O IZBORNIKU I NJEGOVOM IZBORU

Činjenica da je izbor umjetnika za hrvatsku prezentaciju na ovogodišnjem Venecijanskom bijenalu povjeren umjetniku, od bitnog je značenja za profil same selekcije. Istina, kada govorimo o Slavenu Tolju (on je, naime, taj izbornik) ne možemo govoriti tek o «običnom» umjetniku, jer on je, osim što je međunarodno afirmiran autor iz Dubrovnika, i ravnatelj nadaleko poznate kulturne ustanove Art radionice Lazareti koja već 15-ak godina u ovom dijelu Hrvatske i svijeta promovira ono najnovije i najvitalnije u suvremenoj (likovnoj, filmskoj, kazališnoj....) umjetnosti. Ta je činjenica, međutim, onaj gotovo profani aspekt stvari jer naglašavajući je, počinjemo govoriti o njegovoj organizacijskoj spremnosti za ovaj pothvat. Istina, ta je sposobnost vjerojatno dobrim dijelom i bila razlogom njegova izbora za izbornika, no ono bitno ipak je stvaralački, duhovni habitus Slavena Tolja umjetnika, koji određuje poetiku njegova rada, kao i načina rada i sadržaja programa Lazareta, te koji konačno uvjetuje i profil hrvatske selekcije. O njemu kao umjetniku, dakle: Slaven Tolj (1964) je autor stasao u okrilju nove umjetničke prakse, prisutne u Hrvatskoj u svojoj medijskoj i poetičkoj raznorodnosti od kraja 60-ih. Taj termin obuhvaća postobjektnu umjetnost, fluksus, hepening, lend art, konceptualnu umjetnost, nove i novije medije poput fotografije, videa itd. Slaven je odgojen na primjerima siromašnog (refleksi arte povere) konciznog načina izražavanja, umjetnosti performansa s kojom je, zajedno sa svojom tadašnjom suprugom, počeo svoju umjetničku karijeru potkraj 80-ih godina. Slaven je zagovornik jezgrovitosti, alergičan na manifestacije količina, raskoši, efekata... Njegovi su nastupi primjeri minimalnog no sublimnog iskaza potresne melankolije, u baratanju sa svjetlom i različitim uprizorenjima opominjuće male snage koja slabi do iščeznuća. Njegova umjetnost, zajedno s onim što čini njezine afinitete, što uključuje uzore ali istodobno i njezine utjecaje, prisutna je u ovom izboru umjetnika. I to je jedini pravi mogući način. Slaven izlaže svoju umjetničku subraću, one koje cijeni, s kojima duhovno komunicira, s kojima suosjeća dijeleći istu sudbinu, fizički i duhovni teritorij. Dosljedno tome, dakle, u svom se izboru Slaven nije vodio ziheraškim kriterijima, optirajući za slavna imena, odnosno, kao što je često slučaj u ovakvim prilikama, za imena kod kojih se «ne može pogriješiti». Iako se i u grupi ovih umjetnika nalaze već i klasici suvremene hrvatske umjetnosti, poput Gorana Trbuljaka, te «mlađeg klasika» Tome Savića Gecana, četvorica ostalih su manje poznati ili gotovo sasvim nepoznati umjetnici, rekli bismo gotovo – autsajderi. Umjetnici koji, uz ostalo, a što također znači hendikep u gradnji karijere, ne žive u metropoli, nego u manjim gradovima diljem Hrvatske: Zlatan Dumanić živi u Splitu, Alen Floričić u Rapcu u Istri, Pasko Burđelez u Dubrovniku, Boris Šincek u Osijeku. Nadalje, neki od ovih umjetnika, poput Paska Burđeleza, vrtlara, ili Zlatana Dumanića, kapetana duge plovidbe, nemaju umjetničku naobrazbu pa je dakle Toljev odabir zaobišao niz pretpostavki koje su uobičajeni temelj nekog reprezentativnog umjetničkog sastava.
Ipak, nije ovdje riječ o predumišljaju ekscentričnosti, nasilne posebnosti, nekih socijalnih, karitativnih ili geografskih kriterija. Naprotiv, radi se o vrlo pažljivo složenom malom mozaiku diskretnih izričaja, umjetnika i radova koji u jednom specifičnom uzorku evociraju pa i utjelovljuju osobine prisutne u najintrigantnijem dijelu, da se tako izrazimo, tradicije suvremene hrvatske umjetnosti. /.../

/.../ Sagledamo li u cjelini hrvatsku prezentaciju na 51. Venecijanskom bijenalu, jasno ćemo uočiti da njezin izbornik i odabrani umjetnici odbijaju ideju kompeticije impresivnošću predmeta, vizualnim vatrometom, glamurom, bukom, stvarnom ili metaforičnom. Posnost i siromaštvo materijala (malo vode, hrpica zemlje), nenametljivi, najčešće statični predlošci teksta i slike, imaju svoj kontrapunkt u sadržaju iza stvari, iza tih minimalnih fizičkih pojavnosti.
A sadržaj je u virtualnim i stvarnim prostorima koji se otvaraju preko diskretnih naznaka postavljenih u prizemlju Palazza Fortuny. Bilo svojom hermetičnošću, unutrašnjom protežnošću, podrazumijevanjem dugog vremena i širokog prostora izvan izložbenog ambijenta i trajanja izložbe, ti meta-sadržaji čine od galerije mjesto meditacije koje postulira sabranost i posvećivanje, zastajanje i nadogradnju.
Jer, o tome je riječ. O latentnom pozivu na suradnju, o prilici pojačanja prisutnosti. Umjesto bombardiranja agresivnom materijom i količinama, možda se ovdje posjetitelju uspije ponuditi mogućnost sudjelovanja, prožimanja, mogućnost da izađe iz sebe i pokuša razumjeti drugog.
Defenziva rada možda omogući atrakciju i približavanje.

