Date: 25. 02. 2015 (Wednesday), 8pm - 9.30pm
Location: Faculty of Philosophy / Philology (@A3)

There are various studies and surveys tending to quantify happiness by defining specific indicators and measurement values ​​for social development and well-being of different countries, based on various parameters including the standard of citizens, economic growth and social cohesion, the level of tolerance and political culture, media freedom and development of interactive cultural models. 

One of the goals is to reassess the current tendencies for imperative imposing of happiness that are transforming the world in a field governed by “terror of positivity”, particularly by isolating individuals and groups who stubbornly resist the prescribed rationality of “positivity” and “happiness “.

It seems even more absurd if it is done through non-critical application of utilitarian models for quantifying happiness, especially in countries that are committed to (at least in theory) and dream of reaching the western values ​​and economic standards, but actually remain stuck and show serious signs of dysfunction, societies in which we can repeatedly witness deferral in confronting with reality.

Marko Stamenkovic’s lecture and the discussion with the artists of Initiative Kooperacija are focused on presenting and developing the possible theoretical frameworks related to the post-socialist context in Southeastern Europe, considering the different micro-political forms of revolt and resistance defined as forms of “counter-terror of negativity in terms of necropictorial regime of power”, especially within the neoliberal ‘ethics of happiness’ and its ‘terror of positivity’.

__________

Marko Stamenkovic (1977, Vranje) is a curator born and raised in the south of Serbia. He graduated in Art History from the University of Belgrade (2003) and received his M.A. degree in Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies from the University of Arts in Belgrade (2005). In 2014 he earned his doctoral degree in Philosophy from the University of Ghent (Belgium) with the thesis “Suicide Cultures. Theories and Practices of Radical Withdrawal”. His PhD research was realized at the Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences under Prof. Dr. Tom Claes (CEVI-Center for Ethics and Value Inquiry).

Igor TOSHEVSKI / OPA (Slobodanka STEVCESKA & Denis SARAGINOVSKI) /
Oliver MUSOVIK / Filip JOVANOVSKI / Nikola UZUNOVSKI / Gjorgje JOVANOVIK / 
Vladimir JANCHEVSKI

Remont Gallery, Marsala Birjuzova, Belgrade, Serbia

Frequent attempts to narrow down and eradicate the facility for an open debate and the visible repercussions of any anti-disciplinary act, manifest the embodiment of a long perceived crisis of rationality and the brutal instrumentalisation of its communicative potential. It is a tendency that, through local quasi-interpretations and prominent authoritarian tendencies disguised as a necessity, can only lead into a new era, which would present an actual anti-human dystopia for the common citizen.

Artists are confronted with a serious challenge to defend this common space because the actual public sphere is a vital condition for the implementation of a democracy. However, the struggle for autonomy here does not refer only to the self-sufficiency of art disciplines in relation to specific artistic media or its internal logic – a cul-de-sac that the modern teleological conception of art led us to. Rather, it signifies something much more rudimentary and universal, and that is the sovereign democratic right to be socially engaged, accountable, to express the willingness to supply propositions and to criticize. The right of free thinking and a reasoned struggle for one’s personal opinions is the essential condition for life in a community, even as a completely fragmented reality, or at least for an unobstructed and equal partaking within that same physical space.

Based on the premise that the autonomy of contemporary artists is socially conditioned, Kooperacija attempts to overcome the position of marginalization and powerlessness precisely within the public sphere by stepping beyond the boundaries of the art world and frequently in defiance of simplified messages regularly conducted from centers where political and economic powers intersect through proven effective mechanisms. Revisiting the unenviable position of the artist as a paradigm for disobedience and resistance, as well as the undesirability of any critical thought in society with noticeable tendencies towards gradual postponement or even elimination of the political, the artists in Kooperacija individually, as well as through continued collaboration, try to actualize disputed “galloping” values which, without a broad consensus are being disseminated through Macedonia’s cultural infrastructure.

With the exhibition The Horses’ Legs are Too Short [1] Kooperacija makes an overview of previous attempts to problematize contemporary social phenomena by allocating intersecting points of critically oriented art and the mechanisms of propaganda, as well as addressing the dangers and consequences of the possible reoccurrence of grand narratives which often result in unrestrained nationalist outbursts. The artists presented in the exhibition display works that are a (direct) response to the one-way instrumentalized mechanisms and their centralized cultural policies as a source of radical division and severe confrontations within Macedonian society. Through these works, which document their aesthetic and moral positions, the artists reject a simplified ironic detachment from a troubled reality by challenging this same reality, utilizing diverse yet visibly convergent strategies and procedures, from open critique to the simulation of exaggerated identifications, all in an attempt to expose the socio-political context and delegitimize the dominant imposed discourse.

