Хабилитациони рад за стручно звање Виши кустос превентивне конзервације: Депоновање ћилима, тепих... more Хабилитациони рад за стручно звање Виши кустос превентивне конзервације: Депоновање ћилима, тепиха и таписерија из фонда Музеја историје Југославије. Београд, октобар 2013.
Iz teksta: "Ukoliko fokus sa predmeta u MAU usmerimo prema analizi afektivnog nasleđa (odnosno em... more Iz teksta: "Ukoliko fokus sa predmeta u MAU usmerimo prema analizi afektivnog nasleđa (odnosno emotivnog nasleđa kako ga je definisala australijska teoretičarka Loradžejn Smit, 2021), kakvo ne nastaje iz samog muzeja, već u interakciji konstituenata sa samim mestom, videćemo jednu specifičnost karakterističnu za MAU. Naime, vrednosti o kojima je bilo reči: antikolonijalizam, antirasizam i solidarnost, koje nisu bile upisane niti u vizuelni registar same institucije, niti u muzejske legende tokom četrdeset i pet godina trajanja muzejske postavke, održane su prisutnima u prostoru MAU na druge načine: kroz očekivanja konstituenata. Određene zajednice, shvaćene ovde u najširem mogućem smislu (neke od navedenih zajednica se možda ne bi ni prepoznale, niti bi odabrale da se nazovu tako) – poput afričke zajednice u Beogradu, koja je najčešće bila sačinjena iz diplomata i studenata i studentkinja, zajednice profesionalaca koji su nekada živeli i radili u zemljama Afrike, dece i potomaka iz brakova do kojih ne bi došlo da nije bilo mobilnosti uslovljene nesvrstavanjem, Jugoslovenki i Jugoslovena koji nikada nisu prestali da se identifikuju sa jugoslovenskim
narativima i koji nisu prihvatili nacionalističke narative devedesetih, i mnogih pojedinki i pojedinaca koje druge institucije nisu prepoznavale kao subjekte kojima se obraćaju – nalazili su da ih Muzej afričke umetnosti,
zahvaljujući vrednostima upisanim u njega na samim počecima, reflektuje na određeni način, omogućavajući pritom da ovu instituciju dožive kao svoju."
Ponovno „otkriće” Pokreta nesvrstanih kao teme, koja se obrađuje kroz međunarodne umetničke i nau... more Ponovno „otkriće” Pokreta nesvrstanih kao teme, koja se obrađuje kroz međunarodne umetničke i naučne projekte u poslednjih desetak godina, korespondiralo je sa globalnim političkim realnostima koje su upućivale na rast ekonomskih i društvenih nejednakosti u svetu. Dramatične migracije velikog broja ljudi iz ratom ugroženih ili ekonomski veoma oslabljenih zemalja u pravcu zapadnoevropskih razvijenih ekonomija otkrile su brojne slabosti savremenih demokratija u domenu ljudskih prava i sloboda. Pojavila se potreba za preispitivanjem uvreženih društvenih odnosa i za reafirmisanjem određenih tema u polju društvenog i kulturnog delovanja, poput tema antikolonijalizma, antirasizma i solidarnosti. Dok su ove teme u vremenu u kom je nastao Pokret nesvrstanih, dakle, šezdesetih godina 20. veka, bile veoma prisutne u javnom diskursu, zbog samog političkog i pravnog procesa dekolonizacije, koji se upravo odvijao u jednom konkretnom vidu na liniji između zemalja koje su prethodno bile kolonije i kolonijalnih sila, aktuelnost govora o antikolonijalizmu polako je počela da jenjava u narednim decenijama. Problemi sadašnjice navode na pitanje mogu li vrednosti koje su nekada činile sastavni deo političkog i društvenog pejzaža nekadašnje Jugoslavije da se reaktuаlizuju i da postanu operativne u drugačijem kontekstu savremenih društava, kroz njihovo prepoznavanje kao svojevrsnog kulturnog kapitala i(li) nematerijalnog nasleđa?
Decoloniality in Eastern Europe: A Lexicon of Reorientation First edition, 2023
Drawing on my doctoral thesis and museum-related projects spanning more than a decade, I present ... more Drawing on my doctoral thesis and museum-related projects spanning more than a decade, I present here three main methodological steps aimed at creating space in which to re-think anticolonial discourse within the Museum of African Art in Belgrade. The steps are: detection, (re)historicization, and emancipation.
This book is published under a copyleft license. Center_kuda.org encourages the use of its contents for purposes that are non-commercial, critical or disruptive of capitalist property relations. Please make sure you credit the editor, author/artist and kuda.org as the original publishers.
Istorija umetnosti u Srbiji, 20. vek, treća knjiga, 2014
This paper traces the ideas about and representation of African art in Serbia and Yugoslavia at t... more This paper traces the ideas about and representation of African art in Serbia and Yugoslavia at the turn of the 20th century, contextualized within a wider field of art, popular culture, identities, and race.
