Sanja Iveković, General Alert (Soap Opera) / 1995

Sanja Iveković
Opća opasnost (sapunica) / 1995.
kolor video
t=6,33 min
MG-6840-f

Upravo bi video “Opća opasnost (sapunica)” mogao poslužiti kao dokaz da je javni televizijski servis instanca s kojom je Sanja Iveković (1947) - proslavljena hrvatska umjetnica i feministica - u neprestanoj komunikaciji, od samih početaka svoga umjetničkog djelovanja kada se u okviru festivala Trigon u Grazu 1973. zajedno s Daliborom Martinisom uhvatila u koštac s prirodom televizijskog emitiranja, do trenutka kada televizijski medij, tijekom Domovinskog rata (1991-95.) u Hrvatskoj - prije implementacije World Wide Weba - još jednom potvrđuje svoju društvenu aktualnost. Nije to dijalog, to je konfrontacija, ali od one vrste koja sa sobom nosi rezultate u obliku specifične umjetničke spoznaje. Video prikazuje fragmente iz popularne južnoameričke serije, tzv. sapunice i fragmente iz filma “Do posljednjeg daha” Jean-Luc Godarda, a koji su bili emitirani na hrvatskoj javnoj televiziji tijekom ratnih zbivanja. Budući da je unatoč ratu, hrvatska televizija uspjela osigurati emitiranje na cijelom području zemlje, pokazalo se da televizijski medij može poslužiti i kao sredstvo za uzbunjivanje civilnog stanovništva: tijekom emitiranja dnevnog programa (informativne emisije, filmovi, sportska događanja itd) upozoravalo bi se gledatelje da su na određenoj lokaciji počela ratna djelovanja i da pojačaju svoj oprez. Upozorenje je imalo formu klasičnog televizijskog telopa: pri dnu ili vrhu televizijskog ekrana bio bi pušten tekst koji bi obavještavao gledatelje da je znak opće opasnosti izdan za određenu lokaciju. Te neobične jukstapozicije – proglašavanje izvanredne situacije na pozadini zabavnog sadržaja javne televizije - Sanja Iveković je hvatala na svom kućnom prijamniku i od snimaka napravila video, a on nam pak, iz svoje uradi sam estetike ukazuje na nekoliko važnih momenata, od kojih ovom prilikom treba istaknuti sljedeće. Najprije na sam kraj jednog dugog razdoblja u kojem je sredstva javnog informiranja (radio, televizija, novine) bilo moguće organizirati i kontrolirati centralistički, zatim i na tužnu činjenicu da je sve podložno promjeni – država, tehnologija, umjetnost – osim društvenih stereotipa o ženi: u oba slučaja, u Godardovom filmu i južnoameričkoj sapunici, ženina je uloga svedena na katalizator romanse.

Tekst: Klaudio Štefančić, viši kustos Nacionalnog muzeja moderne umjetnosti © Nacionalni muzej moderne umjetnosti, Zagreb

Sanja Iveković, General Alert (Soap Opera) / 1995

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

Sanja Iveković, Make up-Make down, 1978

Sanja Iveković
Make up-Make down, 1978
b/w video
d=5:16 min
MG-6840-c

In the video “Make up – Make down”, the viewer quickly notices an unusual fact: the face of the woman applying makeup is missing. The ultimate goal of makeup application, such as applying lipstick to the lips, mascara to the eyelashes, eyeliner to the eyes, etc., is not shown. Instead, all attention is focused on the gestures through which the artist manipulates the makeup tools. These gestures are deliberately slow and erotic, attracting the male gaze but not satisfying it, thereby exposing the mechanism through which patriarchal culture establishes the association between women, femininity, and beauty. In the comments on her video "Make up – Make down," renowned Croatian artist and feminist Sanja Iveković (1947) often emphasizes the connection between the act of applying makeup and watching television. Both activities take place in private settings. “Application of makeup is a discrete activity performed between my mirror and myself. (…) The TV message is received in the isolation of a private space.” By combining these seemingly disparate practices, Iveković has achieved a distinct form of artistic critique. The video follows the basics of television marketing, image quality, and scene staging, but subtly undermines them by omitting the portrayal of the woman’s face, thereby challenging social stereotypes. The intertwining of the private and the public in Sanja Iveković’s art was noticed early on. In 1982, Marijan Susovski, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, wrote that her works “direct us to consider the relationship between a woman’s private life and the widely accepted, clichéd ‘lives’ of women in advertising photographs, as well as all possible subconscious influences in which the erotic moment comes to the fore.” Finally, we should note an interesting coincidence. “Make up – Make down” was created in the same year when the first international feminist conference “Comrade Woman. Women’s Question – A New Approach?” was held in Belgrade. It was a conference of the so-called second wave of feminism and the first event of its kind in Southeastern and Eastern Europe.

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

Sanja Iveković, Personal Cuts, 1982

Sanja Iveković
Personal Cuts, 1982
colour video, MP4
d=3:4 min
MG-6840-e

The video work “Personal Cuts” by Sanja Iveković (1949) is the only work by this internationally re-nowned Croatian artist and feminist that had its premiere on public television. For years, that is, almost from the very beginning of her artistic activity, Sanja Iveković’s work has been referring to the medium of television, highlighting its role in shaping society and criticising gender stereotypes, the commercialisation of everyday life and the instrumentalization of politics. And just ten years before the dissolution of the country and its media apparatus – before it would again undergo politi-cal instrumentalization within the independent Croatian state – she was given the opportunity to present her new video work to the public through this very medium. The video depicts the artist with a black nylon stocking pulled over her head. At one point, the artist begins to gradually cut the stocking with scissors. Each cut reveals a portion of the artist’s face, and each unveiling of the face is accompanied by a short clip from the archive of the state television news program (in this case, it is a story about the formation and development of socialist Yugoslavia). Each section of the artist’s face freed from the pressure of the stocking is thus analogous to news from the realms of econo-my, politics, sports, or culture. The video concludes at the moment when the stocking no longer covers the artist’s face. This video has so far mostly been interpreted within the context of the re-lationship between the state and the individual, with a particular emphasis on the fact that socialist Yugoslavia was not a parliamentary democracy. From this perspective, the black nylon stocking rep-resents something akin to state ideology, which the artist slowly but successfully removes. Howev-er, what if this analogy is superficial? What if it is merely the first association that comes to mind? What if we pay attention to the “personal” aspect in the title of the artwork? In that case, the phrase “personal cuts” can signify a form of renunciation, a kind of traumatic detachment. And what if we notice that each cut, each act of freeing the face from the pressure of the stocking, is directly connected to a historical and social phenomenon? Doesn't the face then acquire its integri-ty and identity through its relationship with social events, rather than through liberation from them? In other words, there is no separate artistic persona that is independent of society. On the contrary, where society determines the artist the most, she is closest to herself.

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

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