web art competition- Biennale Pancevo

[Igor Antic]

Object: The Web competition for the 11th Biennial of
Visual Arts, Pancevo- Serbia.

The 11th Biennial of Visual Arts, Pancevo- Serbia
announces the Web art competition "Values" for
multimedia projects (Web art). The artists are invited
to answer to the exhibition's main subject. The most
successful projects will be included in the official
program of the Biennale. The prize for the best work,
to be chosen by the special jury, will be an
independent exhibition at the Gallery of Contemporary
Art in Pancevo.

Competition rules:

Please send the contents of your web-site on a CD,
together with a URL, a short project description,
artist's biography, and a short critical text
addressing the main theme of the Biennale - Values, by
March 1- March 31, 2004, to the address of the
Gallery:

For Web competition
11th Biennial of Visual Arts "Values"
Galerija savremene umetnosti
Trg Kralja Petra I br.8
26000 Pancevo
Serbia and Monte Negro

Please do not send any materials by e-mail. The
results of the competition will be announced on the
Biennial web-site: www.bienale.com, starting on April
15, 2004.

General information:

Address: 

The Gallery of Contemporary Art Pancevo
Director: Svetlana Mladenov
Trg Kralja Petra prvog 8
26000 PANCEVO
Serbia and Montenegro
Tel: +381.13.45.088
Tel. /Fax: +381.13.345.433
E-mail: panart at panet.co.yu
http://Gallery.Pancevo.com

11th Biennial of Visual Arts "Values", Pancevo, May
29–July 10 , 2004 
Organisation: Gallery of Contemporary Art
Pancevo-Serbia and Montenegro
Curators: Svetlana Mladenov and Igor Antic

Participants:

1. Jean-Pierre Alemao, France
2. Igor Antic, Serbia - France
3. Artlab, UK
4. Jean-Pierre Aubé, Canada
5. Magnus Bartös, Sweden
6. Mathieu Beauséjour, Canada
7. James Beckett, Holland
8. Gwenaël Bélanger, Canada
9. Patrick Bernatchez, Canada
10. Michel De Broin, Canada
11. Daniel Buren, France
12. Sylvie Cotton, Canada 
13. Cornford and Cross, UK
14. Stanisa Dautovic, Serbia
15. Jeremy Deller, UK
16. Simona Denicolai i Ivo Provoost, Belgium
17. Dejan Dimitrijevic, Serbia - Canada
18. Robert Esterman Very Yellow Plane, Switzerland
19. Daniel Firman, France
20. Zivko Grozdanic, Serbia
21. Ivan Grubanov, Serbia - Holland
22. Sadko Hadzihasanovic, Bosnia-Herzegovina / Canada
23. Mirsad Jazic, Bosnia-Herzegovina/ France
24. Shahram Karimi, Nemaèka
25. Ziga Kariz, Slovenia
26. Stevan Kojic, Serbia 
27. Ute Lindner i Patrick Hubert, Nemaèka
28. Olivier Leroi, France
29. Norton Maza, Chile
30. Liliana Mercioiu Popa, Romania
31. Oliver Musovik, Macedonia
32. Ladan Naderi, Iran - France
33. Mike Nelson, UK
34. Helga Oskarsdottir, Island
35. Tanja Ostojic, Serbia - Germany
36. Jesus Palomino, Spain
37. Aemilia Papaphilippou, Greece
38. Gennaro De Pasquale, Canada
39. Vesna Pavlovic, Serbia
40. Maria Petursdottir, Island
41. Alejandra Riera, Argentina - France
42. Vittorio Santoro, Switzerland
43. Cézar Saez, Canada 
44. Pablo Sobrero, France
45. Gerry Snyder, Mexico
46. Veit Stratmann, France
47. Miha Strukelj, Slovenia
48. Milica Tomic, Serbia
49. Helga Thorsdottir, Island
50. Carmela Uranga, USA - France
51. Anica Vucetic, Serbia
52. Chen Zhen, (born in China, died in France)
53. Zelimir Zilnik, Serbia
54. Mark Wallinger, UK
	
      Theoreticians: 

1. Aleksandar Bassin, Slovenia
2. Nathalie de Blois, Canada
3. Paolo Boselli, Belgium
4. Eve Chiappello, France
5. Valentino Dimitrovski, Macedonia
6. Jesa Denegri, Serbia
7. Jovan Despotovic, Serbia
8. Caroline Douglas, UK
9. Daniel Kurjakovic, Switzerland
10. Karim Medjad, France
11. Svetlana Mladenov, Serbia
12. Bernard Schulze, Canada
13. Andreu Solé, France
14. Ileana Pintilie Teleaga, Romania
15. Philippe Vilain, France

------------
Values

Introduction by Igor Antic

The title '' Values'' suggests before all the
reconsideration of the idea of the inner value of
things, their sensitive and often immeasurable aspect
defined as ''one of the basic categories of the human
being''. It seems important to me to survey the matter
on the philosophical plan, on the plan of global and
local economy and on the plan of evaluation of the
contemporary art and its capacity to speak about
universal values.

