igor grubićraskadriravanje stvarnosti / framing reality

Gradske galerije Osijek / Osijek City Galleries / 21.4. — 22.5.2016.

igor grubićraskadriravanje stvarnosti / framing reality

366 rituala oslobađanja / 366 rituals of liberation 366 rituala oslobađanja / 366 rituals of liberation

Jump cuts Igora Grubića: Rezovi u tkivo stvarnosti

Svaka artikulacija je montaža različitih elemenata – glasova, slika, boja, strasti ili dogma

– unutar određenog trajanja u vremenu i određenog širenja u prostoru. (…) Artikulacija

protesta ima dvije razine: s jedne strane ona upućuje na dovođenje protesta do jezika, na

vokalizaciju, verbalizaciju ili slikovnu vizualizaciju političkog protesta. Na drugoj strani,

međutim, ta pojmovna kombinacija označuje također raščlanjenje odnosno internu

organizaciju protestnog pokreta. Riječ je dakle o dvije različite vrste ulančavanja različitih

elemenata: jednom na razini simbola, a drugi puta na razini političkih snaga. Na obje razine

razvija se dinamika želje i uskraćivanja, privlačenja i odbijanja, suprotstavljanja i spajanja

različitih elemenata.

— Hito Steyerl: Artikulacija protesta1

Montaža i artikulacija, dovođenje do jezika, slikovna vizualizacija političkog protesta središnja

su mjesta izvođenja i strukturiranja pojedinih radova Igora Grubića. Oblici montaže i artikulacije

formativna su mjesta Grubićevih radova bilo da se realiziraju u obliku fotografija, fotosekvenci i filma/

videa. Radi se o oblicima medijskog jezika i filmskog mišljenja, izraza koji preuzima vodeću ulogu u

dokumentiranju aktivnosti umjetnika, označavajući pomak u promišljanju umjetnosti od estetskog

objekta prema analitičkom i kritičkom interesu prema neposrednoj okolini, tijelu, jeziku, strategijama

ponavljanja, detournement-a propitujući institucionalni i društveni kontekst.

U filmskoj terminologiji jump cuts označava specifičan oblik montaže, skokovitih, “nekorektnih”

montažnih rezova. Upravo metodologiju rezova jump cuts Igor Grubić angažira kao sredstvo u

svojim radovima. Kao što nam montaža u filmu ukazuje da je film sekvencijalna umjetnost, nizovi

foto sekvenci kojima se strukturira niz prizora poput onih npr. u 366 rituala oslobađanja ukazuje

na montažni postupak, jezik i specifičnu sintaksu prisutne i u drugim umjetnostima, koje osim u

pokretnim slikama pronalazimo u fotografiji, kolažu, itd.

Radovi Igora Grubića na različite načine, često direktno ili pak indirektno predstavljaju

intervencionistički estetski čin u javnom prostoru ukazujući na prostore vidljivosti i nevidljivosti

koji prate njegovu umjetničku praksu. Radi se o projektima koji su suptilni i nenametljivi, i kojima

je neophodno upisivanje u tehničku sliku kako bi se formirao lanac znakova koji može prenijeti

umjetnikovu poruku do šire publike.2

Izložba Igora Grubića “Raskadriravanje stvarnosti” u galeriji Waldinger - Gradskim galerijama Osijek

okuplja tri umjetnikova rada nastala između 2008 i 2015 godine: opsežnu fotografsku instalaciju 366

rituala osobađanja, video Kapitalizam slijedi socijalizam, te recentni eksperimentalno dokumentarni

film Spomenik. Oni na specifičan način predstavljaju rez u tkivo stvarnosti. Radovi Igora Grubića

formiraju se malim gestama, oko proizvodnje vidljivosti i osjetljivosti za događaje, stanja i procese u

1] Hito Steyerl: Artikulacija protesta; http://republicart.net/disc/mundial/steyerl02_hr.htm

2] Dejan Sretenović: Figuracija otpora; East Side Story (katalog), Muzej savremene umetnosti Beograd, 2008.

društvu ostvarujući puni intenzitet doživljaja djela kao estetskog čina figuracije otpora, tvrdi Dejan Sretenović.3 Prizori koje pred nas postavlja umjetnik formiraju mrežu različitih odnosa - pitanja društvene i političke stvarnosti, zatim kolektivne memorije kao i zbilje (post)tranzicijske sadašnjosti.

