Examining Contemporary Art Practices through the Conduct of Cultural Diplomacy Case Study: Serbia

Presenting the discourse around Serbian cultural identity
Provocation - This act of provocation and of seduction mirrors the actual perception of Serbia, yet chooses to explain and present Serbia through these themes, re-representing, re-questioning and re-probing perceptions of Serbia, which are felt in the international community.
Pieces and exhibitions from the 2000s onward are largely retrospective- the form of re-opening of Serbia to the world when it comes to art, is to fill in the blanks of recent Serbian history in order to foster cultural understanding and the fight against stereotypes.
Hypotheses:
1. contemporary art practices and artists have a "way" of their own in relation to the traditional notions of cultural diplomacy

2. contemporary art methods lend well to international cultural cooperation

3. artists can act as citizen diplomats

Key Concepts:

How can contemporary art and the artist act as a function of cultural diplomacy?
Cultural Diplomacy
New Trends in Cultural diplomacy:
The widening of the scope of cultural diplomacy (Frieberg, Ota)
Non-state agents
Citizen Diplomat
Thematic Approach

Contemporary Art
Relation between art and society – (Cage)
Aesthetic Theory- (Adorno)
Internationalization of Art
Changing art practices - Art as Research - (Sullivan, Reyes, Dedic)
Artist and Social Responsibility (Baldwin)
Semiotics (Saussure, Barthes)
Field/ Position (Bourdieu)
Role of the artist in the socio-political field
Socio-political Concepts
Quantitative Analysis

Selection of artists demonstrate a high level of international cultural contact between 1990-2013.

Highest levels in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands the U.K., and the United States.

Most stable and diverse contact between 2000-2010.

Selection of artists co-operate with one another on projects or are grouped together in retrospective shows.

Semiotics
Tanja Ostojić, Looking for a Husband with an EU Passport (2000-2005). http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/tanja_Ostojić.php?i=1360. Date Accessed: 15 July 2014
Gott Liebt die Serben, Raša Todosijević, www.seecult.org Date Accessed: 19 August 2014
I am Milica Tomić, Milica tomić. http://milicatomić.wordpress.com/
After Courbet, Tanja Ostojić, 2004-2006, http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/tanja_Ostojić.php?i=1363. Date Accessed: 25 July 2014
Count on Us, Marina Abramović,
http://www.art21.org/images/marina-abramovi%C4%87/count-on-us-chorus-2003
Date Accessed: 28 August 2014
Down and Out in New York, Uroš Djurić.
http://www.acfny.org/category/exhibitions/serbia-catalogue/uroš-Djurić/ Date Accessed: 12 August 2014
Living Death Camp Project, Grupa Spomenik. http://www.forensic-architecture.org/case/living-death-camps/ Date Accessed: 15 August 2014
Balkan Baroque, Marina Abramović, Venice Biennale. http://www.vanityfair.it/show/extra/2011/04/21/covacich_arte_spiegata_a_tuo_marito_abramović Date Accessed: 10 August 2014
Fig 5. HEMA/HEMA, Boba Mirjana Stojadinović, http://bobaart.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/2011_portfolio-en.pdf Date Accessed: 14 July 2014
Discussion

Using the positioning of Serbian culture on the international field as a basis for self-reflection on the contemporary Serbian identity
EU – inversely represent the Serbian nation through its relation to global structures, basing the identity of the Serbian on the non-identity of the Serbian.
WAR – constant revocation of war symbols
YUGOSLAVIA – constant digging in the past
BALKAN – meta-signifier, shared regional culture
REPRESENTATION- critical reinvestigation of symbols

International Cooperation through Contemporary Art Methods

Conferences, presentations, lectures, performance, process pieces, networks, associations
Responses to the hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Approved Artists have strong international cultural contact links and their art practices are a tool for relationship building between cultures.

Hypothesis 2: Approved Contemporary art methods can act both explicitly and implicitly as generators of international cultural cooperation based on their extent of their contact and their use in the international context.

Hypothesis 3: Approved Artists can act as citizen diplomats. However, there are also examples of limitations on this hypothesis which are connected to the ambiguity of the concept of citizen diplomacy and the autonomy of the artist.
Structure of the Analysis
Quantitative data analysis or desk research based on artist CVs, catalogs, artist statements.
Qs: With whom is the Serbian art world connected? What are the patterns of cultural contact over time?

Qualitative analysis semiotic analysis of artworks, organizations or activities through contemporary art practices.
Q: What kinds of themes, topics, and issues do the artists deal with? How do contemporary artists represent their own cultures through art? What are the questions and debates on Serbian culture portrayed in artworks? In what ways do contemporary artists diverge with cultural diplomacy efforts of Serbia? How can art serve as a platform for understanding a nation and for presenting culture? What is the context in which the art practices are placed?

Transversal/thematic discussion of the first two analyses.
Q: What is the relationship between the cultural diplomacy of Serbia and the issues in contemporary art practices? Is there a relationship between cultural policy and the idea of artists as cultural diplomats? How is the idea of the artist diplomat who acts independently of the government, affecting the concept of cultural diplomacy?
Theme and Approach

Related to the issue of conceptualizing the function of cultural diplomacy, especially in relation to less developed cultural diplomacy/policy agendas.

Principle Research Questions:
How do contemporary artists represent their country's culture and can this be a function of cultural diplomacy?
How can art represent a nation beyond its borders?
How are new contemporary art methods conducive to cultural diplomacy?
How can we understand cultural diplomacy through cultural productions themselves?

Les principales questions de recherche:
Comment les artistes contemporains représentent-ils leur pays? Dans quelle mesure leur produits artistiques appartiennent-ils à la diplomatie culturelle? Comment l'art peut-il représenter une Nation à l'échelle internationale? Comment pouvons-nous comprendre la diplomatie culturelle à travers des productions culturelles elles-mêmes?

Methodology:
Research Design: Case Study (Serbia)
Period of Analysis: 1990-2013
What is being analyzed: Selection of artists and their art practices



Tanja Ostojić
Illegal Border Crossing (2000)
Looking for a Husband with an EU Passport (2000-2005)
O.t. / After Courbet(2006)

Boba Mirjana Stojadinović
HEMA / HEMA (2007) / The Whole in the Hole (2008)

Raša Todosijević
Gott Liebt die Serben (1991-2011)


Milica Tomić
I am Milica Tomić (1998)
Towards the Matheme of Genocide (2009)
Living Death Camp Project (2013)

Uroš Djurić
Remont
Down and Out in New York

Marina Abramović
Balkan Baroque (1997)
Count on Us (2004)
Balkan Erotic Epic (2006)
Further Questions
How can we measure the effectiveness of art and the artist in the function of cultural diplomacy, especially considering that measuring the effectiveness of cultural diplomacy as instigated by the government is in itself difficult to measure?
Where does cultural diplomacy end and cultural relations start?
Is art perhaps too critical to serve as cultural diplomacy?


Thank you to the board members!
Merci pour votre attention !

Professor Dr. Ljiljana Rogač Mijatović
Professor Dr. Milena Dragičević Šešić
Professor Dr. Jacques Bonniel


 
Presentation of the MA thesis: "Examining Contemporary Art Practices through
the Conduct of Cultural Diplomacy
Case Study: Serbia"

 
 
 
 
 
By: Milica Savić


 
UNIVERSITY OF ARTS IN BELGRADE
Center for Interdisciplinary studies
 
UNIVERSITE LUMIERE LYON 2
Faculté d'Anthropologie et de Sociologie
AND
UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management
October 2014
Conclusions

In the Serbian context, where the government's efforts of cultural diplomacy are disorganized, ad-hoc and consists of short term projects, contemporary art practices and the artists which can be seen as a form of a ―civil society- engage in international cultural contact and disseminate cultural works that deal with Serbian culture and the presentation of Serbian cultural and social debates in their practices

Independent artists are representatives of national culture, even though their representations resemble a critical research on societal issues, rather than an explicit representation of culture and even if this concept troubles the independent artists wish for autonomy.

As seen in the case study of Serbia, governments will come and go and policy agendas will change – and in that change there is time required for institutionalizing new rules and a new set of systems – whilst art practices will go on, as long as society provides the material.
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Tanja- independent artist- topics are based on political positioning such as her experience as a non EU citizen, migrant female etc.
Boba- heavily involved in art based networking communities,
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