From the exhibition and the catalogue "An Anticolonial Museum". Museum of African Art - the Veda ... more From the exhibition and the catalogue "An Anticolonial Museum". Museum of African Art - the Veda and Dr Zdravko Pečar Collection. 2022.
This is an exhibit as well as a handout at exhibition "An Anticolonial Museum" at the Museum of A... more This is an exhibit as well as a handout at exhibition "An Anticolonial Museum" at the Museum of African Art - the Veda and Dr Zdravko Pečar Collection in Belgrade, Serbia. (8 September 2022 - 28 February 2023)
The syntagm "an African object" is used here as an absurd reduction of
creative expressions of an entire continent, through different epochs, down to a limited scope of typical objects. This checklist is an ironically assembled, yet not less true or applicable recipe of how an object becomes the museal African object.
In this paper I postulate that museum, as the image of the world, functions according to principl... more In this paper I postulate that museum, as the image of the world, functions according to principles formed around ideological constructs of time and space. I problematize terms of heterotopias and multiple chronotope, used in museum context, interpreting them as ideological, derived from the Western epistemological frame. Although conclusions in this paper can be applied to museum as such, focus is primarily upon museums that represent the so called non-European objects or topics. The approach is interdisciplinary, interrelating cultural studies, postcolonial theory, museum studies and African studies.
Nadovezujući se na prethodna istraživanja Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Peč... more Nadovezujući se na prethodna istraživanja Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Pečara (Sladojević 2012, 2014), koja upućuju na razumevanje samog muzeja, a naročito njegove Stalne postavke kao palimpsesta, u radu se ističe upotreba digitalizacije kao još jedne moguće tehnike koja omogućava kritički odmak potreban za samorefleksiju i revalorizaciju, ali i koja svojim osobenostima olakšava upravo istovremenost prikazivanja pomenutih slojeva samog palimpsesta. U okviru kritičke teorije muzeja prepoznaje se potreba za samorefleksijom i revalorizacijom ne samo muzejskih predmeta već i muzeja u širem smislu: ova se pitanja moraju inkorporirati u savremene metodologije reprezentacije i dokumentovanja nasleđa, kakvi su i 3D digitalni zapisi. Međutim, napominje se da je beleška ili digitalni zapis samo početak, koji ima značaj jedino ukoliko se koristi, odnosno ukoliko za korisnike predstavlja prolaz ka drugim saznanjima – poput interfejsa koji omogućava transparentnost muzeja za pristup svim drugim, inače nevidljivim, segmentima muzejskog rada, kao i njihovo neograničeno kombinovanje. Ovakav pristup omogućava nastanak polifonih muzejskih narativa, otvarajući put demokratizaciji Muzeja kroz veće učešće publike u kreiranju njegovih sadržaja.
In this paper, the focus is upon objects from Africa 1 given as official presents to Josip Broz T... more In this paper, the focus is upon objects from Africa 1 given as official presents to Josip Broz Tito that today make part of the Museum of Yugoslav History (MYH) collections. The aim of the paper is to propose a framework for their further study, relying on the empirical data obtained through research of MYH collections in the period 2009–2012, as well as a detailed review of all the available documentation on museum objects. Employing discursive analysis as a method for this paper, we look closely at objects' basic purpose and their meaning as gifts, their standing within a collection, as well as the past narratives that have marked how we understand them today. Within conclusion, their potential to contribute to better defining of cultural memory in the present is emphasized. 2
"Mesec afričke umetnosti", u organizaciji Kluba studenata istorije umetnosti/Filozofski fakultet ... more "Mesec afričke umetnosti", u organizaciji Kluba studenata istorije umetnosti/Filozofski fakultet UB, u saradnji sa Muzejom afričke umetnosti u Beogradu, april 2015.
Već i tokom prethodnih tribina, bilo je reči o tome šta se smatra JKN i iz kog ugla odnosno ko ga... more Već i tokom prethodnih tribina, bilo je reči o tome šta se smatra JKN i iz kog ugla odnosno ko ga reprezentuje, ali bi redosled ovih pitanja, barem u pogledu muzejske reprezentacije, bilo dobro obrnuti. Naime, onaj ko reprezentuje ne samo da određuje kako će nešto biti reprezentovano, već zapravo određuje i šta će biti nazvano kulturnim nasleđem. Nasleđe, stoga, nije (barem nije isključivo) stvar prošlosti. Njime se upravlja iz sadašnjosti, i utiče na shvatanje ljudi o određenim fenomenima bitnim za konstruisanje i prihvatanje kulturnih identiteta.
(Re)konceptualizacija Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Pečara
Priredile: Emil... more (Re)konceptualizacija Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Pečara
Priredile: Emilia Epštajn i dr Ana Sladojević Autori: grupa autora Godina: 2017. Jezik: Srpski/Engleski
Хабилитациони рад за стручно звање Виши кустос превентивне конзервације: Депоновање ћилима, тепих... more Хабилитациони рад за стручно звање Виши кустос превентивне конзервације: Депоновање ћилима, тепиха и таписерија из фонда Музеја историје Југославије. Београд, октобар 2013.
