Impossible Histories : Historical Avant-Gardes, Neo-Avant-Gardes, and Post-Avant-Gardes in Yugoslavia, 1918-1991

by Dubravka Djuric and Misko Suvakovic (Eds.)

• ISBN13: 9780262042161
• ISBN10: 0262042169
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Impossible Histories is the first critical survey of the extraordinary experiments in the arts that took place in the former Yugoslavia from the country's founding in 1918 to its breakup in 1991. The combination of Austro-Hungarian, French, German, Italian, and Turkish influences gave Yugoslavia's avant-gardes a distinct character unlike those of other Eastern and Central European avant-gardes. Censorship and suppression kept much of the work far from the eyes and ears of the Yugoslav people, while language barriers and the inaccessibility of archives caused it to remain largely unknown to Western scholars. Even at this late stage in the scholarly investigation of the avant-garde, few Westerners have heard of the movements Belgrade surrealism, signalism, Yugo-Dada, and zenitism; the groups Alfa, Exat 51, Gorgona, OHO, and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater; or the magazines Danas, Red Pilot, Tank, Vecnost, and Zvrk. The pieces in this collection offer comparative and interpretive accounts of the avant-gardes in the former Yugoslavian countries of Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. The book is divided into four sections: Art and Politics; Literature; Visual Art and Architecture; and Art in Motion (covering theater, dance, music, film, and video). All of the contributors live in the region and many of them participated in the movements discussed. The book also reprints a selection of the most important manifestos generated by all phases of Yugoslav avant-garde activity.

Table of Contents

Preface: The History of a Book	x
Introduction: Art and Politics
Impossible Histories	2	(34)
Misko Suvakovic
The Three Avant-gardes and Their Context: The Early, the Neo, and the Postmodern	36	(28)
Ales Erjavec
Part I: Literature
Radical Poetic Practices: Concrete and Visual Poetry in the Avant-garde and Neo-avant-garde	64	(32)
Dubravka Djuric
Writings of Death and Entertainment: Textual Body and (De)composition of Meaning in Yugoslav Neo-avant-garde and Post-avant-garde Literature, 1968--1991	96	(26)
Vladimir Kopicl
Part II: Visual Art and Architecture
Visual Arts in the Avant-gardes between the Two Wars	122	(48)
Sonja Briski Uzelac
Inside or Outside ``Socialist Modernism''? Radical Views on the Yugoslav Art Scene, 1950--1970	170	(40)
Jesa Denegri
Conceptual Art	210	(36)
Misko Suvakovic
Neue Slowenische Kunst	246	(24)
Marina Grzinic
(Im)possible Photographs	270	(24)
Leonida Kovac
From Zenit to Mental Space: Avant-garde, Neo-avant-garde, and Post-avant-garde Magazines and Books in Yugoslavia, 1921--1987	294	(38)
Darko Simicic
Architecture in Former Yugoslavia: From the Avant-garde to the Postmodern	332	(44)
Peter Krecic
Part III: Art in Motion
Between the Curtains: New Theater in Slovenia, 1980--1990	376	(28)
Eda Cufer
Problems and Paradoxes of Yugoslav Avant-garde Music (Outlines for a Reinterpretation)	404	(38)
Mirjana Veselinovic-Hofman
We Will Rock YU: Popular Music in the Second Yugoslavia	442	(24)
Gregor Tome
The Unfilmable Scenario and Neglected Theory: Yugoslav Avant-garde Film, 1920--1990	466	(24)
Nevena Dakovic
Video Art from Conceptualism to Postmodernism	490	(92)
Barbara Borcic
Part IV: Manifestos
historical avant-gardes
Zenitist Manifesto	525	(7)
Ljubomir Micic
Borse dekliniert triest	532	(1)
Dragan Aleksic
The Modern Stage	533	(2)
Ferdo Delak
Group Zemlja Manifesto	535	(4)
Drago Ibler
neo-avant-gardes
Manifesto	539	(1)
Exat 51
Manifesto	540	(2)
Ivo Gattin
Untitled	542	(1)
Josip Vanista
Collective Work	543	(2)
Gorgona
From Manifesti	545	(3)
Mangelos
Notes	548	(2)
Julije Knifer
The Vocovisual	550	(3)
Vladan Radovanovic
conceptual art
OHO	553	(4)
I. G. Plamen
Marko Pogacnik
Untitled	557	(1)
Braco Dimitrijevic
Retrospective	558	(1)
Goran Trbuljak
(I; IV 1971)	559	(2)
Vladimir Kopicl
Untitled	561	(1)
Gergelj Urkom
Rhythm 10, 5, 2, 4, 0	562	(6)
Marina Abramovic
About the Elementary or Post-Aesthetic Art (Elementary Painting)	568	(1)
Rasa Todosijevic
Statement	569	(4)
Group 143
postmodern, retro-avant-gardes
Footwriting	573	(1)
Mladen Stilinovic
Art and Totalitarianism	574	(1)
Laibach
The First Sisters Letter	575	(1)
Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater
NK Proclamation	576	(1)
New Collectivism
The Founding Document	577	(2)
Red Pilot Cosmokinetic Theater
The Ear behind the Painting	579	(3)
Eda Cufer
Irwin
List of Contributors	582	(2)
Index	584