An Introductory Exploration of the Concept of Balkan in Art

/, Literature, Blesok no. 52/An Introductory Exploration of the Concept of Balkan in Art

An Introductory Exploration of the Concept of Balkan in Art

The exoticizing of the Balkan artist is another aspect of the problem with contextualizing the Balkan artist within the concept of Balkan. These artists who are exhibited specifically as Balkan, in the way that the west understands that term, are smothered by the persistent belief that to this day that the South Eastern corner of Europe is exotic and is the ‘Other’. In ‘The Spectre of Balkan’, Slavoj Žižek wryly comments on the border between ‘the truly west-European civilization against the Balkan madness’, sarcastically raising the question: ‘is Balkan not the very epitome of national identity going awry, of the vortex of dark and self-destructive ethnic passions that form the very contrast, almost a kind of photographic negative, of the tolerant co-existence of different ethnic communities?’ By doing this he is mocking the stereotypes about the Balkans that are so common in Western belief. He is making a point of ironically re-asserting our Western idea of the Balkans before talking about what those in the Balkans, perhaps, believe to be Balkan. ‘Where does it [the Balkans] begin?’, he asks.
‘For Serbs, it begins down there in Kosovo or Bosnia, and they defend the Christian civilization against this Europe’s Other. For Croats, it begins with the Orthodox, despotic, Byzantine Serbia, against which Croatia defends the values of democratic Western civilization. For Slovenes, it begins with Croatia […]. For Italians and Austrians, it begins with Slovenia […].’ 13F
Within and without of the Balkans there is a constant othering of those perceived to be Balkan, or, in other words, those that seem to represent the negative civilization that is not the democratic West. As has been discussed, in the art world, a wide range of evidence of this can be seen in the content and titles of exhibitions, the reviews written by Western art critics and, to this day, the marginalization of South Eastern European artists because of their perceived otherness. ‘From being the subject of a post-totalitarian and post-war reality that constructed the Balkans as the historical, political and social definition of the Other, the emphasis of the isolationist subjectivity should move to the realization that “Balkan-citizenship” is no more and no less than a geographical affiliation,’ states Boubovna.14F The western-imposed exotic nature of Balkan artists has yet to be altered enough so that these artists fit seamlessly into the commercialized, collector-oriented mainstream art world of the Western Europe and the United States.
Despite all that has been discussed it should be made clear that it is not the case, generally speaking, that Balkan artists do not desire to be a regular part of the mainstream art world. This critical notion, when coupled with the many implications that have been brought to light in this essay regarding the mass contextualization of art as Balkan, reveals an inherent difficulty for scholars. Much like the difficulty involved with the appreciation of art, the difficulty of popular western perception of this area of the world lies in a profound paradox: the identity of the individual, at more than a few levels, is inevitably a part of the identity of the whole of society. Thus, the desire of South Eastern European artist’s to ‘globalize’ their art in order to gain appreciation in the mainstream is symptomatic of the paradoxical problems of contextualization alluded to in this essay. Boubovna states that ‘although the arts in the Balkans seem to be free at first sight, they are in fact enslaved by the constant pressure to prove their adequacy within a global context, to show that they are more than a product of national or regional exotics’.15F No matter what the effect of contextualizing art and artists as Balkan may be, if the side-effect is to place the artistic creativity of this uniquely diverse and special part of the world within the box that popular western peceptions have made for it, then surely a great deal more will be lost in translation.

Bibliography:

1. Nicole Haitzinger, ‘BAL-KAN—The Irritation of Lingua: A Few Notes on the Exhibition Blood and Honey—the Future’s in the Balkans’ (Vienna June 2003), Art Margins Reviews, [accessed 3 March 2005]
2. Tomas Pospiszyl, MoMa Symposium ‘East of Art: Transformations in Eastern Europe’ transcript, 23 March 2003 [accessed 3 March 2005]
3. Bojana Pejić, MoMa Symposium ‘East of Art: Transformations in Eastern Europe’ transcript on the exhibition What Comes After the Wall, 23 March 2003, [accessed 3 March 2005]
4. Martina Pachmanová, ‘The Double Life of Art in Eastern Europe’, Art Margins Reviews, 2002, [accessed 3 March 2005]
5. Dubravka Ugrešić, ‘Balkans, My Balkans’, [accessed 3 March 2005]
6. Natasa Pertresin, ‘Location of the Problem: Always a Bit More to the South East’, Art Margins Reviews, 2004, [accessed 14 March 2005]
7. Laura Cumming, ‘Cast away your preconceptions: Western eyes often view Eastern European art through the lens of politics’, p. 10, Arts, The Observer, 1 September 2002, [accessed 8 March 2005]
8. Peter Chapman, ‘Imaginary Balkans to 24 Oct Site Gallery’, p. 14, Arts, The Independent, 19 October 2002, [accessed 8 March 2005]
9. Alfred Hickling, ‘Whoops of Joy’, p. 10, Arts, The Guardian, 14 October 2002, [accessed 8 March 2005]
10. Iara Boubovna, ‘Polar Bears on the Balkans’, Art Margins Main View, [accessed 15 March 2005]
11. Slavoj Žižek, “The Spectre of Balkan’, The Journal of the International Institute, Vol. 6, No. 2 1999, [accessed 27 March 2005]
12. Maria Todorova, ‘The Balkans: From Discovery to Invention’, Slavic Review, vol. 53, no. 2 1994, pp. 453-82.
13. Slavoj Žižek, ‘MoMa Symposium ‘East of Art: Transformations in Eastern Europe’ transcript: ‘On (un-) Changing Canons and Extreme Avant-gardes’, 23 March 2003, [accessed 16 March 2005]
14. