SEMIOTICSOFTHECITY semiotika grada Karolina Freino Sam Hopkins Teresa Luzio Dušica Dražić Vanessa Mayoraz Dom kulture Studentski grad, Galerija / Students City Cultural Center, Gallery
Semiotika grada Maida Gruden Polje u kome operiše semiotika izuzetno je široko, s obzirom da ona kao disciplina omogućava istraživanje praksi i sistema produkcije značenja koja se ne zasnivaju na lingvističkim principima. U tom smislu, semiotika je usmerena ka izučavanju sekundarnih označavajućih sistema a jedan od takvih složenih, živih i fluktuirajućih sistema svakako je grad. Ako, sa druge strane, uzmemo u obzir da semiotika uključuje i proučavanje odnosa sekundarnih sistema i lingvističkih jezičkih sistema možemo razumeti sledeću izjavu grupe usually4 koja ukazuje na svojevrsnu komparaciju i shvatanje semiotike u kontekstu sasvim određenog umetničkog delovanja: Ukoliko gledamo na korak unutar grada kao na reč u rečenici, onda, ono što pokušavamo da uradimo jeste da se približimo razumevanju fenomena koji bismo mogli nazvati semiotikom grada. Mi nismo ništa više od kratkog prekida, tako kratkog i suptilnog, skoro neprimetnog. Dok spajamo opozitne identitete: stanovnika/ nomada, pokretne/nepokretne osobe, voajera/posmatranog, kreiramo radove koji postoje kao sublimna i gotovo efemerna pojava u gradu, dozovljavajući da budemo njime apsorbovani. Time se ukrštamo sa nevidljivom mapom istorije hodanja gradom. Semiotika grada bi se u tom smislu manje odnosila na poredak, materijalne karakteristike urbane strukture, smisla i komunikacije njenih znakova, vidljivih i trajnih promena kao i deregulacije opipljivih tragova a više na grad kao fluks stalnog kretanja, kao sagovornika u permanentnom tranzitu i sučesnika u širokom polju mogućnosti suptilnog delovanja walking art-a. Gradska celina u ovakvoj perspektivi podrazumeva osim opredmećenog prostorng plana ili mape i skup svih njenih stanovnika, mrežu linija transfera najrazličitijih
Semiotics of the City Maida Gruden The field within which semiotics operates is extremely wide, being a discipline that enables the practice and system research in the production of meaning, based on linguistic principles. In these terms, semiotics is directed towards studying secondary designated systems, and one of those compound, live and fluctuating systems is certainly the city. If we take into account the fact that semiotics also includes the study of relations between secondary systems and linguistic systems then we are able to understand the following statement of the group usually4 that points to a unique comparison and comprehension of semiotics in the context of completely defined art activity: If we compare one footstep within the city to one word in the sentence, then, what we are trying to achieve is to draw ourselves closer to comprehension of the phenomenon that we could name semiotics of the city. We are merely nothing more than a brief interlude, so brief and subtle, almost imperceptible. While connecting opposite identities: inhabitant/nomad, movable/immovable person, voyeur/observed person, we are creating works that exist as sublime and almost ephemeral phenomenon in the city, permitting them to absorb us. That makes us interact with the invisible history map of walking the city. In that sense, semiotics of the city would relate less to the material characteristics of urban structure (the meaning and communication of its signs, the visible and durable alterations and the deregulation of tangible trail) and more to the city as a flux, something of an interlocutor in permanent transit or a participant in the wide field of possibilities in the subtle impact of walking art. From such a perspective, the city entirety
sadržaja, ustaljeni poredak ili haos čestica, efekte reakcija svih potencijalnih elemenata grada. Rad Karoline Freino Slika u pokretu upravo uzima u obzir ne samo grad kao sistem kretanja u kontekstu materijalnog prostornog okruženja već čini korak dalje i povezuje ga sa protokom digitalnih informacija na internetu. Umetnica koristi web sajt sa live kamerama putem koga su slike Beograda na tri lokacije konstantno dostupne svim korisnicima interneta. Web kamerama moguće je manevrisati u nekoliko smerova, fokusirati, zumirati objekat ili pratiti određenu osobu nalik sistemu video nadzora ali ne od strane neke posebne službe već bilo koje osobe povezane na internet bez obzira na fizičke koordinate na kojima se trenutno nalazi. Karolina Freino počinje da istražuje predočenu sliku