The New Art Practice in Yugoslavia, 1966-1978

Ratomir Kuli, Vladimir Mattioni
Verbumprogram
Belgrade
Fig. 271
The principles determining the scope of the programme are
contained in the notion of verbum. some of the levels of which
can be represented through levels of indetermination, either in
the form of methods or of procedures of communication. The
notion of verbum includes the original principle of all techniques,
while the procedure an activity as such methodologically
constitutes a form of consciousness which is itself a structure
of reality. The exhibitional character of the programme is,
therefore methodologically directed towards praxis, as
representing the meaning and content of communication. If the
intention were made the theme of the exhibition, this would
then be Method that which determines the character of
the programme as a critical consciousness formed through the
experience of the procedure. In this respect, reality is not
expressed, but created, and the attitude towards creation is
determined by a pseudalized view of reality. The methodology
synthesizes the moment of signification as the ethical basis
in any type of activity. That is why the exhibitional form is
always pseudalized by the character of the exhibited material,
while the totality of such an act should be considered as an
environment structured at a given moment of the programme
process.
As the basic assumption and fundamental view of the artist,
the methodology is explained by the environmental character
(the material is put together for a specific exhibition) in which
the documentation as well as the exhibitional character itself
are pseudalized, and the whole activity is pseudalized in the
form of programme activity. Though the exhibitional character
is a simulation, only the form of the exhibition, as revealing the
attitude of the artist, must be regarded as that which identifies
a work within the framework of the system of art. We do not
aspire to present a totally new idea, but what we do want to
put forth is an innovative attitude in art, which consists of
praxis, methodologically worked out, which represents a
critical basis in communication. Thus we are no longer
condemned (not to the same extent) to the duty of the artistic
vocation which requires that one prove oneself through
production as this determines the existence of the artistic
personality. The method offers us at every moment (inspiration)
a way in which to structure our attitude towards any form of the
phenomenologically viewed consciousness. Every experience
is unobjective without its transcendental frame, which confirms
the validity of the methodology of comprehending and acting,
and the only thing that keeps us from achievement is
pseudalization, as a methodological attitude towards all
creations of the mind, towards all institutional activities, etc.
Thus, we methodologically express our ego cogito in
transcendence as an existent reality, the existence of which is
noted as pure praxis. For this reason, we can no longer speak
of the process of praxis as something that exists something
that is. For the duration of praxis can anly be determined
intentionally. In this respect, each further step of «the
programme. is realized as the unmasking of the very
intentionality.
The fact that we have made an option in choosing
communication (art) does not determine the scope of the
programme, but only the pattern within the framework of
which the totality (being) is experienced as separated from
that to which it is addressed (thought, activity) and which, in
its search for identity regards itself as the basis of reality
(fiction). Pseudalization in determining the basis of reality is
opposed to all comprehension and interpretation.
To approach the spritual (in art) and thereby the supra-
-individual means to leave the field of expression, and this
means to become indifferent to both the emotional and cultural
contents in one's phenomenological course. To express oneself
as clearly as possible means not to express oneself at all, which
means to be objective (objectified). Pure spirituality is possible
only once we become methodologically objective (objectified).
This achievement is preceded by emotional purity «a void..
Different attempts at production, as representing that which is
(illusion), bring to the fore the completion and delimitation of
that which is not (state), which is a totality. Directly. Yet, it is
not a kind of nothingness (state), nor is it something else,
but it appears at the presence of Existence. This presence or
omnipresence will depend on the explanation (Procedure) of
that in which the totality is absent (illusion).
Thus, the verbumprogram appears as a process throwing light
on that which, in its manifestation, becomes separated from its
basis, i.e. on that which in the manifestation itself is ever
present. It is not knowledge, nor is it a point of support but
rather a state of continual reflection.
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