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Andreja Kuluncic's
work characterizes the shift of art activity from the expressing of limitless
creativity towards the creation of new models of sociability and communicational
situations, interest for socially relevant themes, confrontation with
a range of public audiences and collective cooperation in which the artistic
work overlaps with the organizational activities and creative expression.
The first project by Andreja Kuluncic, in which these tactics were developed,
was the project "Closed Reality - Embryo", realized between 1998 and 2000.
This is a multidisciplinary project which explores, in an experimental
way, the implications of genetic engineering. The project was realized
as an interactive Internet web page in several developmental phases and
presented in a gallery-fashion, along with a series of lectures, presentations,
discussions and confrontations in various art, educational, feminist,
and academic institutions. What is at the core is the attempt at articulating
important social issues in confrontation with differing public spheres
(academic, activist, expert), reexamining the educational possibilities
of art, the energy of team work and a hybrid organizational model which
is equally grounded in the world of art as in the space of activism and
civil organization.
These characteristics also mark the latest multidisciplinary project by
Andreja Kuluncic - "Distributive Justice" - which looks at the question
of justice in the distribution of common goods within a community. Again,
this is a project being realized as an interactive work on the Internet,
with a series of lectures, discussions and presentations and various forms
of gallery representation, but also a project, with a set time-frame between
2001-2003, where the ambition to develop it into a permanent open forum
is clearly articulated.
How did the
project "Distributive Justice" develop?
"Distributive Justice"
is a multidisciplinary project, which means that people from various professions
worked on it, from the fields of science, art and technology. As far as
the art side goes, as the project leader I came up with the framework
being used by the other members. The theoretical basis of the project
was worked out in July 2000, when Gabrijela Sabol, Tomislav Janovic and
I began to think about this new project, which would continue from two
previous projects. I also discussed a lot with Nevena Tudor, who was very
helpful with organizational segments and fundraising for the project.
The first of these previous projects was the project "Closed Reality -
Embryo", which explored genetic engineering but which had the same methodology
as the project "Distributive Justice". We used this same methodology for
the project "Distributive Justice", and within the project itself we further
developed the theme from my work "Nama: 1908 employees, 15 department
stores" realized in 2000. In that work I touched upon the problem of social
justice, that is, injustice, which became the central theme of the new
project.
This project exists from August 2001, when we launched the web page on
the Internet. The project consists of three formally divided parts: the
part available on the Internet (in virtual space); the installation in
a gallery (in real space); and discussions. After we uploaded the web
page onto the Internet, the gathering of results began and a database
was produced, which is augmented by viewers in the various countries in
which we are developing the research.
At the Youth Biennale in Torino in April 2002, we saw that the project
functioned well within the space of the installation. At the very opening
of the exhibit we received 100 filled-out questionnaires, which was a
truly unexpectedly successful feat. Following that showing, we exhibited
at Documenta 11 in Kassel, and in the three-month duration of the exhibit
more than 4000 people played the games, 1700 filled out the on-line questionnaires,
and around 3000 people filled out the printed questionnaire, which are
really fantastic numbers.
After the Documenta show, Ivo Martinovic and myself had an exhibition
in Sydney, Australia in a place called the Art Space Gallery which offers
residency programs for artists, and where we were invited to carry out
our research. In Australia we conducted 7 interviews, which were very
interesting because they touched on Australian issues, which to us is
a very distant country and about which we know very little. Following
Documenta, the project was presented as an installation at the Plus Ultra
exhibition in Kunstraum in Innsbruck, and we were also invited to a residency
program at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. While there, together
with Ivo Martinovic and a group of philosophers and political scientists
from Minneapolis, I worked on a new segment of the project: "Distributive
Justice / America" and on a new game for the Internet. This part of the
project looks at the issue of how Americans see the problems of distribution
of goods in USA in relation to the views of non-Americans, and this will
soon be presented on the Internet.
How does the
project function as a gallery installation?
The project has a
total of 10 segments, of which every part functions on its own and has
a somewhat different approach to the theme of distributive justice. The
gallery installation is set up so that there are points in the space between
which the viewers move through, and every point carries one segment of
the project. When first entering the space of the installation, the viewers
are met and greeted by an assistant who directs them and helps them find
their bearings. What is also important to us is the overall design of
the project, for which we wanted it to be adapted to the viewer and simple
to use.
Sometimes I exhibit all the segments of the project, and sometimes only
a section. I focus either on the interviews, or on the theory, the games,
the statistics, the data… The whole work itself is conceptualized so that
it can always function both as a unit and in its separate parts. The work
does not exist without the viewers, and it is completely linked to audience
participation, and for me, the greatest question was how to bring the
theme closer to the viewer, to allow the viewer to understand the project
in the 10-15 minutes that viewers normally spend in the space.