Iz teksta: "Ukoliko fokus sa predmeta u MAU usmerimo prema analizi afektivnog nasleđa (odnosno em... more Iz teksta: "Ukoliko fokus sa predmeta u MAU usmerimo prema analizi afektivnog nasleđa (odnosno emotivnog nasleđa kako ga je definisala australijska teoretičarka Loradžejn Smit, 2021), kakvo ne nastaje iz samog muzeja, već u interakciji konstituenata sa samim mestom, videćemo jednu specifičnost karakterističnu za MAU. Naime, vrednosti o kojima je bilo reči: antikolonijalizam, antirasizam i solidarnost, koje nisu bile upisane niti u vizuelni registar same institucije, niti u muzejske legende tokom četrdeset i pet godina trajanja muzejske postavke, održane su prisutnima u prostoru MAU na druge načine: kroz očekivanja konstituenata. Određene zajednice, shvaćene ovde u najširem mogućem smislu (neke od navedenih zajednica se možda ne bi ni prepoznale, niti bi odabrale da se nazovu tako) – poput afričke zajednice u Beogradu, koja je najčešće bila sačinjena iz diplomata i studenata i studentkinja, zajednice profesionalaca koji su nekada živeli i radili u zemljama Afrike, dece i potomaka iz brakova do kojih ne bi došlo da nije bilo mobilnosti uslovljene nesvrstavanjem, Jugoslovenki i Jugoslovena koji nikada nisu prestali da se identifikuju sa jugoslovenskim
narativima i koji nisu prihvatili nacionalističke narative devedesetih, i mnogih pojedinki i pojedinaca koje druge institucije nisu prepoznavale kao subjekte kojima se obraćaju – nalazili su da ih Muzej afričke umetnosti,
zahvaljujući vrednostima upisanim u njega na samim počecima, reflektuje na određeni način, omogućavajući pritom da ovu instituciju dožive kao svoju."
Ponovno „otkriće” Pokreta nesvrstanih kao teme, koja se obrađuje kroz međunarodne umetničke i nau... more Ponovno „otkriće” Pokreta nesvrstanih kao teme, koja se obrađuje kroz međunarodne umetničke i naučne projekte u poslednjih desetak godina, korespondiralo je sa globalnim političkim realnostima koje su upućivale na rast ekonomskih i društvenih nejednakosti u svetu. Dramatične migracije velikog broja ljudi iz ratom ugroženih ili ekonomski veoma oslabljenih zemalja u pravcu zapadnoevropskih razvijenih ekonomija otkrile su brojne slabosti savremenih demokratija u domenu ljudskih prava i sloboda. Pojavila se potreba za preispitivanjem uvreženih društvenih odnosa i za reafirmisanjem određenih tema u polju društvenog i kulturnog delovanja, poput tema antikolonijalizma, antirasizma i solidarnosti. Dok su ove teme u vremenu u kom je nastao Pokret nesvrstanih, dakle, šezdesetih godina 20. veka, bile veoma prisutne u javnom diskursu, zbog samog političkog i pravnog procesa dekolonizacije, koji se upravo odvijao u jednom konkretnom vidu na liniji između zemalja koje su prethodno bile kolonije i kolonijalnih sila, aktuelnost govora o antikolonijalizmu polako je počela da jenjava u narednim decenijama. Problemi sadašnjice navode na pitanje mogu li vrednosti koje su nekada činile sastavni deo političkog i društvenog pejzaža nekadašnje Jugoslavije da se reaktuаlizuju i da postanu operativne u drugačijem kontekstu savremenih društava, kroz njihovo prepoznavanje kao svojevrsnog kulturnog kapitala i(li) nematerijalnog nasleđa?
Decoloniality in Eastern Europe: A Lexicon of Reorientation First edition, 2023
Drawing on my doctoral thesis and museum-related projects spanning more than a decade, I present ... more Drawing on my doctoral thesis and museum-related projects spanning more than a decade, I present here three main methodological steps aimed at creating space in which to re-think anticolonial discourse within the Museum of African Art in Belgrade. The steps are: detection, (re)historicization, and emancipation.
This book is published under a copyleft license. Center_kuda.org encourages the use of its contents for purposes that are non-commercial, critical or disruptive of capitalist property relations. Please make sure you credit the editor, author/artist and kuda.org as the original publishers.
Istorija umetnosti u Srbiji, 20. vek, treća knjiga, 2014
This paper traces the ideas about and representation of African art in Serbia and Yugoslavia at t... more This paper traces the ideas about and representation of African art in Serbia and Yugoslavia at the turn of the 20th century, contextualized within a wider field of art, popular culture, identities, and race.