(Iz uvodnog teksta Antuna Maračića)






The Croatian Exhibition at the 51st Venice Biennial
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ABOUT THE SELECTION OF THE ARTIST SLAVEN TOLJ

The fact that the choice of artists to represent Croatia at this year’s Venice Biennial has been confided to an artist is of crucial importance for the profile of the selection itself. In truth, when we are speaking about Slaven Tolj (for he is the commissioner in question) we cannot talk about an "ordinary" artist because, apart from being an author from Dubrovnik with an international reputation, he is also the director of the widely-renowned cultural center Art Workshop Lazareti, which has for 15 years been promoting in this part of Croatia and the world the most recent and the most vital of contemporary (visual, film, theater…) art. This circumstance is, however, a more or less profane aspect of things, because in pausing upon it we start at once to talk of his organizational readiness for this endeavor. And indeed, this capacity was largely one of the reasons for his being chosen as commissioner. But, what is more essential still are the creative and spiritual inclinations of Slaven Tolj the artist which define the poetics of his work, as well as the manner of work and the contents of the program of Lazareti and, ultimately, the nature of the Croatian exhibition. Something about him, then, as an artist: Slaven Tolj (1964) is one of the younger Croatian artists, who developed under the wing of new artistic praxis present in Croatia in all its heterogeneity of media and poetics from the end of the 1960s onwards. This is a term that includes post-object art, Fluxus, happenings, land art, conceptual art, new and newer media like photography and video, and so on. Slaven was brought up on examples of spare (reflections of Arte povera) and concise manners of expression, performance art with which, with his then wife, he started his art career at the end of the 80s. Slaven is an advocate of terseness, and is allergic to manifestations of scale, opulence and effect… His appearances are examples of a minimal but sublime expression of poignant melancholy, in the handling of light and various staging devices of an admonishingly low power that fades to a vanishing point. His art, together with those with whom it has affinities, including both rolemodels and those it has had an impact on, is present in this commission by the artist. And this is the only true possible way. Slaven is exhibiting his brothers-in-art, those whom he values, with whom he can communicate spiritually, with whom he sympathizes, sharing the same fate, the same physical and mental territory. Consistently, in his commission Slaven has not allowed himself to be led by the idea of playing safe opting for big names, which is often the case on such occasions, for names that you "can’t go wrong" with. Although this group of artists also includes classic figures of contemporary Croatian art like Goran Trbuljak and that "younger classic" Tomo Savić Gecan, the other four are less known, or perhaps completely unknown, artists, what we might call outsiders. And these are artists who, along with other handicaps for career-building, do not live in the capital, but in smaller cities throughout Croatia: Zlatan Dumanić lives in Split, Alen Floričić in Rabac, Istria, Pasko Burđelez in Dubrovnik and Boris Šincek in Osijek. Further on, some of these artists, like Burđelez, a gardener, or Zlatan Dumanić, a sea captain, don’t have formal artistic training, and hence Tolj’s commission has sidestepped a number of premises that are usually to be found at the basis of any such representative composition.
Still, this is not a matter of any calculated eccentricity, forced individuality, nor does it include criteria of welfare, charity or geography. On the contrary, it is a very carefully composed little mosaic of discrete forms of expression, of artists and works that, in one specific sample, evoke and embody features present in the most intriguing part, if we can state so, of the tradition of contemporary Croatian art. /…/

/…/ If we look at the Croatian presentation at the 51st Venice Biennial as a whole, we are bound to discern that its commissioner and the commissioned artists have rejected the idea of competition via impressiveness of objects, visual fireworks, glamour or noise, real or metaphorical. The barrenness and poverty of the materials (a little water, a pile of soil), the unobtrusive, most often static patterns of text and image, find their counterpoint in the content behind these things, behind their minimal physical phenomenality.
And this content inheres in the virtual and realistic spaces that are opened up via the discreet intimations placed in the ground floor of the Palazzo Fortuny. With their hermeticism, their inner extension, their implications of other times and the broad domains outside the exhibition premises and beyond its duration, these meta-contents transform the gallery into a place of meditation, one that postulates collection and consecration, pausing and development.
Because, this is what it is all about. A latent call to collaborate, the chance of stepping up presence. Instead of a bombardment with aggressive matter and quantities, the visitor here perhaps might be provided with a chance to take part, to penetrate, with the possibility to get out of the self and attempt to understand the other.
A defensive of the work will perhaps facilitate attraction and approaching.

(From the introduction text by Antun Maračić)