Fotografska instalacija 366 rituala oslobađanja predstavlja poligon u okviru kojeg se istražuju poetske i političke mogućnosti kritike i emancipacije. Obilježavajući 40. godišnjicu revolucionarne 1968., 366 rituala oslobađanja realizira se kao niz svakodnevnih rituala, odn. mikropolitičkih akcija i intervencija koje je umjetnik izvodio gotovo svakodnevno tijekom 2008. i 2009. godine. Strukturiran kao serija fotografija koje se slažu montažnim principom jump cuts, ovaj opsežan i kompleksan rad dokumentira spoj gerilskih ilegalnih akcija, izravnost susreta s ulicom, performativnost, građanski neposluh, poetski terorizam. U njima Grubić utjelovljuje ideju identiteta gotovo filmskog junaka /heroja ulice u radničkom odijelu, dok svojim „ritualima“ provodi niz društvenih korekcija, ispravljajući nepravilnosti post tranzicijskog društva.

Grubićev rez u post tranzicijsku stvarnost nastavlja se i u video radu Kapitalizam slijedi socijalizam. Formiran je kao eksperimentalni dokumentarac u kontekstu koji blisko komunicira sa formatom cine- tracts – kratkom i direktnom filmskom formom, svojevrsnim mikro-filmovima. U Kapitalizam slijedi socijalizam Grubić prati izmjene 4 godišnja doba u okviru svakodnevnog, nespektakularnog, običnog prizora kojeg promatra s prozora, a kojem je u središtu jedan – kontejner i nekoliko ljudi koji se oko njega okupljaju tijekom vremena. Kadar je statičan, a izraz je skroman i nenametljiv. Promjena vremenskih uvjeta i aktivnost anonimnih protagonista koji kopaju po kontejneru u potrazi za hranom – slike su surove kvartovske posttranzicijske svakodnevnice uokvirene siromaštvom, postavljajući pitanje odgovornosti za viđeno.

Posljednji rad na izložbi je eksperimentalno -dokumentarni film Spomenik (2015) postavljen kao filmska instalacija u zasebnoj prostoriji. U filmu Spomenik Grubić sagledava spomenike iz NOB-a specifičnom optikom. U njemu se vrijeme rasteže i usporava čime se produljuje vremenska dimenzija slike na ekranu, a projekcija postaje poetska kontemplacija o stanju spomenika. Prema Deleuzeu, prikazivanje stanja pripada čistim optičkim svojstvima, lišenima radnje i predstavlja način vizualizacije vremena, koje poprimajući svojstva „tekućine“ (liquid time), kao da lebdi između prošlosti i sadašnjosti. Monumentalna skulpturalna plastika spomenika Jasenovac, Petrova Gora, Kozara, Podgarić, Tjentište… središnji je protagonist filma, a vizualni se narativ razvija u suodnosu prirode, krajolika, arhitekture spomenika, povijesti i sadašnjosti. U filmu Grubić promatra “devastirane i zapuštene monumentalne antifašističke spomenike kao simbole nekadašnje ideologije i razmatra svrhu njihovog postojanja u današnje vrijeme” – ističe autor. Otvarajući niz pitanja o suodnosu prirode i povijesti, pejzaž kao slika odn. umjetnička konstrukcija predstavlja modele čovjekove konceptualizacije prostora, kako bi se reflektirala različita raspoloženja i složeni odnosi, te postaje mjesto propitivanja međuodnosa prostora, povijesti, memorije ili identiteta, dok vizualna reprezentacija krajolika predstavlja odraz unutarnjih stanja, iskustava, povijesti ili priča.

Branka Benčić

3] ibid.

Spomenik / Monument Spomenik / Monument

Jump cuts by Igor Grubić: Cuts into the fabric of reality

Every articulation is a montage of various elements - voices, images, colors, passions or

dogmas - within a certain period of time and with a certain expanse in space. (…) The

articulation of protest has two levels: on the one hand, it indicates finding a language

for protest, the vocalization, the verbalization or the visualization of political protest.