From the exhibition and the catalogue "An Anticolonial Museum". Museum of African Art - the Veda ... more From the exhibition and the catalogue "An Anticolonial Museum". Museum of African Art - the Veda and Dr Zdravko Pečar Collection. 2022.
This is an exhibit as well as a handout at exhibition "An Anticolonial Museum" at the Museum of A... more This is an exhibit as well as a handout at exhibition "An Anticolonial Museum" at the Museum of African Art - the Veda and Dr Zdravko Pečar Collection in Belgrade, Serbia. (8 September 2022 - 28 February 2023)
The syntagm "an African object" is used here as an absurd reduction of
creative expressions of an entire continent, through different epochs, down to a limited scope of typical objects. This checklist is an ironically assembled, yet not less true or applicable recipe of how an object becomes the museal African object.
In this paper I postulate that museum, as the image of the world, functions according to principl... more In this paper I postulate that museum, as the image of the world, functions according to principles formed around ideological constructs of time and space. I problematize terms of heterotopias and multiple chronotope, used in museum context, interpreting them as ideological, derived from the Western epistemological frame. Although conclusions in this paper can be applied to museum as such, focus is primarily upon museums that represent the so called non-European objects or topics. The approach is interdisciplinary, interrelating cultural studies, postcolonial theory, museum studies and African studies.
Nadovezujući se na prethodna istraživanja Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Peč... more Nadovezujući se na prethodna istraživanja Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Pečara (Sladojević 2012, 2014), koja upućuju na razumevanje samog muzeja, a naročito njegove Stalne postavke kao palimpsesta, u radu se ističe upotreba digitalizacije kao još jedne moguće tehnike koja omogućava kritički odmak potreban za samorefleksiju i revalorizaciju, ali i koja svojim osobenostima olakšava upravo istovremenost prikazivanja pomenutih slojeva samog palimpsesta. U okviru kritičke teorije muzeja prepoznaje se potreba za samorefleksijom i revalorizacijom ne samo muzejskih predmeta već i muzeja u širem smislu: ova se pitanja moraju inkorporirati u savremene metodologije reprezentacije i dokumentovanja nasleđa, kakvi su i 3D digitalni zapisi. Međutim, napominje se da je beleška ili digitalni zapis samo početak, koji ima značaj jedino ukoliko se koristi, odnosno ukoliko za korisnike predstavlja prolaz ka drugim saznanjima – poput interfejsa koji omogućava transparentnost muzeja za pristup svim drugim, inače nevidljivim, segmentima muzejskog rada, kao i njihovo neograničeno kombinovanje. Ovakav pristup omogućava nastanak polifonih muzejskih narativa, otvarajući put demokratizaciji Muzeja kroz veće učešće publike u kreiranju njegovih sadržaja.
In this paper, the focus is upon objects from Africa 1 given as official presents to Josip Broz T... more In this paper, the focus is upon objects from Africa 1 given as official presents to Josip Broz Tito that today make part of the Museum of Yugoslav History (MYH) collections. The aim of the paper is to propose a framework for their further study, relying on the empirical data obtained through research of MYH collections in the period 2009–2012, as well as a detailed review of all the available documentation on museum objects. Employing discursive analysis as a method for this paper, we look closely at objects' basic purpose and their meaning as gifts, their standing within a collection, as well as the past narratives that have marked how we understand them today. Within conclusion, their potential to contribute to better defining of cultural memory in the present is emphasized. 2
"Mesec afričke umetnosti", u organizaciji Kluba studenata istorije umetnosti/Filozofski fakultet ... more "Mesec afričke umetnosti", u organizaciji Kluba studenata istorije umetnosti/Filozofski fakultet UB, u saradnji sa Muzejom afričke umetnosti u Beogradu, april 2015.
Već i tokom prethodnih tribina, bilo je reči o tome šta se smatra JKN i iz kog ugla odnosno ko ga... more Već i tokom prethodnih tribina, bilo je reči o tome šta se smatra JKN i iz kog ugla odnosno ko ga reprezentuje, ali bi redosled ovih pitanja, barem u pogledu muzejske reprezentacije, bilo dobro obrnuti. Naime, onaj ko reprezentuje ne samo da određuje kako će nešto biti reprezentovano, već zapravo određuje i šta će biti nazvano kulturnim nasleđem. Nasleđe, stoga, nije (barem nije isključivo) stvar prošlosti. Njime se upravlja iz sadašnjosti, i utiče na shvatanje ljudi o određenim fenomenima bitnim za konstruisanje i prihvatanje kulturnih identiteta.