How did you
conceptualize the issue of distributive justice so that viewers can absorb
it within a short period of time?
We started off from
the notion that there is a subjective and objective side to social justice.
On the one hand there is objective theory; here we set up a socio-economic
map, on which we show the GNP (gross-national-product), infant mortality
rate, life expectancy and illiteracy, which are all exact and objective
facts, but we also have subjective indicators for distributive justice,
for example, through the interviews conducted in all the countries in
which we are carrying out the research. We always pose the same questions,
which all come down to finding out from the interviewee what it is really
like to live in Sweden, Denmark, Croatia or Australia. For example, we
ask questions such as: do you think that the society you live in is just?,
why do you think that?, do you think you have been able to realize your
potential in that society?, if yes, did society help you in this regard
or are you yourself responsible for this?, do you know of any society
which seems more just than yours?, what would you like to see go in another
direction in your country?, what kind of changes have you noticed in the
last 20 years?, is the situation heading towards something better or something
worse, and similar.
We always try to conduct interviews and talk to people of the same profile
in various environments such as pensioners, students, philosophers, journalists,
artists or curators, lawyers, etc. We then compare the data.
The social questionnaire is also very interesting. By the end of the exhibition
we usually receive some two hundred filled-out questionnaires, which is
about the average. These questionnaires are then analyzed by sociologists,
and the statistics are returned to the Internet, which then allows for
a comparison both within one group and a comparison between various groups.
Distributive justice is a fairly difficult theme and people are not inclined
to discuss whether they are just, do they live in a just society, how
they envision justice... in a gallery. It is for this reason that the
games were conceived. They are not real games with action, nothing close
to typical computer games. Rather, they are more about questionnaires
set up in the form of a game. The first game is called "Create the society
of your desire" where the player distributes six common goods. There are
many common goods in society, but we selected those 6 which we thought
would be most interesting for explaining the theme of justice, and these
were: money, freedom, social position, opportunities, public services,
and pleasure. The player's task is to distribute them in accordance with
what they think is just, and the options are, i.e., equally to all, to
those according to need, or only to those who earned it on the free market.
At the end of the game, the player receives a result indicating to which
society they are closest to belonging - libertarianism, egalitarianism,
communism, welfare state, etc.
The second game, "Discover your distributive profile", shows the player
to which theory of distributive justice they are closest. It is completely
different to read the theory and then commit yourself to it, than to distribute
goods in a game, giving it your all. The questions which we pose place
the player in a position in which they have to give something of themselves
in order to create a just society as they as it. This is what is at the
core - to see how much we are really ready to give to another from ourselves.
An interesting
element of the "Distributive Justice" project is the striving towards
making the project grow into a permanent platform, in which interested
individuals could continue to be involved in these issues even after the
project's conclusion.
One of the main goals
of the project is that the process itself does not conclude with the finish
of the project. For example, the newsletter, which addresses a different
theme in every issue, is one of those parts which could survive on its
own after the project's completion.
For this reason, it is our goal to conduct as much research in as many
countries as possible within this year, in order for us to meet people
interested in further cooperation on the project. This is why we have
forums and a mailing list which allows us to maintain that type of contact.
It is also our intention to realize contacts with non-governmental organizations
abroad, not so much in the West but more so the European East, Asia, Africa,
Argentina, the more 'problematic' countries. We would like to continue
to develop the Internet portal with them, where students, assistants,
professors, theoreticians, would be able to, above all, interpret the
issue of social justice, transformation, transition, and to offer alternative
models which would perhaps function in some country or culture. This is
a sort of wider plan and the project is developing in that direction,
and I am hoping that by its completion in 2003, that someone will have
the sense to not only continue the project but to invest resources in
it. This would then completely take place outside the art realm, and art
here only helps to offer a base, to create a platform, to connect people,
to offer a framework.
Of course, for me, as an artist, the exhibition in a gallery is a product,
but for the people involved in the project this is not the reason they
participate. Here I see my role and the role of art - to offer a platform,
a framework for all those people to feel good within and for them to be
able to continue to work on what they do, but within a different structure,
and in some ways a lot more freer. Not one of us believes that we can
change or make something colossal out of this, but what is important is
this platform, one that is completely neutral, which is neither political,
nor activist, which is not colored in any way, but which is available
to all and everyone can find their place within it if they wish to participate.
What is important to remember here is that "Distributive Justice" is not
a scientific or scholarly project. Regardless of how much we strived for
everything to be objective and accurate, there are many omissions and
scientific criteria are not completely met, but without them it would
not be possible to bring it closer to the gallery set-up and to a public.
But the overall aim was not to create a scientific/scholarly project,
rather to bring this issue closer to the audience regardless of their
knowledge of the subject, to open up questions, to recognize and connect
people interested in this theme, to set discussions in motion.
TRANSLATION: Susan
Jakopec
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