Beograda, njoj nepoznatog grada, nekoliko meseci pre dolaska, da bi se nakon dolaska i sama uključila i intervenisala u tok kretanja na nadziranim gradskim lokacijama. Jedna od lokacija je Trg Nikole Pašića u centru Beograda, na kojoj umetnica iznenadno čini neobične radnje: hoda unatrag, zaustavlja se i ukočeno stoji ili pak nastavlja hod vrlo usporeno izazivajući poremećaj u regularnom toku ponašanja prolaznika. Sve sekvence snimljene su web kamerama a zatim montirane kao video rad. Pozicija ovakvog incidentnog i svesnog šetača minimalnim aktovima razotkriva nam dvostruku prirodu današnjeg stanovnika, voajera i posmatranog u isti mah, kao i hibridnu oblast prelaska iz društva nadziranja u društvo kontrole. Video rad Karoline Freino u svom originalnom nazivu Motion picture može referirati i na film a time posredno i na fikciju, konstruisanu i režiranu sliku ili situaciju, što on u određenom segmentu i jeste, mada pretenduje na status potpune dokumetarnosti.
comprises of a concrete urban plan or map as well as the assembly of all its inhabitants, the network of transfer lines of its most diverse contents, a settled order or particle chaos and the reaction effects of all potential city elements. The work by Karolina Freino, Motion Picture, takes into consideration not just the city as a system of movement in the context of a material/spatial surrounding, but also makes a further step, connecting it to the circulation of digital information on the Internet. The artist uses a web site, with live cameras that enables pictures of Belgrade at three locations, which are constantly accessible to all Internet users. It is possible to maneuver the web cameras in several directions, focus, zoom in on objects or to follow a certain person. In a sense it is similar to video surveillance system, but in this instance, it is not done by some special service, but by anyone connected to the Internet, regardless of their physical location. A few months before her visit to Belgrade, Freino started her research, based on a presented image of Belgrade, a city unknown to her. When she arrived, she engaged and intervened in the course of movement at monitored city locations. One of the locations was Nikola Pašić Square, in the very center of Belgrade. Here the artist unexpectedly performed abrupt actions: walking backwards, stopping and standing rigidly or walking in a very slow motion, provoking a rupture in the regular conduct of passers-by. All the sequences were recorded by web camera, which were then edited into a video work. The position of such an incidental and conscientious walker, by means of these minimal acts, reveals a dual nature of the contemporary inhabitant, the voyeur and the
6 sati za 6 dana, Brada u mormonskom stilu Sema Hopkinsa predstvalja neku vrstu video rada o umetničkom radu/ situaciji koju je umetnik izvodio u Vroclavu u Poljskoj kada je tokom šest dana svakodnevno provodio po šest sati na istoj tramvajskoj klupi u određenom kraju grada. Hopkins je započeo svoje delovanje iz pozicije voajera, posmatrača koji želi da otkrije postojanje svakodnevnih paterna u odvijanju života u određenom delu grada. Međutim, njegov status se problematizuje s obzirom da umetnik svojim ustaljenim, intencionalno nenametljivim, svakodnevnim upadom ili prekidom postojećeg paterna ipak počinje da privlači pažnju stanovnika. On postaje iznenadno eksponiran i osmatran, pri čemu njegova sopstvena radoznalost doživljava inverziju. Uobičajena semiotika grada poremećena je i zahteva novo čitanje u odnosu na neobičan, diskretni upad. Tako da, nakon šestog dana, Hopkins odlučuje da njegovi poljski prijatelji detektivski sprovedu anketu među stanovnicima tog dela Vroclava i raspitaju se o čoveku koji je sedeo na klupi. Rezultat je mozaik različitih perspektiva i opservacija, duhovit bilans kao skup naracija ili pak proces semioze, stvaranja značenja u kome nepoznati čovek postaje neutralna tačka koja se otvara ka primanju različitih smislova. U lakanovskom smislu ovde bi reč bila o označitelju koji predstavlja subjekt za jedan drugi označitelj, a ovaj označitelj predstavlja označitelj zbog koga svi drugi označlitelji predstavljaju subjekt, čime se produkuje lanac, mreža označitelja. Kroz dobijene odgovore umetnik menjanjem prvobitnog plana zapravo otkriva, i to, putem insajderske priče, koji su paterni na delu ne samo u ponašanju nego i percepciji, mišljenu i nesvesnom stanovnika. I to postiže u većoj meri nego što je prvobitno očekivao.