[1] The Horses Legs are Too Short – graffiti that appeared on the building of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, soon after proposing the first models of equestrian monuments designed for the project “Skopje 2014″.

Vitaly KOMAR, IRWIN, Santiago SIERRA, DETEXT (Valentin DUCEAC & Raul MARTÍNEZ), Nemanja CVIJANOVIC, Ibro HASANOVIC, Kristina GOROVSKA & Jure LAVRIN, Ines EFREMOVA, Vladimir LUKASH, Nikola UZUNOVSKI, Filip JOVANOVSKI, Gjorgje JOVANOVIK, Igor TOSHEVSKI, OPA, Vladimir JANCHEVSKI

Bul. Sv. Kliment Ohridski, br. 60A

In a time when efforts are made to maintain the idea of ​​pluralism, the radical imbalance of power is one of the fundamental problems in the attempt to resolve various conflicts, especially those in societies which strive to represent and propagate the necessity of integrity and unchallengeable unification. 

One of the main concepts in the political theory of Antonio Gramsci is precisely hegemony and its mechanisms. According to him, the success of the dominant classes in imposing their own definitions of reality and world view as common sense upon other classes defines the essence of hegemony.

Imposing such attitudes as the only possible discourse in perceiving the world is achieved through the power of propaganda. 

Indeed, art has always played a significant role in this process. Despite the cautious approach which many take regarding this matter, it becomes increasingly clear that art holds an important political dimension. Art can be a tool for domination by the ruling elite applied through the manipulation of culture, but it can also be seen as a force which actively participates in its demolition and deconstruction. 

It is not surprising that various artistic forms occupy a pivotal role in the social spectacle because art, even before it was defined as we perceive it today, derives from practices that were and still remain inseparable from politics, the will for power and hegemonic mechanisms.

Aware of his socially conditioned autonomy, the contemporary artist is thus inevitably located in the hottestzone. Seen from through the perspective of marginalization, it is quite legitimate for the contemporary artist to fight for a better position employing the very same propaganda mechanisms directed toward efficiency, but also used as a manipulative tool in political propaganda and corporate marketing.

But, how should this be achieved taking into account the artists’ difficult circumstances? How should they counter dominance and pervasiveness of a multitude of other messages in their attempt to improve their position? Do they take part in the game of the verbal-visual spectacle in order to promote their personal agenda? Or, do they engage in obscure criticism while addressing the same contentious values by intensifying and inflating them? Should they approach toward a direct negation or a radical withdrawal of the need for impact and refusing to deliver the expected attitude?

Regardless of which tactic is preferred, the question remains: can the artist challenge the pressure and attempt to preserve the melting point temperature in the struggle for maintaining his/her position and the required conditions of liquidity/fluidity?

The exhibition “Melting Point: Art as Anti-hegemonic Propaganda” explores the points of intersection of art with propaganda mechanisms, while trying to draw critical attention to the impact which various socio-historical situations have on the very perception of the relationship of art and politics. 

The exhibition is a collection of individual reflections, reactions and criticisms of one-way institutionalized mechanisms and centralized cultural policies using the typical strategies of dominant ideologies that are constantly trying to maintain and strengthen their positions through the role of art.

—

Kooperacija would like to thank Ognen Uzunovski and Club Sektor 909 team for putting the space at our disposal.

We would also want to thank: Prometeogallery di Ida Pisani, Reactor – Research In Action, Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Lokomotiva – Centre for New initiatives in Arts and Culture, Contemporary Art Center Skopje, ЅЕЕ art group and Osten Gallery for lending us technical equipment and for their support.

* KOOPERACIJA is self-financed group of artists open for cooperation with other artists and collectives from the country and abroad.

Location: Njudelhiska 6, Skopje
Opening: 24.06.2014 (Tuesday) at 21:00 h
The exhibition will be open every day from 19:00-22:00 till 
28.06.2014 (Saturday)

Vladimir JANCHEVSKI (* 1984, Skopje) graduated from the Institute of Art History (Contemporary Art) at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. In the period 2009-2011 he was employed as a teaching assistant on the courses about Modern and Contemporary Art. Since 2011 participates in the activities of the Centre for Visual Studies – Skopje, which is part of the European network for visual culture. As an independent researcher, works in the field of contemporary art, art theory and visual studies. Since 2005 he organized many exhibitions, lectures and discussions, edited several publications, participated in several conferences and authored more than thirty texts.