(Re)konceptualizacija Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Pečara
Priredile: Emil... more (Re)konceptualizacija Muzeja afričke umetnosti – zbirke Vede i dr Zdravka Pečara
Priredile: Emilia Epštajn i dr Ana Sladojević Autori: grupa autora Godina: 2017. Jezik: Srpski/Engleski
The narrative of the exhibition Tito in Africa: Picturing Solidarity is based on a changing relat... more The narrative of the exhibition Tito in Africa: Picturing Solidarity is based on a changing relation between two main components: one comprising the social values of solidarity and anticolonialism and the other the formal representations of international meetings at the highest level. The values of solidarity and anticolonialism were held in common by the Third World countries with which Yugoslavia had shared beliefs and goals in the 1960s and the 1970s. These values dominated the official discourse, memoranda, reports, and other documents of that time. Visual representations of this rhetoric, however, are more complex. Photo and film footages of heads of state meetings reflect strict rules and norms of world diplomacy, inherited from previous – colonial – systems of representation.
Razumevanje i reprezentacija afričkih umetnosti u velikoj meri su i danas tesno povezane sa određ... more Razumevanje i reprezentacija afričkih umetnosti u velikoj meri su i danas tesno povezane sa određenim brojem kulturalnih konstrukcija, koje se oslanjaju na međusobne odnose koji su uspostavljani između evropskih kolonijalnih sila i kolonizovanih područja u 19. veku, a pre toga i kroz razne druge oblike eksploatacije, uključujući trgovinu ljudima i robovlasništvo. Ovi odnosi imali su demografske, kulturološke, ekonomske, političke i mnoge druge posledice na ukupan svetski razvoj. Afričke umetnosti, najšire shvaćene, pripadale su – u periodu koji je ovde u fokusu, tačnije krajem 19. veka i početkom 20. veka – ujedno polju produkcije i perpetuiranja stereotipova, i polju kulturne emancipacije, zavisno od načina na koji su plasirane, i od strane koga su plasirane, a posebno na osnovu toga kako su se povezivale sa širim kontekstom. U srpskoj odnosno jugoslovenskoj sredini, percepcija afričkih umetnosti bila je posredovana nekim drugim interesovanjima, a pre svega onima koja su težila da lokalnu sredinu definišu u odnosu prema zapadnjačkim kretanjima u kulturi, što je na širem planu imalo veze sa pojmovima o pripadanju i identitetima. Različita su, međutim, bila razumevanja između različitih aktera, po pitanju toga šta su to, u zapadnjačkom saznajnom okviru koji je već bio uspostavljen kao normativan, poželjni pravci u kulturi kojima se teži, shodno tome da li su bili okrenuti umerenijim i konzervativnijim tumačenjima ili onima koja su bila više u skladu sa aktuelnim avangardnim umetničkim dešavanjima. Približavanje Evropi, stoga, moglo je da se razume kao bukvalno preuzimanje ili kopiranje određenih obrazaca, ali je takođe moglo i da, unutar njih, ima formu negacije ili distorzije.
Images of Africa / Within international project Non-aligned Modernisms, 2015
The prefiguration of relations with Africa were conditioned to a great extent by pre-formed repre... more The prefiguration of relations with Africa were conditioned to a great extent by pre-formed representations not only of Africa, in the way this was done through many art and popular media in the previous decades, but also of new representations of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav self-perception. The representation of other based on a western epistemological model which pervaded numerous sources, from novels, travel-writing, to comic-books, advertisements, films and museum representations, was brought down to a centric discourse overwhelmed with stereotypes. Despite the nominally different discourse in Yugoslavia, the discourse of anti-colonialism and non-alignment, the existing (western) discourse was inordinately present, rooted; it was, so to speak, the only referential point for speech on matters of similarity and difference. The reason for that lies not solely in the Yugoslav sphere, of course, but also in the circulation of many ideologies and schools of thought on a global level, which all aimed to redefine the relations of hegemony that was, and is today, inscribed into existing institutions and methodologies. The processes of territorial decolonization, namely, were just a starting phase in the process of creating a free space for decolonizing the mind and language. To this day, in certain places, these processes have not been able to gain a broader scope and true institutional support, as is the case with local environments that share the legacy of socialist Yugoslavia.
In from the margins - Sharing footnotes of subaltern knowledge and practices: Questioning North-South relations and ethics of international collaboration, 2023
In the theoretical sense, the word “anti-colonial” is used here in order to precisely situate the... more In the theoretical sense, the word “anti-colonial” is used here in order to precisely situate the (post)Yugoslav region within the wider scope of the decolonial theory. It comes out of an attempt to re-connect our current criticism of institutions and cultural representation to particular histories of anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and solidarity, that are often interpreted within the post-Yugoslav context through the lens of relatively recently recuperated histories of the Nonaligned Movement, that Yugoslavia took part in initiating in 1960s.
