pollination”; digital print, 2020/21

Through a series of color drawings, the author takes a look at individual events, initiatives and institutions established for the purpose of shaping cultural policies, improving mutual communication and encouraging cultural exchange between member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (e.g. Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, The News Agencies’ Pool of the Non-Aligned Countries, GANEFO or Games of the New Emerging Forces, The Josip Broz Tito Gallery for the Art of the Non-Aligned countries, Titograd, etc.).

Đorđe Balmazović is an artist and graphic designer, a member of Škart collective (Belgrade / Ljubljana). One of his recent works is a graphic novel “Rat” (War) published by Fabrika knjiga Belgrade in 2018. Currently his work »Heroes« has been exhibited at the exhibition Bigger than Myself: Heroic Voices from ex Yugoslavia, MAXXI, Rome (curated by Zdenka Badovinac).

Ferenc Gróf

Naive Set Theorem (of Flags, of Colors, of Continents)

installation, 2018–2019

Ferenc Gróf, Naive Set Theorem (of Flags, of Colors, of Continents), 1989, 2018; courtesy of the artist and acb Gallery, Budapest; photo Dejan Habicht, MG

The project is based on a series of flags which depict a colorimetric timeline of the second half of the 20th century. The three main geopolitical blocks of this period, the non-aligned countries, the NATO and the Warsaw Pact, are represented by the average color of their national flags. The series of flags follow the crucial dates of their formation and the events of the century through the dissolution of the socialist block, to the enlargement of the NATO and the institutionalization of the NAM. In the background of this colored timeline of merging national symbols, a reactualized ’68 poster “3 continents, 1 revolution” is presented on a wall, using the mixed, smashed up colors of the flag installation…

Ferenc Gróf (1972, Pécs, Hungary) is a graduate of the Hungarian University of the Arts, Budapest. Since 2012 he has taught at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art (ENSA) in Bourges, France. His work considers ideological footprints at the intersection of graphic design and spatial experiences. He is a founding member of the Parisian co-operative Société Réaliste (founded in 2004) whose work considers questions of contemporary political representations, ideological design, and text-based interventions. Société Réaliste’s recent solo exhibitions include: amal al-gam, acb Gallery, Budapest, 2014; Universal Anthem, tranzit.ro, Cluj, 2013; A Rough Guide to Hell, P!, New York, 2013; Thelema of Nations, Galerie Jérôme Poggi, Paris, 2013; and Empire, State, Building, MNAC, Bucharest, 2012, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, 2012, and Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2011. Société Réaliste’s work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions and biennials in Shanghai, 2012; Lyon, 2009; and Istanbul, 2009. Since 2015 Société Réaliste is on hiatus, Ferenc Gróf continues his work as an individual artist. His most recent solo exhibitions were Without Index (Kiscelli Museum, Budapest, 2016), X with a dot below (acb Gallery / OFF Biennale, Budapest, 2017) and or firing of a red star alert (acb Gallery, 2018), Anxiocene (Les moulins de Paillard, Poncé-sur-le-Loir, France, 2019), and Concrete time (Isbn books+gallery, Budapest). Gróf lives and works in Paris.

Ibro Hasanović

Spectre

video, 2012

Ibro Hasanović, Spectre, 2012; video still

Spectre is a meditation on decay and death, on the ways memory haunts and affects the present. The film was shot on the Yugoslav Navy Yacht Galeb, which Josip Broz Tito used for parties, foreign visits and diplomacy…

Ibro Hasanović (1981, Bosnian/French) lives and works in Paris, France. His works have been featured in exhibitions at MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome; Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany; ARGOS Centre for Audiovisual Arts, Brussels; Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana; Carré d’Art – Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, France; Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Macedonia; Guangdong Museum of Art, China; Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg; Pera Museum, Istanbul; Austrian Cultural Forum, New York; Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Künstlerhaus – Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, Austria, among others. More info: ibrohasanovic.com

Dubravka Sekulić

The Non-aligned (Round) Table and its Discontents

fanzine, 2021

Dubravka Sekulić, Conference in Harare 1986, from the series of drawings/collages, 2021

The most dominant spatial figure on photos of NAM summit conferences is a large round table, a spatial configuration of the meeting which aimed to capture principles of the movement: horizontality, solidarity and proactivity. No leaders, just relations. The Non-aligned (Round) Table and its Discontents follows the transformation of roundtable in the first 30 years of the existence of the movement, understanding that sometimes spatial forms from which ideas are voiced reveal more than the words themselves…

Text and drawings by Dubravka Sekulić, designed by Ana Labudović and printed by RISO i prijatelji.

Dubravka Sekulić is an architect and educator whose work focuses on the investigation of the transformation of the contemporary city and the relation between laws, property, and space. She is interested in the understanding (built) environment as an archive and unsettling of the commonsense of architecture. She is a Senior Tutor at the School of Architecture, Royal College of Art, London and holds a PhD in architectural history and theory from gta Institute for History and Theory, Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich. She was an assistant professor at the IZK Institute for Contemporary Art, at Graz University of Technology. With Elise Misao Hunchuck and Jonathan D Solomon she initiated New Schools for Space. She regularly publishes and lectures. She is an author of Glotzt Nicht so Romantisch! (Jan van Eyck Academie, 2012) and co-editor with Žiga Testen and Gal Kirn of Surfing the Black (Jan van Eyck Academie, 2012). With Milica Tomić she co-edited GAM 14 Exhibiting Matters (Jovis, 2018) and co-curated conference Life of Crops: Towards an Investigative Memorialization (Graz, 2019). Most recently she completed a film Don’t Trace Draw (2020) with artist and filmmaker Ana Hušman.