In May 2012 he joined the Initiative Kooperacija and has participated in the conceiving and realization of all projects / activities (presentations, discussions and exhibitions), also exhibiting his works, both individual and collaborative. 

Location: Njudelhiska 6, Skopje

The exhibition Anomalies basically deals with various aspects of the complex interrelations between image and text, the definition and analysis of borderline positions and points of intersection of these two dominant representational modes that are both complementary and contradictory, but always interdependent.

The works, alternately elaborated between 2011-2014 are outlined as ‘diagrams’ for further elaboration of methodological reflections concerning the verbal and the visual, and simultaneously ‘in constant search of their discourse,’ positioned in the border-zones of visual art, art theory, art criticism, art-historical hermeneutics, critical theory, visual studies and image theory.

One of the starting points is the thesis that art, after the enormous extension of the scope of its notion, is a positive and necessary system ‘anomaly’, and a model for in-disciplinarity, especially when it is put in function of uncovering of social irregularities, such that are imposing normativity.

In an era of enormous saturation with images and its absolute domination imposed through technological development, a period defined as ‘pictorial / iconic turn’, and a time when the post-production features of art are intensifying, the idea/intention is to stress the importance of the control in the process of signification and hence the artist’s responsibility in choosing. The question that arises is whether the field of contemporary art can be a solid base for the development of a “new iconology” which will insist on merging the separate domains of theory and practice, basing it on a cyclical process of generating “images” which themselves will be processed as a matter of further analysis and generate new ones that will go beyond the frame initially given.

The relationship between the choice of practices which are in fact games based on alterations, crossing codes, especially the interest for the anagrams on the one hand and the concept of the limits of interpretation on the other, is not accidental. Thus, the anagramic destabilization presented in Anagramic Logical Square (2014) and constructed on a particular binary (traitor – patriot), is directed toward problematizing and rejection of the simplified binary logic that imposes itself as a social norm at different levels.
The interventions in the works are often based on destabilizations of existing simple iconographic and textual constructions, but such that are aimed at exposing their inherent potential for a “counter-effect”. It is also reflected in the relation between the images and the titles as their basic frame, while using them to thematize some of the complex social phenomena, such as the tendency of the dominant discourse that is “profiling/framing” our reality (Construction for a Classical Capital, 2013), the “Name issue” and the tries to achieve a “reasonable compromise”, “without additions and adjectives” (Anagramatica series , 2011-2014), then the mechanisms of cultural institutions through which the system reproduces itself as the norm, of anonymity and breaking out the frame as a metaphor for in-disciplinarity (Play with Clasical Capital, 2014) etc.

The intention is not only to deconstruct what is thematized, but also to reveal the mechanisms that make possible the creation and circulation of certain problematic images and perpetuate their effectiveness.

27-28.01.2014
Kosovo Foundation for Civil Society, Prishtina

Participants: Flaka Haliti (RKS), Saranda Bogujevci (RKS/UK), Vladimir Miladinović (RS), Saša Šimpraga (CRO), Nita Luci (RKS), Eli Krasniqi (RKS), Eliza Hoxha (RKS), Marko Krojač (DE), Nataša Govedarica (RS), Linda Gusia (RKS), Blerta Zeqiri (RKS), Astrit Ismaili (RKS), Organic Initiative (RKS), Arben Llapashtica (RKS), Internally Displaced (RKS), Agata Rogoś – Kooperacija (MKD)

Location: Concept café, Ruzveltova 37, Skopje

Public Discussion

Participants/Speakers: Elizabeta Sheleva, PhD; Bojan Ivanov, MA; and Vladimir Janchevski (Kooperacija)

Moderator: Elena Veljanovska

On the occasion of the exhibition “Reidentification” opened recently and the release of the first issue of “Kritika”, Kooperacija is organizing a event open for the public in order to discuss the role of criticism in contemporary art practices, the role of independent initiatives in the development of critical thought in general, as well as the cultural policies today and the possible directions for their modification and improvement.