On the other, however, this combination of concepts also designates the structure or

internal organization of protest movements. In other words, there are two different kinds

of concatenations of different elements: one is at the level of symbols, the other at the

level of political forces. The dynamic of desiring and refusal, attraction and repulsion, the

contradiction and the convergence of different elements unfolds at both levels.

— Hito Steyerl: The Articualtion of Protest 1

Montage and articulation, finding a language, the visualization of political protest are the focal points

behind several works by Igor Grubić. The procedures of montage and articulation are formative nods

in Grubić’s works, whether realized in the form of photographs, photo sequences or film/video. These

are forms of media language and cinematic thinking, taking over the leading role in documenting

the activity of the artist, marking a step in the understanding of art from the esthetic object to the

analytical and critical interest for the immediate surroundings, the body, the language, the strategies

of repetition, detournement, questioning the institutional and social context.

In film terminology jump cuts mean a specific kind of editing, with “incorrect” editing jumps. Igor

Grubić uses the methodology of jump cuts as a mean of expression in his works. Just like the editing

in film shows us that film is a sequential art, series of photo sequences is structuring a series of scenes

like those in 366 rituals of liberation, show us the editing process, the language and the specific syntax

that, besides in moving images, we can find in other arts like photography, collage, etc.

The works of Igor Grubić represent an interventionist esthetic act in a public space in various ways,

often directly or indirectly, pointing to the spaces of visibility or invisibility that follow his artistic

practice. They are subtle and unobtrusive projects that need to be registered in the technical image

in order to form a concatenation of signs that can transfer the artist’s message to a wider audience.2

Igor Grubić’s exhibition “Framing reality” at the Waldinger gallery – Gradske galerije Osijek presents

three of his works produced between 2008 and 2015: the extensive photographic installation 366

rituals of liberation, the video Capitalism follows socialism and the recent experimental documentary

Monument. They present a cut into the facric of reality in a specific way. Igor Grubić’s works come

about in small gestures, around the production of visibility and sensitivity to events, states and

processes in society, realizing the full intensity of perception of a work as an esthetic act of figuration

1] Hito Steyerl: The Articulation of Protest; http://republicart.net/disc/mundial/steyerl02_hr.htm

2] Dejan Sretenović: Figuration of resistance; East Side Story (catalogue), Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, 2008.

of resistance, claims Dejan Sretenović.3 The scenes put before us by the artist create a network of diverse relationships – issued of social and political reality, collective memory as well as the reality of (post)transition present time.

The photographic installation 366 rituals of liberation represents a platform within which to explore the poetic and political possibilities of critique and emancipation. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the revolutionary 1968, 366 rituals of liberation come about as a series of daily rituals, i.e. micropolitical actions and interventions that the artist performed almost on a daily basis during 2008 and 2009. Structured as a series of photographs combined through a jump cuts editing principle, this ample and complex work documents a mixture of guerilla illegal actions, the straightforward encounter with the streets, performativity, civil disobedience, poetic terrorism. In them Grubić embodies the idea of identity of an almost film hero/ street hero in overalls, implementing a series of social corrections with his “rituals”, correcting the irregularities of a post transitional society.

Grubić’s cut in the post transitional reality continues to be explored in his video work Capitalism follows socialism. It is formed as an experimental documentary in a context that closely communicates with the cine-tracts format – a short and direct film form, a kind of micro-films. In Capitalism follows socialism, Grubić follows the exchange of 4 seasons within an everyday, non spectacular, plain scene he observes from the window, focusing on a garbage container and a few people gathering around it in time. The frame is static and the expression is modest and unobtrusive. It poses the question about the responsibility of looking. The changes of the weather and the activity of the anonymous protagonists digging in the container looking for food are images of the harsh neighbourhood post transitional daily life framed by poverty.

