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by Saša Janjić, Praesens, Budapest, Number 4 – 2004
Contemporary
art production, especially in Eastern Europe,
in the so called “transitional countries”, is flooded with works that
deal with such subjects as transition, identity problems, political
correctness, multiculturalism, and so on. In most cases those works offer
a very critical view of their environment, often cast in commonplace
expressions, and are frequently overburdened with technology and
stereotypes prescribed by Western discourses. Every once in a while a
work appears that, with its concept and poetics, breaks out of this
frame. One of these such works is Europoly
by Dejan Kaludjerović (1972), a work that was presented at this
year’s, 45th October Saloon, the biggest artistic
manifestation in Serbia and Montenegro, boasting an international
character for the first time this year.
Kaludjerovic’s
ambient installation emerged as a result of the artist’s reflection upon
the topic of this year’s Saloon, “Continental Breakfast”, a term that has
become known to the world as something specific t Europeoan culture and
identity. Europoly takes
as its starting point the famous
game “Monopoly”, in this case modified so that with certain rules it
gives the players the possibility of buying different identities. Though
it may appear a parody or a paradox, especially to those who have all the
privileges of the EU-membership, the goal of the game is to become a
citizen of the EU by placing good investments. And just as all the
prospective member countries of the EU are obliged to fulfill certain
political, economic and social conditions for entering the club of the privileged,
the players, depending on how much money they possess, are to buy certain
professions, thereby automatically positioning themselves in a specific
social hierarchy of power. Better profession means more money and higher
chances of winning and obtaining EU citizenship (which promises the
convenience of traveling without visas and working without special
permits).
The
work consists of several parts, the exploration of whose interrelations
contributes to its interactivity. A printed board with sixteen fields and
squares is placed on the floor of the gallery and the players move on
them, the only difference being that in Europoly various professions have replaced sites and
attractive buildings to be purchased. These fields are covered with
photos of real people with their current professions, securing their
existence in the countries of the EU. Occupations vary from illicit ones
to highly respected vocations. Unlike the classic “Monopoly”, the cards
with special instructions, restrictions and rewards are situated on the
walls of the gallery, in minimalist metal boxes. The soundtrack of the
work consists of messages in the form of slogans from ads and billboards,
addressed to the visitors, inviting them to join the game and fulfill
their dreams. Messages such as “Do you wish to enjoy a higher standard of
living?” or “Are you ready to make a big sacrifice in order to make it?”
clearly refer to the powerful position that the EU as an institution has
over other actors.
The
essential strength and power of this work lies in its democracy and the
fact that Europoly gives every
visitor at least a virtual possibility of procuring European citizenship,
unlike the actual EU. The sharp social division of the contemporary Europe is emphasized by bags which, in this work,
represent symbols of material values and social status. There are Yugo
bags (big, clumsy nylon bags), which represent the immigrants, people
born outside the EU, while Designer bags (by Louis Vuitton) represent EU
citizens. From another angle, this work is materialization and
visualization of the specific mental state of the artist himself, who is
from a country outside the Union and currently lives and works in Austria.
Just
as almost all other works of Dejan Kaludjerović, Europoly carries a clear note of
social and political involvement. The questions raised refer to a complex
of relations much wider that the ones glimpsed at first sight. As
Kaludjerović himself says, the consumer culture of the EU has
created a simple rule: “Everything is for sale”, including identity. The
question of identity is the main idea of this work: the loss of identity
as a price for achieving other goals is a frequent phenomenon in the
contemporary society, which knows no limits when it comes to capital and
information.
Thus,
Europoly becomes a paradigm of the complicated relations that rule on the
Old Continent. No matter how great the idea of United Europe may be, for
all those who are left out, this notion at the moment seems as far as the
Heaven seemed to medieval people.
Saša Janjić
Dejan
Kaludjerović was born in Belgrade
in 1972. He studied at the School
Of Visual Arts in New York and at the Academy
of Applied Arts in Belgrade. He studied
and completed a MA program at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He is
currently on specialist studies at the Academy
of Applied Art in Vienna, in the class
of Professor Erwin Wurm. He has participated in many group as well as
independent exhibitions in Serbia
and in Europe, and his works are parts
of important European collections.
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