observed at the same time, but also a hybrid area between the society of surveillance and the society of control. The title Motion Picture can also refer to film, and consequently and indirectly to fiction, i.e. a constructed and directed picture of installation, which, from one perspective it is, whilst on the other hand, it does aspire to a certain status of complete documentary. 6 hours for 6 day; A Beard in the Mormon Style, by Sam Hopkins is a video work about a situation that the artist performed in Wroclaw, Poland. For six days he spent six hours a day on the same bench in a specific part of the city. Hopkins instigated his activity from the position of voyeur; the observer who wants to discover the consistency of the patterns of everyday life that occur in a certain city space. However, his intended position of unobtrusiveness soon became questioned as he began to draw the attention of the residents, and hence disrupt the very phenomena he was trying to investigate. He suddenly became the exposed and the observed one; his own curiosity experienced an inversion. The customary semiotics of the city were disturbed and thus demanded a new clarification with regard to this unusual, discrete intrusion. After the sixth day, Hopkins came to a decision for his Polish friends to carry out a detective poll amongst the local residents to ask questions about the man who sat on the bench. The result is a mosaic of diverse perspectives and observations, a witty outcome of gathered narrations or even the semiotic process and creation of meaning, where the unknown man becomes a neutral point that opens the reception of various connotations. In a Lacanian sense this would be about designation that corresponds to the subject for some
Na trgu u okviru Studentskog grada, nedaleko od Galerije, Tereza Lucio postavlja na jarbol zastavu koja, predstavlja njen umetnički rad, Boemsku kuću. Ovo outdoor delo u relaciji je sa fotografijama izloženim u Galeriji koje dokumentuju Jedan od onih dana, akciju iz 2006. godine u Berlinu kada je umetnica u reku bacila torbu sa ličnim dokumentima i time zakoračila u iskustvo života lutalice, persone bez identiteta koji bi mogao biti svakog trenutka oficijelno potvrđen. Identitet u sebi ekstrahuje prošlost ličnosti i čini ekstenziju ka njenim budućim pravcima, tako da se ovim činom odbacivanja naglasak stavlja na trenutak sadašnjosti i osvešćuju potencijali koje pruža način odlučivanja kretanja lutalice, jedna posebna vrsta ispitivanja prostora grada i vremena kao i transformacije ličnog doživljaja istih. Boemska kuća se u više nivoa nadovezuje na rad Jedan od onih dana. Kao delo u formi zastave postavljeno na tranzitno mesto kao što je trg ono na nov način objavljuje i ukazuje na ekspanziju tranzitnog načina života u savremenom svetu, određenog velikom mobilnošću ljudi i uslovima sve učestalijeg menjanja staništa. Danas, po rečima umetnice dom se više nužno ne definiše karakteristikama vlasništva već je to lični prostor konstruisan individualnom i kolektivnom memorijom. Jednu vrstu privremenog staništa, takođe, predstavlja Studentski grad, mesto permanentnog dolaska i odlaska, tako da Boemska kuća dobija dodatne značenjske konotacije vijoreći se u javnom prostoru između četiri bloka studentskog doma. U globalnom ali i lokalnom smislu Tereza Lucio postavlja pitanje: Do koje mere nestalnost življenja permanentno transformiše naše emocije i ljubavne odnose u privremenim kućama/mestima/gradovima?
