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Sonja Zavrtanik
Vienna : Belgrade
The sheer volume of various media which today enable us to be up to date
with the artistic production in the contemporary global world can still
not replace a visit of a certain town. It is only through a direct contact
with people and getting acquainted with the specific conditions in which
art emerges within a certain environment, that a situation you could previously
merely anticipate is brought closer to you. This was also the purpose
of the visits to Vienna and Belgrade that we made within the frame of
this years course for curators of contemporary art. We wished to get acquainted
with the systems and structures of the contemporary art productions of
two completely different towns, two towns for which you are at first convinced
that the distance between the two is even greater then that shown on the
map.
As expected Vienna proved to be a town deeply rooted in the European fortress,
in which art moves according to the already well proven guidelines of
the western art system with a well developed market and infrastructure.
Even though it is known for its conservatism when compared to other European
towns, we had the chance to get to know a very diversified structure of
institutions which deal with contemporary art. From the low budget galleries
to the newest Viennese acquisition, the museum giant MuseumsQuartier,
which will supposedly become an equivalent to the Guggenheim, Tate Modern,
Beaubourg, etc.
On the other hand, Belgrade proved to be a true antipode to the "Viennese
art machinery". In ten years numerous things have changed there,
unfortunately not for the better. The dimensions of the low budget Viennese
galleries can be compared to the sole Belgrade gallery, in which the better
contemporary art production is displayed. Unfortunately there are also
hardly any means for survival of art in Belgrade. In Belgrade everything
functions on the basis of voluntary work, there is almost no financing
and the art infrastructure is hardly existent.
Searching for any kind of parallels between the two towns might seem almost
perverse, for many artists from Belgrade see Vienna as the promised land.
However, a very strong connection which links the experience of both towns
does exist, i.e. the shadow of the ruling government which has managed
to force its way deep under the skin of the art system in Vienna as well
as in Belgrade. The only difference is that Haider's policy of withdrawing
the funding of most institutions and galleries tries to repress the already
established guidelines of the progressive development of contemporary
art (which was formed already long before he stepped on the scene) and
push the Viennese and the entire Austrian culture back a century, while
the Milošević regime disabled its normal development in its initial stages.
It is true that the Milošević regime has been buried for a while now,
however this did not reduce the impression of our visit, for the memory
of over a decade of his rule can still be felt. The dramatic consequences
of this regime have, by all means, left a greater mark than the few years
long nationalistic and conservative Haider's rule, however, the second
joint denominator (noticeable in both towns) was the high level of civil
disobedience which fought (and still is fighting) these political systems
on different levels and where a politically engaged art formed almost
naturally. All of this critically reflected the political situation in
various ways.
The trips were therefore important already from the viewpoint of getting
acquainted with the issues of how politics can mark art and the entire
system within which it develops to a great extent, even more so because
these issues are not something found merely in newspapers, but you also
start placing faces to names. You can also notice that politically engaged
art, whether it is good or bad, can finally appear and operate only in
an environment in which the conditions are favourable for it.
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