NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) is a provocational, multi-disciplinary art collective, made up of five main 'members': Laibach (music), Noordung (theatre), Retrovision (film), New Collective Studio (graphics), the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy (theory) and IRWIN (visual art). Skipping around the wonderful world wide web I came across an ongoing project started by IRWIN in the early 2000s called East Art Map (EAM).
The home page of the EAM's website dons the slogan "HISTORY IS NOT GIVEN. PLEASE HELP TO CONSTRUCT IT." This refers to the extremely limited documentation of Eastern European art history, particularly from 1945 onwards. EAM's aim is to formally acknowledge the crucial artists, artworks and projects during this period, essentially re-constructing history. They write, "We are planning to transform the legends and stories of the underground into a legal art history." As well as the 24 art critics, curators and artists that make up IRWIN, EAM is extended to the general public. The result is a data pool of over 200 artists and works, 133 of which were suggested by members of the public.
However before I even read into the specific EAM concept, I found the slogan alone ("HISTORY IS NOT GIVEN. PLEASE HELP TO CONSTRUCT IT") to be evocative of the overall NSK philosophy. Challenging state authority, tackling highly charged issues, juxtaposing conflicting political ideologies and reappropriation are common NSK approaches; all falling under the idea of re-writing history. Secondly, its invitation to the wider public reflects the value they place upon the collective over the individual. Finally, the idea of re-constructing history is the very basis of the NSK principle/process, retroavantgardism (retrogardism): recycling the past to inform the future.
Back to the EAM website, their validation for a participatory approach is a liberating attitude towards art history in general: It achieves to: (paraphrased)
1. accelerate and democratize the collection of data
2. allow for anyone to collaborate in the creation of a history that will be unfolding before our eyes
3. establish a space with conditions that will facilitate communication art theoriticians, critics, artists and the general public.
Dynamic, collaborative, communicative. What a vision for art.
fantastic blog. I agree - dynamic, collaborative, communicative - are for me three of the most important elements of an art that is democratic, engaged, ethical and alive.
ReplyDelete