Presentation within the workshop “Towards a Conjuctural Political Economy of Non-Alignment and Cu... more Presentation within the workshop “Towards a Conjuctural Political Economy of Non-Alignment and Cultural Politics” Rijeka, Croatia, 27-29 September 2021, on 28th September 2021
For ten years, multimedia artist Bojan Fajfrić has photographed three locations in Belgrade: the ... more For ten years, multimedia artist Bojan Fajfrić has photographed three locations in Belgrade: the highly problematic large-scale urban development project of Belgrade Waterfront, the General Staff buildings – a peak of Yugoslav socialist modernism, hit by NATO projectiles in 1999 intervention, and the film set and replica of 1930s Belgrade, undergoing a thorough transformation and material degradation in the meantime. All three locations indicate the impermanence of the collective self-image and the possibilities of its political manipulation. Such impression comes through whether we talk about the sentimentalisation of pre-WWII Belgrade, the erasure of the socialist modernist legacy by exploiting the ruins of the General Staff building via self-victimising and militarising narratives, or future faking by Belgrade Waterfront billboards and banners, instructing how the future citizens of this city should look and live like.
Epistemic injustice, as part of imperial and colonial legacies, is inscribed in the foundations o... more Epistemic injustice, as part of imperial and colonial legacies, is inscribed in the foundations of institutions as we know them. It permeates the ways we keep records, classify data according to how they will be retrieved, the ways we credit individual contributions, and present our conclusions based on such data. Also, it is found, expectedly, in the ways that histories are effaced, records scattered, and information lost, deleted, and forgotten.
In the context of the decolonial turn in art, culture, and academia in roughly the last ten years... more In the context of the decolonial turn in art, culture, and academia in roughly the last ten years, as well as social movements such as Black Lives Matter, the topic of race has regained global attention. In the post-Yugoslav region, however, many people tend to deny the existence of racism when asked about it. This is due to a common misconception that regions or countries that were not directly involved in the colonial project are somehow immune to racism. The concept of coloniality, however, shows that legacies of colonialism remain in structures of power, inscribed in different social and cultural formats of modernity. It points, among other things, to the global pervasiveness of race, meaning that no region should be exempted from the current rethinking of its outcomes. This piece, based on the lecture draft for the 2023 Musine Kokalari Institute Academy, looks for the decolonial regional perspective on the topic of race and racialization, with the recent academic output in mind.
Iz prikaza: Ukoliko na prvi pogled pisanje Bojane Videkanić i deluje kao da teži da prati ideje i... more Iz prikaza: Ukoliko na prvi pogled pisanje Bojane Videkanić i deluje kao da teži da prati ideje i vrednosti nesvrstanosti u umetnosti, u kontekstu Pokreta nesvrstanih i Trećeg sveta – izraz koji ovde koristim u značenju u kom ga Vidžaj Prašad koristi, a Videkanić u knjizi navodi: Treći svet kao projekat, a ne mesto (Prashad, 2007) – ono što autorka zapravo prezentuje ovom knjigom jeste rekuperacija afirmativne slike o socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji i njenoj spoljnoj politici, na razmeđi Prvog, Drugog i Trećeg sveta. Dok to samo po sebi nije problematično, ono što svakako jeste, pored već pomenute aproprijacije antikolonijalizma, pa tako i nesvrstanosti, je to što veliki deo autorkinih pretpostavki više pripada nekritičkoj, povremeno čak i naivnoj interpretaciji prošlosti, nego jednoj argumentovanoj analizi nesvrstanih, antikolonijalnih i anti-imperijalnih solidarnosti. Posledice ovakvog pisanja, pak, nisu nevine, kao što istorija umetnosti to nikad i nije. Dok je osvetljavanje određenih aspekata međunarodnih saradnji i međusobnih uticaja značajno za de-periferijalizaciju znanja, nekritičko reprodukovanje diskursa iz prošlosti ne doprinosi tekućoj borbi za dekolonijalnom emancipacijom.
BROJ ISSUE 3 GSG Časopis za suvremena umjetnička i društvena zbivanja inicijative Građanke svom gradu / Magazine for Contemporary Art and Social Issues of From the Citizens to Their City Initiative, 2021
Upon being invited by the editors of this issue (Iva Kovač, Sanja Horvatinčić), Ana Sladojević,
... more Upon being invited by the editors of this issue (Iva Kovač, Sanja Horvatinčić), Ana Sladojević, the author of the book The Museum of African Art, Contexts and Representations, and former curator of the museum of the same name in Belgrade, talked to Catherine Baker, a historian from the University of Hull. In her research, Catherine Baker focuses on the region of former Yugoslavia, approaching it from the perspective of international relations and cultural studies.
U ovom tekstu, ideje dekolonizacije kao procesa samopromišljanja i delovanja na institucionalnom ... more U ovom tekstu, ideje dekolonizacije kao procesa samopromišljanja i delovanja na institucionalnom nivou, razmatrane su u okviru rekonceptualizacije projekta koji se tokom 2021. godine realizuje u okviru Međunarodnog udruženja likovnih kritičara – sekcija AICA Srbija.
