Despite having become marginalized on the map of contemporary art since the wars of the 1990s, the regions of former Yugoslavia continue to be a hub of creative activity. Especially noteworthy is the strong presence of women artists, scholars, and activists whose deeply personal, yet highly political artwork is rooted in a long legacy of female artistic agency. Building on existing scholarship as well as original research, this book highlights how female figures – through art and exhibition making, writing, mentorship, and activism – have shaped the alternative art scene in former Yugoslavia and placed the region firmly on the map of the international post-avantgarde.
Using the founding of the Student Cultural Center Belgrade in 1971 as a starting point, the book details the pioneering work of women in the realm of curation, where they developed radical exhibition concepts and programs that furthered the development of the New Art Practice and embedded Yugoslavia firmly on the map of the international postwar-avantgardes. It highlights the agency of female artists in the then-novel realms of performance art, video art, and new media art and shows how their work has helped these disciplines to gain the impact they retain until the present day. What is more, it shows how female cultural workers have courageously used their work to further the discourse on gender, sexuality, and the female body and, at a time when they saw themselves stripped of basic rights by the chauvinist-nationalist regimes emerging after Yugoslavia’s breakup, formed a strong artistic and activist opposition.
Highlighting the role of women in the diversification of the ex-Yugoslavia states and its highly unique cultural and political landscape, this book addresses the noticeable gap in art historical scholarship that exists not only around Yugoslavia and its successor states, but especially on its female representatives.
By:
Anja Foerschner
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781350229211
ISBN 10: 1350229210
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 25 July 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Curatorial Innovations Women of the Student Cultural Center Belgrade Mapping the Way: Drangularijum and In Another Moment The April Meetings Oktobar and Grupa The 1978 Conference Drug-ca Žena: Žensko Pitanje: Novi Pristup? 2. Performance Art Bitef and the Emergence of Performance Art Katalin Ladik and Interdisciplinary Performance Work Milica Mrda and the Reclaiming of the Female Body PPF, Linije Sile, and the Commodified Female Body Vlasta Delimar and the Liberation of Female Sexuality 3. Video Art Bogdanka Poznanovic and the Emergence of Video and New Media Art Meje Kontrole št. 4 and Video as a Political Tool 4. Social Activism and Political Art Women’s Activism Alma Suljevic and Artistic Resistance Žaneta Vangeli and the Search for National Identity Ema Kugler and Metaphors of Violence Jelica Radovanovic and Woman as Symbol Cultural Initiatives and Subversions: Dah Teatar and the Center for Cultural Decontamination Coda: Where are We Now? Notes Index
Anja Foerschner is an art historian and curator of contemporary art focusing on feminist art, performance art, and art from the regions of Eastern Europe. She is the director of ECC Performance Art and a lecturer at ArtEZ University’s Home of Performance Practices, the Netherlands.
Reviews for Female Art and Agency in Yugoslavia, 1971–2001
Exploring the realms of female art and agency in Yugoslavia and its successor states from the 1970s to the 1990s, this insightful overview delves into the intersection of women’s creativity and its broader political and social implications. Presenting a diverse range of case studies spanning curatorial practices, video and media art, performance, and art activism, the book vividly illustrates the genuine, immediate, and unfiltered nature of women’s creative expressions throughout the (Post)-Yugoslav territory. * Katalin Cseh-Varga, Hertha Firnberg Fellow, the Institute of Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria * An important contribution to recent scholarship on the history of women and art in Eastern Europe, this heavily researched study offers detailed analyses of lesser-known female protagonists in the field of art and culture from the (Post)-Yugoslav region. * Jasmina Tumbas, author of “I Am Jugoslovenka!” Feminist Performance Politics During & After Yugoslav Socialism (2022); Associate Professor, Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, University at Buffalo, USA *