Hyun-Suk Seo

The Age of The Future

video, 2020

Hyun-Suk Seo, The Age of The Future, 2020, video still; commissioned by Asia Culture Center Gwangju; courtesy of the artist

As a part of the ongoing video projects on the role of modernist architecture in the formation of modern nations in Asia, Hyun-Suk Seo has been researching the case of the Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann, who is accredited for building the infrastructure of Phnom Penh under the reign of Prince Sihanouk right after Cambodia’s indepen¬dence from France in 1953. The “Olympic Stadium,” one of Molyvann’s landmark works, was completed in 1964 to host the second GANEFO (The Games of the New Emerg¬ing Forces) to follow its successful inauguration in Jakarta. The Games were a part of the international efforts to build alliance independent of the American influences, the sta¬dium embodying Cambodia’s determination to be an active part of the collective energy…

Hyun-Suk Seo is a South Korean artist based in Seoul. Hyun-Suk Seo’s moving images and performance works as well as writings investigate how senses and space interact with and reconfigure each other. Heterotopia (2010–2011), The Devine Prostitution of the Soul (2011), Stage Freight (2013), Heartlessly Autumn Wind (2013), From the Sea (2014), The Angel – Tenuously Named (2017), and The Incomplete Ruins (with Gimhongsok, 2019), among other site-specific performance pieces and exhibitions, question and rework the boundaries of “art work” and viewers’ experience. The first phases of his video projects on modernist architecture in the Asian postcolonial contexts have been shown at Gwangju Biennale (2011, 2018), Venice Architecture Biennale (2014, 2018), and DMZ International Documentary Festival (2019). He is the co-author of the books Art of the Future (2016) and Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema (2009) and the co-editor of Ob.Scene, the magazine for “things out of the scene.” He teaches cinema at Yonsei University.

Mila Turajlić (powered by Filmske novosti)

‘The eyes of the whole world are on Belgrade today’ [Non-Aligned Newsreels・Fragments #1]

video, 2021

Referencing Burmese Prime Minister U Nu, who declared in his speech at the opening of the Belgrade Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in September 1961, that ‘the eyes of the whole world are on Belgrade today’, this installation investigates the summit as a media event and anti-colonial platform. The work is part of the ongoing artistic research project Non-Aligned Newsreels.

Mila Turajlić (1979, born in Yugoslavia, lives in Paris and works in Belgrade) produces film and video works that draw on a combination of documentary archive, fiction films and found footage to fabricate a new reflexive language confronting memory and ruins with the disappearing narratives of history. Her award-winning feature documentary films Cinema Komunisto – a montage combining fiction and documentary to examine the use of cinema in the construction of the political narrative of socialist Yugoslavia – and The Other Side of Everything – a family chronicle that plays out on the political frontlines of her divided childhood home – have played at numerous festivals, and been screened in cinemas in Europe and the USA as well as on HBO Europe. Among her most recent projects was a series of video installations commissioned by MoMA for their landmark exhibition on Yugoslav modernist architecture. Her latest documentary The Labudović Reels (2021) is an archival road trip with Stevan Labudović, cameraman to Yugoslav President Tito, investigating the role of cinema in the liberation struggles of the Third World and reconstructing the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement. www.dissimila.rs

Teja Merhar

Cartography of SFR Yugoslavia’s International Collaborations in Culture with Developing Countries

cartographic representation, 2019

SFR Yugoslavia’s International Collaborations in Culture with Developing Countries, Teja Merhar, map design Đorđe Balmazović, 2019

Yugoslavia’s basic instruments regulating international bilateral collaborations in culture consisted in conventions on culture and programs of cultural collaboration, both drawn up by the Commission for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries in Belgrade. The map shows the collaborations in the 1960s and 1970s, and is largely based on the conventions on culture and cultural collaboration programs Yugoslavia ratified with the non-aligned countries.

Teja Merhar is a curator in the Archives Department at Moderna galerija in Ljubljana.

NAM archival materials

posters, photos, publications

OSPAAAL posters, 1980s, offset print; photo Dejan Habicht, MG

Materials from the Moderna Galerija Photo Archive and Bojana Piškur’s NAM Archive include politically engaged posters of The Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL), archival photos from several editions of International Exhibition and Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, and booklets from the Nesvrstanost i nesvrstani (Non-Alignment and The Non-Aligned) series. 

About the Curator

Bojana Piškur works as a curator in the Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana. Her focus of professional interest is on political issues as they relate to or are manifested in the field of art, with special emphasis on the region of post Yugoslavia.  Her exhibition that dealt with the topic of the non-alignment was Southern Constellations: The Poetics of the Non-Aligned, Moderna galerija Ljubljana, 2019 and Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea, 2020. She has recently co-curated (with colleagues from the region) an exhibition Realize! Resist! React! Performance and Politics in the 1990s in the Post-Yugoslav Context.

MINE, YOURS, OURS #16:
THE NON-ALIGNED

☛ Filodrammatica, Korzo 28/1, Rijeka

EXHIBITION ↑
24/ 9. – 15/ 10/ 2021

Southern Constellations: Poetics of the Non-Aligned
It is not enough to write a revolutionary poem

CONFERENCE →
27 – 29/ 9/ 2021

Towards a Conjuctural Political Economy of Non-Alignment and Cultural Politics

FILM SCREENINGS →

27 & 28/ 9/ 2021