The museum is sometimes described as the “image of the world”, through which the world “becomes o... more The museum is sometimes described as the “image of the world”, through which the world “becomes one’s own” (Clifford, 1985). Museum always re-creates certain ideologies (whose work had brought it about), and therefore, every museum has a significant social role in formulating and creating cultural identities. Museums bear influence on the formation of cultural identities’, foremost through the establishing of shared values. In this sense, the relation of ideology – museum representation – identity, points at identities shaped under the influence of ideology, through representation. In Althusser’s words, representation is the way in which the ideology interpelates individuals as subjects in museum. This relation is encapsulated within the museum space, creating an image of the world: the reflection of dominant views of social relations. In the case of ethnographic and other museums which evolved from the European museum model that exhibits the so-called “non-European” arts, identities are formed in opposition to ideologically construed “other”. African objects in museums are associated with sometimes quite different, construed meanings, that depend solely upon representation. It dictates whether they will be labelled as art or material culture, will they be attributed, or just be attached to geographical or ethnic markers, etc. Construction of African objects was given an important place in this work, precisely because it cannot be detached from the museum representation itself. Discursive constructivist approach that deals with circumstances in which representation evolves, as well as consequences it provokes, or what Henrietta Lidchi and Stuart Hall refer to as museum “politics” , researches how the knowledge produced by a certain discourse defines social relations and identities, and in this interdisciplinary work it makes connections between different theoretical fields – cultural studies and cultural analysis, postcolonial studies, museum studies and African studies. A special focus in this work is upon the Museum of African Art in Belgrade, as a specific space of representation, that interrelates in itself different ideologies. Two basic discourses, widely in opposition, interweave in its work. One is rooted in the Western model of collecting, and it is decentered by another discourse that stems from the epoch of its founding – the discourse of the ideology of non-alignment. Western collecting is here understood as collecting which has been formed in close relation to mercantile circumstances, mainly at the beginning of the twentieth century – the collecting that had defined the market and has been defined by it. The other discourse of this Museum, in which its (regional, even worldwide) uniqueness has been located, even today makes part of its image, although the Museum itself had lost, during the 1990s, its “non-aligned” label, turning towards some less ideologically explicit prefixes. Both models are related to self-perception and self-representation: one as identification of local identities with Western identity/ies, while another as identification with identities of the “Third World” countries. Museum uniqueness, located by the institution itself, since its very founding, in non-existence of Yugoslav colonial past, in this work I criticize, pointing at the presence of Western colonial collecting model/narrative in the museum representation; however, in this process of defining and comparing different museum discourses, I also strive to distinguish a new stronghold of its uniqueness, as well as to lay foundations for further development of museum representation in the Museum of African Art in Belgrade.
Cultural Heritage and the Future is a welcome and in some terms groundbreaking criticism aimed at... more Cultural Heritage and the Future is a welcome and in some terms groundbreaking criticism aimed at heritage field theory and practice. However, while all of the current heritage future thinking keywords are present in this edition, they do not seem to function as well together as we might expect. It may be due to the methodological approach that does not prioritize the criticism of highly problematic and ideological framework of knowledge production within heritage. Namely, the book skips to more clearly emphasize as to why the heritage field continues to fail the task of thinking about futures: for its own projection of the future, the one created within the paradigm of progress, modernity, and universalism, failed us.
This text is the first one in the Rejected texts (Odbijenice) series. I wrote it in 2011, and it ... more This text is the first one in the Rejected texts (Odbijenice) series. I wrote it in 2011, and it was rejected in 2012. It is written in Serbian language and using the Cyrillic script, in accordance with CFP guidelines. In the text, I focus on Kente textiles in the collection of the Museum of Yugoslav History in Belgrade, acquired in 1961. as presents from Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah given to Josip Broz Tito, President of Socialist Yugoslavia. I address different contexts that formed their interpretation.
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Papers by Ana Sladojević
narativima i koji nisu prihvatili nacionalističke narative devedesetih, i mnogih pojedinki i pojedinaca koje druge institucije nisu prepoznavale kao subjekte kojima se obraćaju – nalazili su da ih Muzej afričke umetnosti,
zahvaljujući vrednostima upisanim u njega na samim počecima, reflektuje na određeni način, omogućavajući pritom da ovu instituciju dožive kao svoju."
This book is published under a copyleft license. Center_kuda.org encourages the use of its contents for purposes that are non-commercial, critical or disruptive of capitalist property relations. Please make sure you credit the editor, author/artist and kuda.org as the original publishers.
The syntagm "an African object" is used here as an absurd reduction of
creative expressions of an entire continent, through different epochs, down to a limited scope of typical objects. This checklist is an ironically assembled, yet not less true or applicable recipe of how an object becomes the museal African object.
http://mau.rs/images/magazine/ASKUMAU_no01_2009.pdf
Available on the link:
http://mau.rs/images/magazine/ASKUMAU_no01_2009.pdf
Available on the link: http://mau.rs/images/magazine/ASKUMAU_no03_2015.pdf
Talks by Ana Sladojević
Books by Ana Sladojević
Priredile: Emilia Epštajn i dr Ana Sladojević
Autori: grupa autora
Godina: 2017.
