The New Art Practice in Yugoslavia, 1966-1978

Mirko RadojIi
Individual Artistic Activities in Novi Sad
Figs 190--194
In addition to the groups KOD, (a and later (3 KOD, activities
within the sphere of the new art trends were carried out or are
still being carried out in Novi Sad by individuals who only
briefly belonged to one of these groups or who were never
members of any group. Among them are: Janez Kocijani,
Bogdanka Poznanovi. MiAa Zivanovi, Predrag idjanin and a
number of others who worked only on the fringe, or whose
work can only marginally be covered by the phrase new art
practice.
Janez Kocijani initially worked as a member of the group
KOD, but since the summer of 1970 he began carrying out
individual activities, which partly corresponds to the ideas he
put forth as a member of the group KOD. I have referred to
Kocijani's activities as a member of the group in my text on
KOD. After he left the group he produced several works which
can be divided into two groups: the first can be derned by the
notions of arte povera, interventions in urban space, process-art
and conceptual art, while the second corresponds totally to the
sphere of performances.
Towards the end of September 1970 he realized a project, which
was later published as "Quatrodiurnal" (Fig. 189) in "Problems"
and in Groh's book "Aktuelle Kunst in Osteuropa". In four days
he carried out four projects at the Youth Tribune one a day
three of them related to Arte-povera and to interventions:
the floor of the hall of the Youth Tribune was covered
with regularly arranged Coca cola and other bottletops; pieces
of multi-coloured plastic were stuck onto the facade of the
Youth Tribune: a wide hose made of transparent plastic was
lowered from the roof of the building to the entrance. The
fourth work belongs to process-art and conceptualism: in the
course of one day the edge of the shadow of the litter basket
was traced on the asphalt several times.
In January 1971 Kocijani realized his Topographic Project.
In the project the artist transposed three parts of Novi Sad: the
Frotress, the park on the Nanube and the Catholic Porch with
the Youth Tribune. The information was communicated on the
surfaces of these parts of town, and was marked by traces in
the snow or by using paint. Previously as an idea it had been
realized on the map of the town and this was exhibited in Novi
Sad as part of the exhibition "January" and in the Youth House
in Belgrade at the exhibition "Coctail of New Arts", and it was
also printed in Polja 1972.
Among these works we should also mention Aesthetic Restaurant,
realized at the Youth Tribune at the beginning of 1973: the idea
for this work was published as early as 1970 in Index and was
entitled At KOD's Restaurant.
The other group of works consists of two actions which might
be called performances. The first, entitled "R - 0 - M - E - T", was
carried out in 1973 at the Youth Tribune and it dealt with the
embalming and burial of the pharaohs. The action lasted for a
whole day and the premises and building of the Youth Tribune
were decorated with ancient Egyptian symbols.
The second work was carried out in 1975 at the Students'
Centre "Sonja Marinkovi". It was called "La morte slenziosa"
and represented an attempt to establish communication with a
figure which had been dead for a long time already: Admiral
Franklin. commander of the expedition of the North-West
passage. Kocijani set out to "establish" verbal contact by
means of slides projected onto the wall.
This represents the last work by J. Kocijani in the field of new
art. It should be stressed, however, that during this time he also
wrote poetry and translated works from English. He printed two
books of poetry: Title (1970) and Cameo of the Extratemporal
(1975).
Milan (MiAa) Zivanovi, thouh he belonged for a while to the
grovps (:, and KOD f- (:), should be studied as a separate
phenomenon and can best be explained through his own
individuality. His "conceptual" activity can, conditionally of
course, be divided into three parts.
First of all, there are the works connected with the field of
interventions in the broad sense of the term (end of 1970,
beginning of 19711. At the time he was involved in the ironic
4E
interpretation of the meaning of works of art of traditional
value. He parodied well-known paintings and painters, local
awards, machines for making poetry (billiards: on billiard balls
he wrote words accidentally or by combining the balls
various phrases could be obtained, exhibited at the Youth
Tribune and in the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Belgrade in 1971) Eliot's poem "Four Quartets" (realized at the
Youth House in Belgrade at the exhibition "Cocktail of New Arts"
by the group "February" in February 1971: four transparent
receptacles (jars) were used the first, which was empty and
turned upside down, represented air, the second was filled with
water and permanganate, the third was filled with earth, the
fourth was turned upside down and on it aws a lighted candie
(fire); he was also translating Tolstoy's "War and Peace" into
computer language.
His second group of activities would cover his pure conceptual
works which reflect his studies of linguistics and the influence
of Wittgenstein. As a result of this "radiant" effect are two
compact and at first sight hermetic works: first (non) semantic
and then (a)ssociative fields. The first work was realized at the
end of 1970 and was exhibited in the Youth House and in the
Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade in 1971;
the second was presented at the artist's first one-man exhibition
at the Salon of the Youth Tribune in Novi Sad. in
January 1973. Since one of the positions of conceptual artists
was and still is that the interpretation should be left to the
consumer, I will do just that.
And finally, this artist who took an active part in practically all
the events since the beginning of the seventies, who prepared
several articles on new art ("Interventionism" and "Hyper-
-realism") in the review Index in 1972, and made several
projects for the same review, rounded off his activities by a
kind of inventory-documentary approach to his work (the third
group of activities). His last work, a series of photographs
Inventory was realized on December 9, 1973 and was to have
been printed first in Polja and then in Vidici, but this never
took place.
It should perhaps be mentioned as a point of interest that this
author has "switched" to poetry and has so far published one
book of poems Peacetime Poems, 1976. And while some stress
the fact that he has always had an inclination for poetry, others
explain this by his interest in conceptual art. Both, of course,
are right.
Bogdanka Poznanovi (Fig. 194) Unlike the other members of
the groups ROD and (a, Bogdanka Poznanovi in her
investigations and works did not cover the field of art which
could be termed conceptual art and whose central problem is:
why a work actually is a work; rather her approach, covers some
other forms of artistic mafnifestation, the central problem being:
how a work is a work of art, with a greater emphasis being laid
on the problem of communication than on the notion of the
artistic. That is why her work is characterized by a
heterogeneous manifestation both with regard to trends and
media: starting from signalism through actions, process-art,
feedback, books, photographs, slides, films to video-tape.
Bogdanka Poznanovi's last exhibition of paintings was held in
the spring of 1970 at the Youth Tr.bune in Novi Sad, and
already in Spetember of the same year she carried out her first
action, which marked the beginning of her investigations into
new art. For several years before she took up creative work she
had followed (with Dejan Poznanovi) the artistic activities
which went beyond the conventional limits of art (Dejan's
contributions and selected material) on the work of the group
OHO which came out in De/o, Belgrade, May 1967, Rok 1, 1969
and Polja 1970: Bogdanka's contributions to Polja 1970).
Bogdanka Poznanovi's first action, Action Heart-Object
(September 1970) consisted of a large model of a heart covered
with red polyvinyl, carried by four participants from the quay
of the Danube to the Youth Tribune, where it was set up
above a completely white surface in the Fine Arts Salon.
A metronome was then built into the heart which set a regular
rhythm. The intention was to remove any symbolic meaning
and stress the object itself.