Concept café, Ruzveltova 37, Skopje

Snezana Altiparmak, Metodi Angelov, Mirna Arsovska, Urosh Veljkovic, 
Dijana Bogdanovska, OPA (Slobodanka Stevceska & Denis Saraginovski), 
Fotini Gouseti, Marko Gutic Mizimakov, Neda Firfova, Simon Uzunovski,
Sasho Dimoski, Dimitrie Duracovski, Dushan Drakalski, Ines Efremova, 
Ivan Ivanovski, Jana Jakimovska, Vladimir Jancevski, Vladimir Lukash, 
Filip Jovanovski, Aviv Kruglanski, Ana Lazarevska, Gjorgje Jovanovik, 
Oliver Musovik, Mile Nicevski, Vahida Ramujkic, Igor Sekovski, 
Aleksandar Spasoski, Slavica Toshevska, Igor Toshevski, Boris Shemov, 
Nada Prlja

Re-identifications aims to speak about anonymity from the position of obscurity, or renaming from the aspect of namelessness. Consequently, the main emphasis here is the very questioning of identity by exploiting the name as a sign / symbol and of course, the possible implications of the open (public) versus the hidden (anonymous) in the context of the inevitable relationship between the aesthetic and the political. 

The question is whether and what we can actually do to define and determine the territory of the personal in relation to the actual spatial boundary, yet within social space? This is especially reflected in the field of contemporary art where through installation art as an immersive presentation, it incorporates not only diverse media and techniques, but also the space that naturally becomes an integral part of the work. And perhaps more important is the question of what is specifically implied in such a set of detached entities / works viewed on a political level.

On the other hand, though it may be often heard that “the work speaks for itself,” if deprived of its context, it becomes harder, perhaps even impossible for it to be fully interpreted. But, Kooperacija sees a compelling challenge precisely by confronting the art object without the mediation of its associated items, which significantly reveal its context. Therefore, one of the main conditions for participation in this particular exhibition was the request to consciously renounce (even if only temporarily or symbolically) any feature, which would indicate the identity of the author. This deviation from the standard, modernist museum-gallery principles further positions the work in a condition of uncertain interpretation, a state of imbalance and consequently, a distortion in the artist-viewer relationship. Finally, such an unstable configuration can be interpreted as a kind of reflection of the socio-political conditions, which exist today.

Therefore, Re-identifications is an attempt to examine certain stances of anonymity through the process of amalgamation of autonomous works from numerous artists who, speaking from a personal point of view, address aspects of collective identity as well as those of authorship itself, individual responsibility, self-censorship and related aspects of social existence.

Ul. Mitropolit Teodosij Gologanov, br.70, lokal 2, Skopje

Kooperacija would like to thank Violeta and Sasho Koneski  for putting the space at our disposal.

Location: Greta Gallery, Ilica 92, Zagreb, Croatia
Opening: 11. 11. 2013, / 8 p.m.
The exhibition will be open until 17th of November 

Simon Uzunovski, Velimir Zernovski, Oliver Musovik, Gjorgje Jovanovik, Ines Efremova, Nikola Uzunovski, Hristina Ivanoska, Yane Calovski, OPA, Harald Schenker, Igor Toshevski, Aleksandar Spasoski, Vladimir Lukas, Filip Jovanovski, Vladimir Janchevski 

KOOPERACIJA is an initiative whose purpose is artistic activity outside the inert institutional frameworks, thus suggesting an exceptional approach to the creation and experience of contemporary art. KOOPERACIJA stands for shifting and redefining the borders between public and personal space. Its objective is to unlock questions concerning the dynamic role of art in the context of centralized cultural politics and social discourse. KOOPERACIJA strives to encourage the interaction between artist and audience. 

This is KOOPERACIJA’s first exhibition outside Republic of Macedonia. While the showcase includes works which have previously been presented or correlate with events initiated by KOOPERACIJA, this compilation points to the presence of the body within a specific social and local context treating it as a political space. “Although these works do not refer literally to the corporeal manifestation in Performance Art, all of them indicate the abuse and the reluctant surrender of the Body to the masses or rather its absence witnessed through traces of past occurrences, textual footnotes or documented interventions in public space”, says Vladimir Janchevski in the foreword of the exhibition.

KOOPERACIJA’s basic strategy is the occupation of temporarily free space dispersed throughout the urban landscape and exhibiting via a chain of blitzkrieg events. The desired effect is 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.

Greta Gallery, Ilica 92, Zagreb, Croatia

KOOPERACIJA wishes to thank Krunislav Stojanovski, David Lušičić, Smiljan Tolj and Zvonimir Marčić for their cooperation as well as „Greta“ Gallery in Zagreb for lending their space.

