City

Monday, January 11, 2010

“City” is my project of collecting and archiving abandoned dog houses that became part of three different installations shown on three exhibitions: “City” Solo Exhibition in Barrel Gallery, Zagreb, “Space In and In Between” in Le Konschthaus Beim Engel, Luxembourg and “10th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture”, Glyptotheque Sculpture Museum of Croatian Academy of Science and Arts, Zagreb.

The title of the work (“City”) points to negative developments that are consisted in the very definition of the title: City, as the greatest human creation is also the most complex composition of forms, and only in their harmony the greatest values can be achieved. Alerting to negative developments in society I have created the installation which “disrupted” the space of Mestrovic’s Pavilion (at the time when the building was built it was extraordinary exhibition space in Europe) in same manner as a lack or violation of buliding regulations disrupts the City of Zagreb. I also “disrupted” Glyptotheque Sculpture Museum of Croatian Academy of Science and Arts (one of the finest examples of industrial architecture) with similar installation.

Along with a reflection on disorder in Croatian society, with this project I wanted to point to the presence of lives that we don’t recognize and to give an experience of viewing the things from a different perspective. The work is problematizing the difference between stronger and weaker, powerful and powerless, but in a wider context between developed and underdeveloped, west and east and finally between organized and chaotic systems.

The project ended with donation of dog houses to The Animal Protection Association “Spirit” – shelter to abandoned dogs.

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City, project description

CITY, SITE SPECIFIC INSTALLATION, BARREL GALLERY

Site-specific installation “City” consists of twenty old kennels with elements of light. Doghouses are scattered in the space to suggest a small town, some of them standing alone, others in row of two or three houses, while few of them are hanged in the air. Several houses are illuminated with electric bulb.

I have collected old and abandoned kennels at Croatian villages and town suburbs where the kennels that visually fit to my project can be found. At exhibition, along with the installation I have presented an art-book about process of collecting the objects. In this work I am using found objects or second hand objects that are more than just a ready-made because they are already human creation themselves and therefore I am calling them third-hand objects.

In Croatia, particularly in rural parts, kennels have peculiar appearances. For the lack or violation of building regulations, kennels are usually made of various odd materials and non materials such as plastic, asbestos, rusted metal and various leftovers from building materials.

Furthermore, kennels are often situated at unusual places, for example on the roof of the house. Perhaps there was no space for it elsewhere, or the house has no backyard which is so often the case in residential parts of Zagreb such as Tresnjevka where it is tried to (financially) take advantage of every inch of the space, so there is no footboard, not to mention backyard or plot. While taking photographs for the above mentioned art-book, I am treating the kennels as a portraits, for in my opinion, that is what they really are - the portrait of society that produces them, the portrait of difference between east and west, between organized and chaotic systems.

Setting this installation in Mestrovic's Pavilion points to the contrast often seen in Croatia – at the time when the building was built it was extraordinary exhibition space in Europe and yet, just a few yards further we can still find odd objects like this kennels. To point to such disharmony, I literary moved the kennels to Mestrovic's Pavilion.

The important element of installation City is fear, fear of dogs, of dogs that are kept on a chain. As an indicator for contemplating the differences between societies I use relation to dogs. Remembering my first visit to Paris, I was surprised by the peacefulness of dogs. They were everywhere...in luxury boutiques, in beauty salons, in bistros and patisseries, they never barked, or shown any other signs of aggressiveness. I am opposing this experience to the view from my window in Zagreb – it is midday, young man is arriving to the children play area with his dog, in some European countries forbidden breed. As he shows up with the dog without a leash, which is attacking other dogs and frightening passengers, people run away to their homes at once. Except the fear in this work I incorporated other associations such as violation of laws and poaching on somebody else's preserves, lack of regulations or noncompliance with regulations, but also “a dog's life”, a shortage of the space (both space for living and for free activities), obscure hovels, terror. While studying on Scotland a friend contacted me as she was interested in Eastern Europe and decided for the study tour in Czech Republic. Her enthusiasm was broken with an incident that happened to her in a Czech village, she was bitten by the dog. In her touristic delight she stroked the dog on a chain, which gave her serious injuries. While we watch most unusual combinations of materials of which kennels are made and while we wonder how those objects can serve as someone’s home, we can almost hear the sound of the chain which scrapes along the wire cable – strange invention which absurdly serves to give a dog more living space and “freedom”.

I am “translating” these thoughts into 3 dimensions. This shantytown provokes uneasiness that we fell when walking through ruins of Ghost towns. We don’t know who its inhabitants were. What animates these objects is light. Kennels are illuminated from inside to literary but also metaphorically light up their interior. Interior of the kennels are almost always unknown, like a dark womb, we can only speculate what is inside. We can guess that the inside of the kennel, ground and walls are soaked with emotions. Illumination of the interior is like a inverting the womb and in wider context, like taking responsibility for one's actions. Furthermore, in order to behave responsible, issues should be view from inside. Observing the womb is disturbing, but that is necessary in order to become aware of the truth, and awareness is necessary for transformation. We don't want to see, we don't want to smell excretion. In which aspects of life do we act unconsciously, taking things for granted? Inviting visitors to view the issues form every angle, I hanged several kennels in the space, so along with seeing objects from above from Gallery PM, they can view the objects from below.

Anita Sulimanović

City

Monday, January 11, 2010

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City, project description

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