The last work of the exhibition is an experimental documentary film Monument (2015) set up as a film installation in a separate room. In the film Monument Grubić views WWII monuments through specific optics. Time gets extended and slows down, which prolongs the time dimension of the image on the screen, turning the projection into a poetic contemplation of the state of the monument. According to Deleuze, the representation of state belongs to pure optical properties, devoid of plot and representing a way of visualization of time which, assuming the properties of a “liquid” (liquid time), seems to be floating between the past and the present. The monumental sculptural plastic of the monuments in Jasenovac, Petrova Gora, Kozara, Podgarić, Tjentište… is the central protagonist of the film and the visual narrative develops in the mutual relationship of nature, the environment, the architecture of public monuments, history and the present. In this film Grubić observes “the devastated and abandoned monumental anti fascist monuments as symbols of past ideology and contemplates the point of their existence in today’s time”- points out the author. Raising a series of questions about the mutual relationship between nature and history, the landscape as image, i.e. an artistic construction, represents the models of man’s conceptualization of space in order to reflect various moods and complex relationships, thus becoming a place in which to question the interrelationship of space, history, memory or identity, while the visual representation of landscape represents the reflection of inner states, experiences, history or stories.

Branka Benčić

3] ibid.

Spomenik / Monument Spomenik / Monument

Spomenik / Monument Spomenik / Monument

Igor Grubić kao multimedijalni umjetnik djeluje od početka 90tih. Njegov rad obuhvaća umjetničke intervencije u javnom prostoru, performanse, fotografiju i video radove. Od 2000. godine radi kao producent i autor dokumentaraca, televizijskih reportaža i društveno angažiranih reklama. Svoje radove prezentirao je u mnogim međunarodnim institucijama i na raznim manifestacijama. Višestruko je nagrađivan.

Izlagao na: Manifesta 4, Frankfurt; Tirana Biennale 2; 50.Oktobarski Salon Beograd; 11. Istanbulsko Bienale; 4. Fotofestival, Mannheim; Manifesta 9, Genk; ‘ Sweet Dew - since 1980’, Gwangju Biennale 20th Anniversary Special Project; ‘Zero Tolerance’, Moma PS1, New York; Thessaloniki biennale 5.

Igor Grubić has been active as a multimedia artist from the beginning of the 1990ties. His work includes site-specific interventions in public spaces, performances, photography and video works. He is known for his activism and his consideration about public space as a means of expression. In 2000 he started to work as a producer and author of documentaries, tv reportages and socially committed commercials. His work has been exhibited in various international institutions and at different artistic and cultural events. He has been awarded several times.

Exhibited f.e. at Manifesta 4, Frankfurt; Tirana Biennale 2; 50.Oktobarski Salon Beograd; 11. Istanbul Biennial; 4. Fotofestival, Mannheim; Manifesta 9, Genk; ‘ Sweet Dew - since 1980’, Gwangju Biennale 20th Anniversary Special Project; ‘Zero Tolerance’, Moma PS1, New York; ‘Ident-aler-ity’ Thessaloniki biennale 5th.

366 rituala oslobađanja / 366 rituals of liberation

organizacija izložbe / exhibition organizer

Gradske galerije Osijek / Osijek City Galleries

Fakultetska 7, 31000 Osijek

tel. 031/320-981

e-mail: ggosijek@gmail.com

ravnateljica / director: Ljerka Hedl

kustosica izložbe / exhibition curator: Branka Benčić

likovni postav izložbe / exhibition set-up: Igor Grubić i Dražen Budimir

tehnički postav / technical set-up: Luka Petrak

izložbeni prostor / exhibition venue

Galerija Waldinger / Waldinger Gallery

Fakultetska 7, 31000 Osijek

21.4. — 22.5.2016.

katalog / catalogue

nakladnik / publisher: Gradske galerije Osijek

za nakladnika / represented by: Ljerka Hedl

urednica / editor: Marijana Fumić

predgovor / catalogue foreword: Branka Benčić

prijevod / translation: Iva Štekar

naslovnica / fotografije / cover / photos: Igor Grubićć

grafičko oblikovanje / graphic design: Saša Došen Lešnjaković

tisak / printed by: Grafika d.o.o., Osijek

naklada / copies: 200

Izložba je realizirana sredstvima Grada Osijeka i Ministarstva kulture RH / The exhibition has been produced with the

financial support of the City of Osijek and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia