Slides and More at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

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Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

When in Zagreb, I stayed an extra night to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in this new building, which was perhaps not intuitively laid out or well lit in the temporary exhibition spaces, but overall was large and interesting.

Their collection naturally focuses on Croatian artists, and I found their documentation from the Fluxis period–an interest of mine–especially strong. Overall the thematic curation was interrupted by a temporary installation of design pieces of Karim Rashid, complete with big video screen of him talking about his work, which I found distracting and repetitive, seeing as it was on every floor of the permanent collection. There were some outstanding artists from Croatia whose work I really enjoyed getting to see for the first time, including:

Mladen Stilonavic, 1993

 

1950s photography of Zvonimir Brkan, From Liliput and Fisherman

Milislav Mio Vesovic, Photo-sequence of the action “Zagreb, I love you!”

Zlatko Kopljar, K9 Compassion, 2005 (series of 5 photographs where the artist kneels in front of Parliament buildings)

But then, how can you not like a museum that you exit via Carsten Holler’s permanent double slide installation?

 

Kentaur by Tamas Szentjoby

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Still, Kentaur

Tamás Szentjoby, or St.Auby (he often changes his name in protest against the official art system), is a prominent conceptual artists in Hungary. He originally made the film Kentaur (Centaur) between 1973-75, but it was banned before the final version was completed. In 2009, a found copy was restored and digitized for the Istanbul Biennial. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to have the rare opportunity to watch a copy with English subtitles at the Ludwig Museum the other day.

Still, Kentaur

Kentaur consists of about 40 minutes of found footage from the Socialist era showing citizens going about their daily lives. Without context, it  is unclear why these 12 fragments of factory workers or men in coffee shops were filmed, but it certainly doesn’t make sense with Szentjoby’s voice-overs. Szentjoby wrote dialogues dealing with themes of work and money and power, co-opting the language and concerns of Socialist propaganda and turning it on its head.

 “-Don’t you think that whatever exists, is an incitement? That the tradition of efficacy nowadays is none other than the efficacy of tradition? But, we’re theoretically done with that.

-So?

-Maybe there’s some point in my saying it.

-You’re saying very little.

-Still, I hope it has an effect.

-So it’s all about efficacy.

-Doesn’t speech have an effect?

-Only if you’re saying forbidden thing. That’s how it liberates the unknown within us, and unleashes on us the unknown that lies inside. Alright now, Margit, I’m getting off now.”

Phrases ranging from the philosophical to the blunt become ridiculous, and are at odds with visual scene. In addition to being provocative, it can be quite funny.  It is obvious why it was banned. Today, I find the film interesting as a reaction to the Socialist government of the time, naturally, but perhaps also the underlying questioning of unending, mechanized work and its effect on the human spirit is still relevant.

 

Vitaly Pushnitsky at Deak Erika Gallery

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Installation View

I found the black and white paintings of St. Petersburg-based artist Vitaly Pushnitsky, currently up at Deak Erika Gallery in Budapest,  too  lovely not to share. They manage to be impressionistic without the blurry Gerard Richter newspaper feel that is so common. The tondo format suggests a religious or classical aspect, but the subject matter is the street, trash, or mechanical objects. This traditional treatment gives importance to contemporary scenes we don’t consider beautiful on a daily basis.

The small collages literally cut up renaissance frescoes and sculptures, reworking traditional art historical treatments into a contemporary point of view. The idea of cutting historical images into three-dimensional objects is familiar from the past few years of New York art fairs, but it is effective. Here this Baroque church interior seems to have a swastika cut out of it. Certainly a loaded combination of imagery.

More than anything I love how he paints, and I can certainly share his fascination with art history. I read this commentary on his work that I think summarizes my feelings as well:

“Pushnitsky works in a wide range of genres, from oil painting to video art. His style often blends contemporary and classical imagery: chubby-cheeked cherubim appear near capsized automobiles, bulldozers dismantle Romanesque ruins and sculptures emerge out of styrofoam packaging. It’s been interpreted as postmodern – and as just plain kitsch. But the artist’s technical skill is undeniable, especially in painting.”