other designation, where this designation represents a designation for which all other designations symbolize a subject that produce a chain, a network of designations. By means of an inside story, the testimonies recorded in the video enable the artist to alter the original plan and disclose new patterns in not just the conduct but in the perception, opinion and unconsciousness of residents. And this he achieves to larger extent then he initially expected. At the Students City Square, not far from the Gallery, Teresa Luzio put a flag onto the flagpole that represents her artwork, Bohemian home. This outdoor work correlates with the photographs displayed in the Gallery that document One of Those Days. This was an action from 2006 in Berlin where the artist threw her bag with her personal identification documents into the river and stepped into the life of wanderer, a person with no identity that could be officially confirmed at any moment. These identity documents extract the past from one s personality and build an extension towards the future, which is why this act of rejection stresses the moment of actuality. It revives potentials that suggest the ways of movement of a wanderer, a unique kind of city space and time exploring, but also a transformation of these personal sensations. Bohemian House can at many levels relate to the work One of Those Days. This work, in the form of a flag put at a place of transit like the Square, proclaims and points to the expansion of a transitory way of living in a contemporary world, defined by the vast mobility of people and conditions of more and more frequent moving of residence. Today, as the artist claims, home is not necessarily defined as a characteristic of ownership but represents a personal space constructed by individual and
Veza između izlagačkog, odnosno, galerijskog i javnog prostora grada sprovedena je, takođe, na specifičan način, u radu Dušice Dražić Slepa ulica. Ovo delo bi smo mogli nazvati rekonstrukcijom javnog prostora, odnosno, ulice u galerijskom prostoru ili konstrukcijom situacije kretanja koje je iz urbanog izmešteno u izlagački prostor. U samom aktu građenja rada uračunat je momenat iznenađenja samog posetioca, koji se pažljivo (za)vodi i uvodi u slepu ulicu na čijem kraju se nalazi lightbox fotografija jedne realne ulice. Međutim, fotografija slepe ulice u perspektivi optičkim efektom postaje ekstenzija galerije i deluje kao virtuelni prolaz u polje grada. Ovakva vrsta prostornih instalacija angažuje telesno učešće posetioca koje generiše dodatno simboličko značenje. Tako da, Slepa ulica spaja prostorno - perceptivni i performativni potencijal umetničkog dela. Ulazeći, doslovno, u umetnički rad i hodajući do fotografisane slepe ulice posetilac biva primoran da se od nje okrene, da ponovo potraži izlaz, da razmisli o mogućnostima i alternativama odlaska iz mrtvog kraja. U kontekstu projekta Semiotika grada, koji na specifičan način razmatra umetnost u javnom prostoru, instalacija Dušice Dražić može se odnositi i na problematizaciju delovanja savremenog umetničkog dela svedenog isključivo na njegovu izlagačku funkciju u galeriji na šta nas navodi i sam naziv rada. Pitamo se: da li je galerijski prostor već mapirana i obeležena slepa ulica u savremenoj umetnosti u koju samo još po neko zaluta i na koji način savremeno umetničko delo može akumulirati i emitovati svoje delovanje izmeštajući se ili inicijalno se inkorporirajuću u prostor svakodnevnog kretanja? Da li je zaista nužno praviti radikalna odvajanja izlagačkog i javnog prostora, po principu ili/ili,
collective memory. The Students City also symbolizes a place of temporary residence, yet a place of permanent coming and going. It further activates Bohemian House giving it additional meaningful connotations, flapping in public space between four blocks of dormitories. In both a global and local sense, Teresa Luzio raises the issue: To what extent inconstancy of living is permanently transforming our emotions and love relations in temporary houses/places/cities? The connection between exhibiting in the gallery and the public space of the city is yet again conducted in a specific manner in the work by Dušica Dražić The Dead-end Street. This work could also be titled a reconstruction of public space, i.e. a street in a gallery space or the construction of a situation of movement, which shifted from an urban to an exhibiting space. The work is crafted around a moment of surprise in the visitor they are carefully seduced and led into the dead-end street at