The expansionistic politics of the Austrian Erste Bank in Central Europe meant the creation of a collection devoted to this ex-Communist region, along with works by Austrian artists. The interest in this region has aesthetic traits visible in the initiation of an art collection devoted, for the time being, to the 70s; it reveals new perspectives on artistic practices in the region, different from Western artistic discourse, though preserving the characteristics of international art. The collection is made up of unique exhibits, which, paradoxically, are not of great interest in the artists’ native countries. Starting from this premise, the collection conceived by a regional jury was recently exhibited for the first time in the Ludwig (MUMOK) Modern Art Museum in Vienna and, simultaneously, in the Transit Foundation in Bratislava. Named “Kontakt”, after the anti-happenings of the 60s and 70s created by the Slovak artist Julius Koller, the exhibition presents the conceptualism and actionism of the 70s, together with other experimental tendencies conceived as a sum of “partial histories”, expression of a context differing from that of Western art, bringing together important artists from this region: Marina Abramovic, Pawel Althamer, Josef Dabernig, Valie Export, Stano Filko, Tomislav Gotovac, Julius Koller, Ion Grigorescu, Tibor Hajas, Sanja Ivekovic, the Irwin group, Dalibor Martinis, Rasa Todosijevic, Peter Weibel, to mention only a few of the artists represented in the exhibition. The presentation of these artists who are so different from one another remains open, trying to offer audiences a new approach.
The 70s opened the door to multiple visual languages, the artists simultaneously applying the concepts with the help of new media languages, especially photography and experimental film. For Ion Grigorescu, these two means used alternatively are essential instruments in searching for “reality”, his artistic interest being constantly directed towards the surrounding world or his own person, especially the body. While most of his photographs in this period have an introspective value, something of a “look” directed towards the inside, focused on the self, in the shape of various experiments whose main material is the artist’s nude, others, less numerous, focused on the world outside. I am referring to a large series of photographs entitled “Election Meeting”, dating from 1975, where the artist captures images specific to such an event. Taken stealthily, the images capture several meaningful details about the emerging dictatorial regime: the car with loudspeakers amplifying the crowd’s cheers and applause, Ceausescu’s numerous portraits, as thick as a forest, the large number of banners held by working class representatives, people getting bored, laughing, or sitting down on the sidewalk, in contrast with the severe faces of the secret service agents manipulating the event in a more or less discrete manner. These photographs, of unquestionable objectivity, are a precious testimony about an ever traumatic epoch.
The group of artists from former Yugoslavia is fairly well represented, including “historical” names such as Ra_a Todosijevic, Marina Abramovic, Sanja Ivekovic, Dalibor Martinis, the Irwin group. Remembering some of their actions is already part of the history of contemporary art in this region, being collected with the respect due to such artistic “deeds”. Rasa Todosijevic’s conceptualism appears especially in the well-known happening entitled “What is art, Marinela Kozelj?”, where the artist obsessively repeats this question intensifying the physical aggression directed towards the character being interrogated. The question – fundamental for an artist – remains without an answer, and the brutal and maniac-like manner in which it is asked makes reference to the repressive techniques used by dictatorial regimes. The video-happening by Marina Abramovic is part of the series devoted to testing the artist’s own stamina; in front of the camera, she combs her hair with two brushes simultaneously, seeming to illustrate the title “Art must be beautiful, Artist must be beautiful”. Starting as a self-purifying act, the daily gestures are gradually transformed into something unusual and with a negative effect, becoming endless and exasperating the artist. This performance seems to demonstrate the term “beautiful”, reconsidering its common effect. Sanja Ivekovic’s preoccupations are directed more towards feminine, intimate themes. In the happening entitled “Inter nos”, she communicates with the public – from whom she is separated by a transparent surface – with the help of a screen. This happening focuses on the isolation and confinement the artist is trying to get over by establishing a rapport with the audience.
Another group of artists in the exhibition comes from former Czechoslovakia and emphasizes the names of less famous artists; among them, there is the emblematic presence of Julius Koller, engaged in criticizing the technical utopia of the Socialist era. In 1970, after Czechoslovakia’s invasion by Soviet tanks, when hopes that a more relaxed political system might develop crumbled, Koller created his own aesthetic system, critical of modern society. He conceived a system of objects that he named UFO (Universal Futurological Orientations), an anti-illusionist anti-painting and anti-happening “realistic” concept inducing the idea of uncertainty about the future and operating with pseudo-scientific irony. He created a series of “anti-happenings”, photographs featuring the artist as a ping-pong player, equipped with a bat and the familiar white balls, in the most unexpected places, such as an attic window...
The “Kontakt” exhibition is important because it focuses the public’s attention on art from a part of Europe that seemed sunk in oblivion and also because it offers new values and new contexts for the works of some artists, finally placed under open international scrutiny. As a result of this, art from Eastern Europe gains a solid foundation due to recognition and acknowledgement of a series of spiritual values that functioned as a constant guide both for the artists and for audiences. Most of these artists are characterised by this very resistance through the promotion of spiritual values.