KOOPERACIJA (2012-2015) was a loose artist collective whose purpose was artistic activity outside the inert institutional frameworks of R. Macedonia. KOOPERACIJA stood for redefining the borders between public and personal space. Its objective was to unlock questions concerning the dynamic role of art in the context of centralized cultural politics and social discourse. KOOPERACIJA strived to encourage the interaction between the artist and audience.

KOOPERACIJA’s basic strategy was the occupation of temporarily free space dispersed throughout the urban landscape and exhibiting via a chain of blitzkrieg events. The desired effect was a constructive dialogue regarding the re-questioning of the critical positions in art and producing a favorable environment for a free exchange of ideas, experience and freedom of expression.

Members: OPA, Igor Toshevski, Filip Jovanovski, Gjorgje Jovanovik, Nikola Uzunovski, Vladimir Janchevski, Oliver Musovik and many more.  

Joint works:

– Kapital
– V

Further reading:

Kooperacija’s archived website

Гелевски, Никола. 2012. На улица, не под земја, okno.mk, 10.07.2012 

Toševski, Igor. 2014. Makedonija: Kooperacija, Manek – magazin nezavisne kulture, Broj 2, februar 2014

Kooperacija. 2014. Art and Politics?, Open Systems, Reader: BALKAN(S) NOW

Blackwood, Jon. 2016. Critical Art in Contemporary Macedonia, Skopje: Mala Galerija, pages 66-68, 166-181 (link to download in .pdf)

Blackwood, Jon. 2020. An Alloy Made from Art and Activism, in North Macedonia. In Steinbock, E., Leven, B. and de Valck, M. (eds.) Art and activism in the age of systemic crisis: aesthetic resilience. Abingdon: Routledge (download the chapter in .pdf)

Schenker, Harald. 2020. Hacking the balkans source code: the arts Initiative Kooperacija in Предизвици – списание за општествени прашања, бр.7 (09.2020), pages 97-120 (Macedonian/Englsih)

Gkitsa, Dimitra. 2023. Working with the spectre(s): art collectives in the post-socialist and post-conflict Balkan space. In, Myzelev, Allaand Tunali, Tijen (eds.) Contemporary Arts Across Political Divides: Difficult Conversations. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 214-239 (download the book from academia.edu or download the chapter from researchgate.net)