29. Salon mladih, Zagreb

Salon revolucije

HDLU, Meštrovićev paviljon, Trg žrtava fašizma bb, Zagreb

Otvorenje: SUBOTA, 04.10.2008. u 20.00

Salon mladih najveća je hrvatska bijenalna manifestacija stvaralaštva mladih koju organizira Hrvatsko društvo likovnih umjetnika u Zagrebu u prestižnom prostoru Meštrovićava paviljona / Domu hrvatskih likovnih umjetnika - popularnoj Džamiji i svim njenim prostorima. Salon mladih ustanovljen je kao bijenalna manifestacija davne 1968. godine s ciljem predstavljanja i promoviranja stvaralaštva mladih umjetnika a ove godine slavi 40 godina svoga postojanja. Salon Mladih tradicionalno se održava pod pokroviteljstvom Ministarstva kulture RH i Gradskog ureda za obrazovanje, kulturu i šport Grada Zagreba. Jubilarni se ovogodišnji salon fokusira na stvaralaštvo mladih umjetnika iz cijele Hrvatske te nizom dinamičnih programa dovodi suvremenu hravatsku produkciju mladih u regionalni, europski i internacionalni kontekst. Projekt se tako sastoji od cijelog niza programskih jedinica: izložbi, koncerata, konferencija za mlade djelatnike u kuturi iz regije, reprezentativnog kataloga. Kustosice i voditeljice projekta su Ivana Bago i Antonia Majača, mlade povjesničarke umjetnosti koje su ovogdišnji Salon mladih zamislile kao međunarodnu izložbu pod nazivom Salon revolucije. Fokus ovogodisnjeg Salona Mladih koji obilježava i 40 godina od prvog Salona i obljetnicu godine studentskih pokreta 1968. je uloga mladih u kulturnom, javnom i političkom životu Hrvatske i regije. Kustoska koncepcija ‘ Salon revolucije’ tako nastoji istražiti što to danas znači ‘biti mlad’, biti mladi umjetnik i na koji način Salon mladih može opravdati prisvajanje tog pridjeva, ne tek faktografskim postavljanjem dobne granice kao najlakšeg rješenja definicije ‘mladosti’, nego aktiviranjem novih sadržaja i formi koji se odupiru ’starima’.

Julieta Aranda (MX), Arturas Bumšteinas & Laura Garbštiene (LT), Petar Bunić (HR), Alejandro Cesarco (UY), Kajsa Dahlberg (SE), Mariana Castillo Deball (MX), Claire Fontaine (FR), Samuel Dowd & Florian Roithmayr (GB), Disobedience Archive (IT), Ivan Dujmušić (HR), Koken Ergun (TR), Marin Kanajet (HR), Patricia Esquivias (ES), Jakup Ferri (Kosovo), Mario Garcia Torres (MX), Đuro Gavran (HR), Igor Grubić (HR), Nicoline van Harskamp (NL), Stefan Haus (HR), Adrijana Hiseni (Kosovo), Ilegalni bioskop (RS), Siniša Ilić (RS), Institute of Art and Practice of Dissent at Home (GB), Janez Janša (SI), Jeudi Noir (FR), Božidar Katić (HR), Iva Kovač & Nataša Tepavčević (HR), Nenad Kurčubić (HR), Siniša Labrović (HR), Runo Lagomarsino (SE), Ivan Latin (HR), Marko Marković (HR), Monument to Transformation / Zbynek Baladran & Vit Havranek (CZ), Radenko Milak (BiH), Ciprian Muresan (RO), Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere (MX/US), Ahmet Öğüt (TR), Damir Očko (HR), Christodoulos Panayiotou (CY), Lala Raščić & Vuneny (HR/BiH), R.E.P.- Revolutionary Experimental Space (UA), Dina Rončević (HR), Majorian 458 (HR), Karla Šuler (HR), Pilvi Takala (FI), Stefanos Tsivopoulos (GR), Nassan Tur (G), Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor (RO), VOINA (RU)

Kustosice: Ivana Bago & Antonia Majača

The title of the exhibition for the 2008 Zagreb Youth Salon – Salon of the Revolution, contains a deliberate paradox and ambiguity that defines it both as 'revolutionizing a Salon' and 'salonizing a revolution'. By creating a space of uncertainty about its meaning, it presents itself primarily as a question, reflecting on the possibilities, responsibilities, and positions which contemporary art and intellectual practice can occupy today.
The year 1968 (the year of the global revolts but also the year when the Youth Salon was first established in Zagreb) is just an allusive starting point for the multifaceted project which links strategies of resistance in the past with those of today and, in a more general sense, questions the ways in which looking into the past, even with nostalgia, can foster not only a passive attitude which Walter Benjamin reproachfully dubbed 'left melancholy', but the driving force of a new reflection on art and the present moment. The relation towards the past which the Salon of the Revolution wishes to activate is closest to Badiou’s concept of the 'fidelity to the event' and, besides 1968, the project maps a series of other 'events' from the past which together form a repertory of empowering references, or at least moments whose heritage is today worth questioning and whose 'anniversaries' we can, without cynicism, congratulate.

The show further reflects on the history of the exhibition venue, the House of Artists, designed by Ivan Mestrovic and build in 1938, which, since then, had gone through several transformations, all of which have been linked to highest instances of state politics and the changing ideologies (inaugurated as an artists’ house, it became a mosque during the WWII, then a Museum of Revolution; during the 1990s it almost became a pantheon of 'Croatian nobles', but thanks to a local artists' and intellectuals' initiative, it was finally restored to its original function of an art venue).


Participating Artists
Julieta Aranda, Arturas Bumsteinas & Laura Garbstienė, Petar Bunic, Alejandro Cesarco, Kajsa Dahlberg, Mariana Castillo Deball, Claire Fontaine, Samuel Dowd & Florian Roithmayr, Ivan Dujmušic, Koken Ergun, Marin Kanajet, Patricia Esquivias, Jakup Ferri, Mario Garcia Torres, Djuro Gavran, Igor Grubic, Nicoline Van Harskamp, Stefan Haus, Adrijana Hiseni, Ilegalni Bioskop, Sinisa Ilic, The Institute Of Art And Practice Of Dissent At Home, Janez Jansa, Jeudi Noir, Bozidar Katic, Iva Kovac & Natasa Tepavcevic, Nenad Kurcubic, Sinisa Labrovic, Runo Lagomarsino, Ivan Latin, Marko Markovic, Monument To Transformation, Radenko Milak, Ciprian Muresan, Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, Ahmet Ogut, Damir Ocko, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Lala Rascic & Vuneny, R.E.P. - Revolutionary Experimental Space, Joanne Richardson, Dina Roncevic, Majorian 458, Karla Suler, Pilvi Takala, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Nassan Tur, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Voina
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Disobedience Archive, an ongoing video archive born in 2005 about the relationship of artistic practice and social and civil disobedience, curated by Marco Scotini, is specially hosted in the framework of the Salon of the Revolution, with the setup design by Zbynek Baladran. Among the artists presented in the archive: Critical Art Ensemble, Ashley Hunt, Black Audio Film Collective, Etcetera group, Oliver Ressler, Marcelo Exposito, atelier d'architecture autogérée, Chto Delat? and Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas.

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Salon of the Revolution is developed and curated by Ivana Bago and Antonia Majaca.