“bblackboxx is an independent art space at the border of Switzerland, in the neighborhood of a detention complex, where 300 asylumseekers are kept and sometimes deported. Since 2007, a network of artists and theoreticians around bblackboxx have developed an curriculum of art actions and theoretical work, which stands up against the increasing xenophobic and suppressive migrations politics in the country.”

The initiator Almut Rembges will talk about the specific emancipatory practices of bblackboxx, as a counter model against a context which is otherwise defined by control and charity. 

More information: www.bblackboxx.ch

Almut Rembges is a conceptual action artist from Switzerland. In her twenties she had started studying business economy. She stopped that on one day, when she had to listen to a professor who explained why capitalism needs the poor. Then she switched to art theory at Basel University where she made her MA in 2003. After a short period as museum guide, she became assistant for various independent theatre groups in Switzerland and Germany, where she learned about practices of documentary performance. In 2007 she started to run “bblackboxx”, an outdoor offspace at the Swiss-German border where she collaborates with artists and theoreticians, who are engaged in a critical discourse about European border politics. The space is shared by both Basel citizens and asylum seekers (non-citizens), who live in a reception camp nearby. Together they have built an open collaboratory network which has realized more than 60 artprojects on the spot. Most of the projects circle around questions of self-empowerment, self-organization and anti-racist activities. Rembges summarizes the work of bblackboxx network as an ongoing counter performance against suppression and isolation of non-citizens in the country. It is also a self-teaching no border academy which is open to anyone, who is interested in gaining independent knowledge about the consequences of current migration politics in the Schengen area.

Since 2010, Rembges has transferred bblackboxx practice to other places, for example to the city gallery of Bern and the Museum of Cultures in Basel. From time to time she is guest teacher at Universities and Art Academies in Switzerland.

Café “Pablo”, Bul. 8 Septemvri, br.8, vl. 2, lokal 6, Skopje

This event of KOOPERACIJA is a result of cooperation that Almut Rembges accomplished during her month-long stay in the artist in residence program supported by Pro Helvetia and realized in collaboration with the festival CULTURESCAPES, “Faculty of things not learned”, AKTO festival for contemporary art and Centre for culture Bitola.

Kooperacija would like to thank Mile Stanishkovski Stanish and  Café “Pablo”  for putting the space at our disposal.

Venue: Mestna Galerija

Ljubljana, Sovenia, 25-26 October 2013

From the seminar’s announcement:

“BALKAN (S) NOW curated by Gülsen Bal and Marlene Rigler  in cooperation with Open Systems (Vienna), Mestna galerija (Ljubljana) and Remont (Belgrade) aims to actively engage with the current artistic practice in the former Yugoslavia because we believe that a much-needed political artistic practice is being shaped in countries such as Serbia, Macedonia, the Kosovo or Slovenia: a practice that relies on self-empowerment, strong networking across the region and a pro-European, yet critical attitude.Therefore, looking at the artistic landscape anywhere south of the Austrian border, one discovers a vivid, particularly interconnected art scene.”

Public panels:

25 October (Friday), 18.00 – 19.30

Art and the realm of politics: contemporary artistic practice and politisation of civil society

Albert Heta (Artist and co-founder of Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Pristina, Pristina)
Igor Toshevski (Artist and member of Kooperacija, Skopje)
IRWIN (Artist collective, Ljubljana)
Lana Zdravkovic (Researcher, publicist, political activist and artist – Mirovni Institut and Institute KITCH Ljubljana)

Moderation: Dieter Hammer

26 October (Saturday), 11.00 – 12.30

Cross-border artistic and institutional networking; the ex-Yugoslav context as a model for Europe

Barbara Borčić (Director and head of video programs, SCCA – Center for Contemporary Arts Ljubljana)
Miroslav Karic (Art critic and curator, Remont Independant Artists association, Belgrade)
Zoran Pantelić (Member of New Media Art Centre – kuda, Novi Sad)

Moderation: Dieter Hammer

26 October, 12.30 – 14.00

Film and Video screening:

Yane Calovski, Nemanja Cvijanović, Ibro Hasanović, Astrit Ismaili, Alban Muja, Vladan Jeremić and Rena Rädle, Milica Tomić

26 October

Artists’ Public Laboratory/ Performance:

Lana Čmajčanin (Artist, Sarajevo)

http://www.openspace-zkp.org/2013/en/events.php?y=2013&p=71