the end of which a light-box photograph of a real street is placed. Conversely, the photograph of the dead-end street in perspective becomes, by means of optical effect, the extension of the gallery and resembles a virtual passage to the city. This sort of spatial installations engages the participation of the visitor s body and generates additional symbolical meaning. Thus The Dead-end Street connects a spatial-perceptive and a performative potential of the artwork. Literally entering the artwork and walking towards the photographed dead-end street, the visitor is compelled to turn away from it, to yet again look for the exit, to think about other possibilities and alternatives of leaving the dead end. In the context of the Semiotics of the City project, which treats art in
ili treba ostati otvoren za različite opcije i hibridne mogućnosti, sam rad Dušice Dražić nam svojom formom i mestom kao granična tačka preseka već dovoljno kazuje. Vanesa Majora pridružuje se kao gost grupi usually4 u Beogradu i kao umetnica koja je, takođe, magistrirala na Univerzitetu Bauhaus u Vajmaru i u svom radu se aktivno bavi umetnošću u javnom prostoru i novim umetničkim strategijama. Rad Vanese Majore Spoljašnji krug na šarmantan i interaktivan način zaokružuje realizaciju projekta Semiotika grada. U pet svezaka izloženih u Galeriji Doma kulture Studentski grad posetioci su na otvaranju izložbe pozvani da nacrtaju svoje omiljeno ili za njih bitno mesto u Beogradu. Umetnica je na koricama svezaka dala crteže primera svojih omiljenih mesta: neka od njih su prepoznatljiva kao što je fontana na Trgu Nikole Pašića, spomenik Dositeju Obradoviću u Studenstkom parku, ali i sasvim anonimna mesta poput klupe, prostora sa lampionom ili sa fragmentom fasade neke stare zgrade. Nakon otvaranja sveske su puštene u protok poput boce u moru, tako što su ih neki posetioci sa sobom poneli da bi ih predali prjateljima, poznanicima i drugim ljudima koji žele da zabeleže za njih značajno mesto, ali takođe sa namerom da se sveske ponovo vrate u Galeriju na dan zatvaranja izložbe. U pitanju je, dakle, kolektivni rad koji sakuplja raznovrsne poruke grada i njegovih stanovnika, ima svoju privatno-javnu putanju po Beogradu otvorenu za slučajnosti ili pak intencionalna preusmeranja. Spoljašnji krug takođe ocrtava i ukršta se sa nevidljivom istorijom kretanja gradom i na taj način deli osnovno shvatanje semiotike grada grupe usually4.
public space in a highly specific manner, the installation by Dražić can also refer to the questionable aspect of Contemporary Art reduced solely to its exhibiting function in the gallery, as suggested by the title of the work. We are posed with a question: is the gallery space already mapped and marked as a dead-end street in Contemporary Art where just once in a while someone wanders off? In what way can contemporary artwork accumulate and emit its impact into the space of everyday motion? Is it really necessary to make a radical detachment between exhibiting and public space in terms of either one or the other, or should one stay open for different options and hybrid possibilities? Thus, the work by Dušica Dražić speaks for itself through its form and place as a border convergence point. Vanessa Mayoraz joins usually4 in Belgrade as a guest artist who also graduated from the Masters programme at the University Bauhaus in Weimar. Her work is actively engaged in art in public space and new art strategies. Mayoraz s work Outer Circle is, in a subtle and interactive manner, a kind of summing up of the project Semiotics of the City. In five notebooks, displayed in the DKSG Gallery, visitors were invited at the exhibition opening to draw their favorite, or most important, place in Belgrade. The artist had given example drawings of her favorite places on the notebook covers. Some of them are recognizable, like the fountain at Nikola Pašić Square, or the monument to Dositej Obradović in Students Park, but on the other hand, she also drew some completely anonymous places like a bench, a space with lanterns or the facade fragments of some old building. After the opening, the notebooks were released like bottles into the sea. Some visitors took them to pass them on
Retrospektivno gledano, ispostavlja se da se Spoljašnji krug razvio zajedno sa drugim radovima predstavljenim na izložbi tako što je neplanirano objedinio njihove ključne motive: Trg Nikole Pašića iz videa Karoline Freino, klupu Sema Hopkinsa, ulicu Dušice Dražić ali i preuzeo ulogu svedoka svuda prisutne tranzicije Tereze Lucio.
