The Misfits.pdf - Muzej suvremene umjetnosti Zagreb

work is still relevant. Its staying power will depend painting the stones of the Roman Peristyle in
on relations only partially connected with art and Split red caused a storm of protests, from out-
more with the prevailing political and economical raged individuals to police arrest. For years the
power. members of the group refused to admit they
were the perpetrators, thus confirming the
Excess artistic quality of the act and, placing it in a
Position of this art in culture of real-socialist period broader social context, set out permanently to
is much discussed today. Mainly, it was seen as an irritate the system reminding it that it never
excess, an outrage in the established culture. solved the case. The actions carried out by the
Whether an expansion of artistic limits, a subver- group over a year involved land art in the
sion in social life or a critique of stereotypes, this action Red Thread in which they laid a six nau-
art was relegated to the "second division"14 and tical miles long red thread in the sea to con-
therefore had no place in cultural coordinates. nect Split and the island of Bra, or analytical
For instance. the Gorgona retreated to privacy and art in Pavo Dukes action in which he project-
walks on Mount Medvednica (Sljeme). Occasionally ed photographs of his body's shadow.
they would mount a happening, for personal At about the same time (1969-1970) in Zagreb
amusement, like the one with all members of the Braco Dimitrijevi and Goran Trbuljak founded
group switching hats or staring at the sky, together; the Group of pensioner Tihomir Simit. The
excessive, articulate and very Gorgona-like.15 group was named after a passer-by who was
Thirty years later, in the mid 1990s. practically by chance the first to open a house door making an
the same paths and same spots on Mount impression of the handle in clay and thus created
Medvednica were visited by a group of artist (and signed) a work of art. The activity of the duo
bound with the project Weekend Art: was focused on accidental audiences who did not
Hallelujah the H///by Aleksandar Battista have to look for the work of art; rather, the work
Their friendly walks through the hills were at would find them. The group animated the city
that moment the only way they could react to streets mounting witty actions such as KreSimir
reality surrounding them.17 A series of over Klika's Painting in which a driver ran his car over a
200 slides photographed on Mount milk carton and thus created a dripping painting on
Medvednica from 1996 to 2000 is a record of the concrete.
three people who, like "the last people in the Exhibitions-actions by the Group of Six Artists2°
world", share their friendship and loyalty in (Mladen Stilinovi, Sven Stilinovit, Vlado Martek,
various situations. In the case of Weekend Art, Zeljko Jerman, Boris Demur, Fedor Vuemilovi)
almost paradigmatic is Nicolas Bourriaud's from 1975 to 1979, carried out in public spaces, uni-
idea that "today a group stands against the versities, beaches and squares, were puzzling in
mass, togetherness against propaganda, low- their amazing simplicity. Mostly language works
tech against high-tech, tactile against visu- made in unassuming. expendable materials and
al".18 photographic techniques attracted the attention of
The group Red Peristyle19 that briefly acted in passers-by and opened a dialogue. Their work may
Split from 1968 to 1969 followed a much more be described as critical as it "penetrated the texture
radical course, in the sprit of the time. The of art, culture and everyday ideology".21
group's carefully planned provocation of
09 I THE MISFITS