Second letter
In the first letter to participants, hosts and others interested
in the TRANSNACIONALA project, we tried to outline some motives,
previous experiences and themes which are the background of our
meditations and conceptual preparations for this project.
In this letter we would like to suggest a more concrete structure
of the development of the project.
The nature of the journey itself divides the programs and
contents of the planned project into two basic lines:
1. Private: the Journey and communication among individuals
and groups participating in the Journey.
2. Public: The stops in five larger American cities
and communication between the participants of the journey and
the artistic communities in these cities.
Private
We imagine the private part as a kind of laboratory
in which we will expose ourselves to an experiment of a collective
artefact-making process. This artefact - the project as a whole
- should a the result of confronting and debating various themes
and problems representing the intimate, artistic, cultural, social
and political reality of our work.
To be more concrete we would like to suggest some topics for
debates as a sample and invite other participants to complete
the list with their own suggestions:
1. What is the art we are talking about? The relationship
between the ethical and aesthetic aspect of the artefact. Examples?
2. Which theories or ideologies are in the background of our
work?
3. The object of art. The relations toward the objectified
art. What is an artefact?
4. The reason for making art. The attitude toward the future.
How to define utopia?
5. Cultural, social, political conditions that brought about
the formation of groups, artistic collectives or artistic communities
such as NSK, the Moscow art scene, SLR and others?
6. The relationship between the individual and the group?
Why to work in a group?
7. What is the relationship of individuals toward the notion
of art? Do they communicate about it with other artists?
8. What feedback do particular artists or groups expect from
their actions?
9. What are the taboos inside somebody's activity?
10. The relationship: financier - curator - artist?
11. What are our experiences? Differences and similarities?
As a continuation and extension of these debates we should
prepare together the concepts of programs in different cities.
Public
The purpose of the public events in Atlanta, Richmond, Chicago,
San Francisco and Seattle is to create a proper context to motivate
the audiences participating. As we have no direct experience of
the structure and dynamics of American public spaces, we would
welcome suggestions and help from our American colleagues. As
a framework for further discussions and planning we've prepared
the following general topics which, however, can be changed or
modified.
1. Atlanta: Introduction of the participants, introduction
of the project.
The content of this event will be an extended version of the
first and second letters delivered in a conversational way. Of
course, we expect your participation, your ideas, views or corrections
of the proposed logic of the project.
2. Richmond: Moscow art scene. The experience of the APT-ART
and the NSK Embassy projects. The paradoxes of Eastern modernism/
The critique of the notion of internationalism through the Eastern
optics.
This event is conceived as a presentation of the Eastern part
of the participants of the journey, a presentation of the projects
in which the Moscow and Slovenian artists met and a presentations
of the experiences and positions which become a common ground
for their further communication and collaboration.
3. Chicago: Art and fascism; the analysis of the social
and cultural contexts and artistic strategies under which and
because of which a certain art was accused of fascism or totalitarianism.
Our idea for this event is to compare and analyse the eventual
common symptoms of public reactions on the work of the SLR, NSK
and the Moscow art scene. We would like to present two NSK past
events; Laibach's interview on national TV in 1982 and the so-called
"poster scandal" in 1987, which are paradigmatic for
proposed theme. We would also like to present the recent Interpol
scandal, together with the Russian artists who where the protagonists
of this scandal and who, even before, were often accused of being
the totalitarian model of the contemporary Russian art scene.
We would like our American colleagues to supply a list of their
examples and experiences, if any, relating to the proposed theme.
4. San Francisco: The myth of America from the American
and non-American point of view. Presentation of the activities
of SLR, Rikirt Tiravanja and Mary Jane Jacob. Individual and group
art/ individual and group positions.
5. Seattle: Presentation of the Seattle art scene. Similarities
and differences of group or individual experiences in confronting
urban, national and international socio-political contexts. Recapitulation
of the trip.
As the TRANSNACIONALA project will be realised through the
interaction of our private and public indicatives and actions,
its success depends primarily on the proper motivation of all
participants. So please don't forget to bring with you your personal
or group documentation: video clips, films, music, catalogues,
books, press releases, etc. We are planning to prepare a dossier
for the trip with documents which might be helpful as a context
for public and private presentations and discussions. We will
try to invent an open form of a dossier so that we can add new
documents at the beginning or during the trip.
See you in Atlanta on June 28.
Eda Cufer