Jezik: Srpski/Engleski
narativima i koji nisu prihvatili nacionalističke narative devedesetih, i mnogih pojedinki i pojedinaca koje druge institucije nisu prepoznavale kao subjekte kojima se obraćaju – nalazili su da ih Muzej afričke umetnosti,
zahvaljujući vrednostima upisanim u njega na samim počecima, reflektuje na određeni način, omogućavajući pritom da ovu instituciju dožive kao svoju."
This book is published under a copyleft license. Center_kuda.org encourages the use of its contents for purposes that are non-commercial, critical or disruptive of capitalist property relations. Please make sure you credit the editor, author/artist and kuda.org as the original publishers.
The syntagm "an African object" is used here as an absurd reduction of
creative expressions of an entire continent, through different epochs, down to a limited scope of typical objects. This checklist is an ironically assembled, yet not less true or applicable recipe of how an object becomes the museal African object.
http://mau.rs/images/magazine/ASKUMAU_no01_2009.pdf
Available on the link:
http://mau.rs/images/magazine/ASKUMAU_no01_2009.pdf
Available on the link: http://mau.rs/images/magazine/ASKUMAU_no03_2015.pdf
Priredile: Emilia Epštajn i dr Ana Sladojević
Autori: grupa autora
Godina: 2017.
Jezik: Srpski/Engleski
The reason for that lies not solely in the Yugoslav sphere, of course, but also in the circulation of many ideologies and schools of thought on a global level, which all aimed to redefine the relations of hegemony that was, and is today, inscribed into existing institutions and methodologies. The processes of territorial decolonization, namely, were just a starting phase in the process of creating a free space for decolonizing the mind and language. To this day, in certain places, these processes have not been able to gain a broader scope and true institutional support, as is the case with local environments that share the legacy of socialist Yugoslavia.
All three locations indicate the impermanence of the collective self-image and the possibilities of its political manipulation. Such impression comes through whether we talk about the sentimentalisation of pre-WWII Belgrade, the erasure of the socialist modernist legacy by exploiting the ruins of the General Staff building via self-victimising and militarising narratives, or future faking by Belgrade Waterfront billboards and banners, instructing how the future citizens of this city should look and live like.
the author of the book The Museum of African Art, Contexts
and Representations, and former curator of the museum of
the same name in Belgrade, talked to Catherine Baker, a historian from the University of Hull. In her research, Catherine
Baker focuses on the region of former Yugoslavia, approaching
it from the perspective of international relations and cultural
studies.
Museums bear influence on the formation of cultural identities’, foremost through the establishing of shared values. In this sense, the relation of ideology – museum representation – identity, points at identities shaped under the influence of ideology, through representation. In Althusser’s words, representation is the way in which the ideology interpelates individuals as subjects in museum. This relation is encapsulated within the museum space, creating an image of the world: the reflection of dominant views of social relations.
In the case of ethnographic and other museums which evolved from the European museum model that exhibits the so-called “non-European” arts, identities are formed in opposition to ideologically construed “other”. African objects in museums are associated with sometimes quite different, construed meanings, that depend solely upon representation. It dictates whether they will be labelled as art or material culture, will they be attributed, or just be attached to geographical or ethnic markers, etc. Construction of African objects was given an important place in this work, precisely because it cannot be detached from the museum representation itself. Discursive constructivist approach that deals with circumstances in which representation evolves, as well as consequences it provokes, or what Henrietta Lidchi and Stuart Hall refer to as museum “politics” , researches how the knowledge produced by a certain discourse defines social relations and identities, and in this interdisciplinary work it makes connections between different theoretical fields – cultural studies and cultural analysis, postcolonial studies, museum studies and African studies.
A special focus in this work is upon the Museum of African Art in Belgrade, as a specific space of representation, that interrelates in itself different ideologies. Two basic discourses, widely in opposition, interweave in its work. One is rooted in the Western model of collecting, and it is decentered by another discourse that stems from the epoch of its founding – the discourse of the ideology of non-alignment.
Western collecting is here understood as collecting which has been formed in close relation to mercantile circumstances, mainly at the beginning of the twentieth century – the collecting that had defined the market and has been defined by it.
The other discourse of this Museum, in which its (regional, even worldwide) uniqueness has been located, even today makes part of its image, although the Museum itself had lost, during the 1990s, its “non-aligned” label, turning towards some less ideologically explicit prefixes.
Both models are related to self-perception and self-representation: one as identification of local identities with Western identity/ies, while another as identification with identities of the “Third World” countries. Museum uniqueness, located by the institution itself, since its very founding, in non-existence of Yugoslav colonial past, in this work I criticize, pointing at the presence of Western colonial collecting model/narrative in the museum representation; however, in this process of defining and comparing different museum discourses, I also strive to distinguish a new stronghold of its uniqueness, as well as to lay foundations for further development of museum representation in the Museum of African Art in Belgrade.
Key words: museum, African object, ideology, identity, representation