You are kindly invited to the exhibition Textfields/Battlefields Discourses – Yugoslavia PERSONAL EXHIBITION – HERWIG STEINER MUZEJ ISTORIJE JUGOSLAVIJE / BELGRAD, (Trg Nikole Pasica 11) opening: 17th September02 at7pm 17–30 Sept, 2002 (Floor Installation – Computer-Generated Prints) Curator / Initiator: Irina Subotic Co-Curator: Nenad Radic PERSONAL EXHIBITION – HERWIG STEINER Starting from the contemporary media experience as an inextricable interlacing of text and image, the project attempts a comparison and reflexive exploration of optical and textual persuasive structures, thereby acknowledging the essentially creative and meaning-assigning aspect of text within cultural production. The classical distinction between textual-cognitive and visual-artistic function is for the most part discarded here. The underlying assumption could be that perception processing highly depends on the presence of a particular (not necessarily conscious) canon of knowledge and ethics. On the other hand, ‘abstract patterns’ regulating mental preselection from the profusion of impulses act as a kind of shielding conductor for the perception process. Thus this floor installation of computer-generated prints could be described as a walk through discourses; discourses that refer to the country of the exhibition – to the collapse and the ‘history’ of the former Yugoslavia. From the diversity of meanings streaming in the flow of time, excerpts from about 100 sources and authors were used, which interweave into a dynamic fabric of meaning construction and theme representation and, in their contextual relations, create interpretation zones beyond immediate contents. Viewers walking through the artwork will come across various different textual fields of tension and will be confronted with, partly, unpleasant, and controversial statements. ‘… in case of Yugoslavia, it seems that everything can be proved through history.’ (M. Blagojevic) Historiography as a means of political justification, of arrogation and agitation is the more obvious aspect in this context, which clearly raises the question of the responsibility of the intelligentsia and their institutions (Vaso Cubrilovic). A more subtle skepticism emerges in this works with regard to constructive structures in historiography and art history in general. The series of ironical ‘pre-prints’ (which have been a central theme of the artist for some time now) refers to the fact the identity formation is inevitably perspective-bound and to the anachronistic belief in the possibility of a homogeneous outlook, something like a defined ‘objectivity’. Yet the oppressive relationship of violence, pain and remembrance (F. Nietzsche) is encountered in this succession of human catastrophes with every step of the way. Against this background, all attempts to explain the ever-changing flow of actions and causalities come down to mere rationalizations. The grandmasters of propaganda who inflicted terror also on this country in the 20th century mark, as examples, the starting point of what follows, forming, paradoxically, also the terminal point of the debate on the idea of progress in, or the human capability to learn from, history. Kafka’s Gregor Samsa as a death figure (A. Zistakis), or as embodying the degradation of a once-dear member of the family to that point of disgust when elimination seems to be the only choice left, is a providential find around which media mechanisms and foe-image constructions used to reassert one’s own distinctive identity are represented in many facets. In the profile of the texts, some exemplary personalities gain contour. The commentator of American policies in Yugoslavia (W. Zimmerman), the critic as a prominent outsider (N. Chomsky), or the tragic-heroic pacifist and philosopher Miladin Zivotic stand for the double function of reflection and action. Brilliance of a shadier kind characterizes the journalist’s career (D. Rohde) that is fuelled out of the reportage of the horror (Srebrenica). The provocation of conspicuous luxury in a view of Manhattan (S. Rushdie), the outdated concept of the nation state (Negri /Hardt), or ‘blind’ followership of a fatal leader figure (R. Domanovic) provide additional levels of the textual zones. Thus the pieces can be viewed on several different levels; they activate and, at the same time, represent different cognitive processes, creating an interactive relationship of viewing/reading/imagining/remembering/starting over again, a creative loop of interpretation. As a „margin zone of the boundless“, a lounge showing materials which only partly coincide with the contents of the artwork provides a passageway and a space for recreation. Sources and quoted Authors: B. Andelkovic * B. Arsic * Associated Press * S. Amin * B92 / Staff * BBC * M. M. Bachtin * U.Baxi * M. Belancic * Belgrade Circle Journal * M. Blagojevic * Bosnia Report / New Series * B. Buden * H. Causevic /N. Curak * St. Celic * N. Chomsky * N. Cobeljic * D. Cosic * Croatian Information Centre * V. Cubrilovic * P. Dajic * Dani * Gen. S. Delic / V. Selimbegovic * B. Dimitrijevic * V. Dimitrijevic * J. Djordjevic * Documenta11* R. Domanovic * D. Duman * J. Ducic * Fair / Action Alerts / Internet * R. Fisk * P. Fletcher * S. Freud * G. Gamulin * J. Gibson * W. N. Grigg * M. Hardt * C. Hedges * A. Hitler * Human Rights News * ICTY * Institute for European Studies * Internet Modern History Sourcebook * A. Isakovic * P. Ivic * A. Izetbegovic * P. Jalbert * F. Kafka * D. Kanazir * V. Konjovic * R. Konstantinovic * S. Kovacevic * V. Krestic * Kunsthalle Wien * J. Lacan * LATimes * Le Monde Diplomatique * J. F. Lyotard * M. Macura * N. Malic * I. Maksimovic * M. Markovic * D. Medakovic * H. Meholjic / H. Hadzic * L. Merenik * K. Mihailovic * A. Molnar * A. Negri * Netherlands Institute for War Documentation * F. Nietzsche * C. Norris * M. Pantic * N. Pantic * B. Parekh * peacelink * V. Pesic * N. Radic * L. Rakic * T. Regan * Reuters * D. Rohde * Columbia Graduate School of Journalism * R. Rorty * S. Rushdie * R. Samard`ic * C. Samary * O. Savic * Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts * Serbian Parliament * S. Sontag * J. Stalin * J. Streicher * I. Subotic * L. Tadic * The Christian Science Monitor * The Guardian * The Independent * The New American * The Times of India * United States / Institute of Peace * S. Varadarajan * U. Vlaisavljevic * M. Vukobratovic * P. Watson * Zastava workers * ZNet * W. Zimmermann *A. Zistakis * M. Zivotic * a.o.