to friends, acquaintances and other people who would like to make a note of the place they think of as important, with the intention of returning the notebooks back to the Gallery on the day of the exhibition closing. Thus the work is a collective work that gathers diverse messages of the city and its residents; it has its own privatepublic path round Belgrade open for coincidences or even intentional redirecting. Outer circle also delineates and crosses the invisible history of movement throughout the city and in such a way it shares the basic comprehension of the semiotics of the city held by the usually4 group. In a retrospective approach, it emerged that Outer Circle developed together with the other works presented at the exhibition, and joined, almost serendipitously, their key motives: the Square of Nikola Pašić from Karolina Freino s video, the Bench by Sam Hopkins, the Street by Dušica Dražić, and took over the witness role of ever-present Transition by Teresa Luzio.
Usually4 je neformalna grupa četiri umetnika: Karolina Freino iz Poljske, Tereza Lucio iz Portugala, Sem Hopkins iz Engleske i Kenije i Dušica Dražić iz Srbije. Upoznali su se u različitim fazama magistarskih studija u Nemačkoj na MFA programu Public Art and New Artistic Strategies na Univerzitetu Bauhaus u Vajmaru. Zajednička im je strast prema muzici, kuvanju i iznad svega prema umetnosti. Prvi put se pojavljuju kao grupa 2006. godine na izložbi Crossing, a zajedno sa Vanesom Majorom iz Švajcarske. 2007. godine je održana druga izložba grupe pod nazivom Eintagsfliege u galeriji Inges u Berlinu, a u okviru projekta Floating series. Više o individualnim radovima i biografijama možete saznati na: Karolina Freino / www.freino.wordpress.com Sam Hopkins / www.samhopkins.org Teresa Luzio / www.teresaluzio.blogspot.com Dušica Dražić / www.dusicadrazic.wordpress.com Vanessa Mayoraz / www.vanessamayoraz.com
Usually4 is an informal group of four artists: Karolina Freino from Poland, Teresa Luzio from Portugal, Sam Hopkins from UK/Kenya, and Dušica Dražić from Serbia. They met at different stages of their masters studies in Germany at the MFA Program Public Art and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and share a passion for music, for cooking and, above all, for art. In 2006 the first exhibition of usually4 named Crossing was realized together with Vanessa Mayoraz from Switzerland and took place at the Entropia Gallery in Wroclaw. In 2007 the second exhibition Eintagsfliege within Floating series took place at Galerie Inges in Berlin. You can find out more about their individual works and biographies at: Karolina Freino / www.freino.wordpress.com Sam Hopkins / www.samhopkins.org Teresa Luzio / www.teresaluzio.blogspot.com Dušica Dražić / www.dusicadrazic.wordpress.com Vanessa Mayoraz / www.vanessamayoraz.com
Međunarodna izložba / Internation exhibition Semiotika grada / Semiotics of the City Galerija DKSG / Gallery DKSG 4. 09 18. 09. 2009. Umetnici / Artists usually4: Karolina Freino, Sam Hopkins, Teresa Luzio, Dušica Dražić Gost / Guest: Vanessa Mayoraz Kustos izložbe / Curator of the exhibition Maida Gruden Autor teksta / Author of the text Maida Gruden Prevod na engleski / Translation to English Nataša Bikić Lektura (engleski) / Proofreading (English) Sam Hopkins Fotografije / Photographs Karolina Freino Dizajn i prelom / Design and layout Dušica Dražić Štampa / Print Standard2, Beograd Tiraž / Print run 300 Posebno se zahvaljujemo / Special thanks to Boris Klinko, Ljubinko Rakonjac, Đurađ Oklobdžija Podrška / Supported by