During the last decade the former Yugoslavia and
especially Serbia lived through the crisis without
precedent, i.e. the war marked by ethnic cleansing,
political dictatorship, increase of nationalism and
religious extremism, numerous murders with political
background, population exodus, corruption, galloping
inflation, international embargo, NATO bombing and
status quo in the matter of borders and the name of
the country. The general chaos affected all segments
of the society, including the art and cultural milieu,
causing degradation of all moral, intellectual and
economic values.

The war in former Yugoslavia has taken over two
hundred thousand victims, although the number has not
yet been confirmed. The human life was the least
valued thing in that war. To the loss of human lives
we should add sometimes total destruction of towns and
villages and their cultural and natural heritage.

The international embargo, forced on Serbia due to its
participation in the war, caused the wild and
difficultly controlled development of local economy.
Some unusual sites of commercial trading have immerged
(flats – as selling and promotion places, street
markets, etc.) whereas most of the official shops were
closed. Black market bloomed as well as piratery of
cultural products and forging famous trade marks;
banks were destroyed due to the collapse of the
pyramidal systems and the citizens were systematically
robbed by the official regime and independent criminal
groups. Has the situation really changed after the
fall of Milosevic's regime?  

In situation such as this, the art scene of Serbia has
long stayed isolated, disorganised and divided into
the conservatives close to the nationalistic circles
and those who wished opening. 

In the light of the mentioned examples we feel that it
is important to deal with the matter ‘’values’’ in
today’s Serbia. Naturally, the same question is raised
outside of the country, too, for it is much more
complex and delicate that any concept of ‘’nation’’ or
‘’nationalism’’ and exceeds the problems of any
regional crisis. It equally tackles beings as well as
things, material quality as well as ideals. The
problems of today’s world, such as terrorism,
pollution, poverty, overpopulation and exaggerated
accumulation of goods, justify the research of
fundamental and universal values.

Let us mention some of the topics that will be in the
centre of our exhibition. The majority of the world’s
population lives today in poverty while the wealth
stays concentrated in the hands of the minority which
does not wish any changes in that matter. In the
extreme crisis situation, where the social mechanisms
do not function, people organise themselves in ‘’clubs
of barter’’ and create systems of local exchange in
order to survive. That parallel economy, though
primary, seems to function well. As its result a new
system of values becomes operative although existing
in the margins of all large traditional economic
principles.

The next topic of research: value of democracy. As the
illustration, let us mention the recent war in Iraq.
According to numerous experts, the real reason for the
war against the regime of Sadam Husein was the
realisation of interests of the American and British
oil lobby. Sadam, who used to be among the richest
people on the planet, had built his empire at the cost
of hungered and impoverished Iraqi people. But, has
the foreign military intervention really given access
to power and wealth to that people?

Finally, we can also ask ourselves about the criteria
that define the value of the contemporary works of art
which are difficult to explain. The aesthetic
evaluation and social acknowledgement are done and
defined in the field of art. In the art market,
though, the transactions are done and prices are made.
Certain participants in that market, such as
collectors, galleries, dealers, experts, art critics,
investors, etc. regulate the social and commercial
hierarchy of artists and their works.

But evaluation of art is often the ‘’matter of
taste’’. It implies the subjective criterion,
operating in the domain of ‘’ relation aesthetics’’.
Another aspect makes the evaluation of art complex.
The modern techniques and artistic approaches are able
to escape the traditional definition of value of art
such as being rare, authentic, unique or original.
These criteria still make the basis of the system of
evaluation of art, especially in the frame of legal
issues, although they can be in contradiction with the
very nature of the work.

These various elements tied to the idea of ‘’value’’
mentioned in short in previous few lines initiate the
research. The artists and theoreticians invited to the
11th Biennial of Visual Arts in Panèevo are expected
to open new ways of thinking about the subject. 

Proposed topics for the exhibition:
Topic 1: Universal (non-material) values
Topic 2: Tangible (material) values
Topic 3: Measures of values
Topic 4: Value of Art
Topic 5: Places of exchange
Topic 6: Too much (possession)
Topic 7: Valueless



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