Sanja Iveković
General Alert (Soap Opera) / 1995
colour video
d=6:33 min
MG-6840-f

The video “General Alert (Soap Opera)” could serve as evidence that the public television service is an entity with which Sanja Iveković (1947) – the celebrated Croatian artist and feminist – is in constant communication. This communication started from the very beginning of her artistic career when, as part of the Trigon Festival in Graz in 1973, she and Dalibor Martinis tackled the nature of television broadcasting. It continued until the moment when the television medium, during the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995) – before the implementation of the World Wide Web – once again affirmed its social relevance. It is not a dialogue, but a confrontation, albeit of a kind that brings results in the form of specific artistic insight. The video shows fragments from a popular South American soap opera and excerpts from Jean-Luc Godard’s film “À bout de souffle,” (“Breathless”) which were broadcasted on Croatian public television during the war. Despite the war, Croatian television managed to ensure nationwide broadcasting, demonstrating that the television medium could also serve as a means to alert the civilian population. During the broadcast of daily programs (news, films, sports events, etc.), viewers would be notified that a specific location was under attack and advised to exercise caution. The warning took the form of a classic television teletext message, displayed at the bottom or top of the television screen, informing viewers that a state of general alert had been declared for a particular location. Sanja Iveković captured these unusual juxtapositions - the declaration of an emergency situation against the backdrop of entertainment content on public television – on her home television set and compiled them into a video. Through her do-it-yourself aesthetics, the video highlights several important moments, of which the following are noteworthy. Firstly, it marks the end of a long period during which the means of public information (radio, television, newspapers) could be organized and controlled in a centralized manner. Secondly, it draws attention to the sad fact that everything is subject to change – the state, technology, art – except for societal stereotypes about women: in both cases, in Godard’s film and the South American soap opera, the woman’s role is reduced to a catalyst for romance.

Text: Klaudio Štefančić, senior curator of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Still image from the video: From the National Museum of Modern Art's archives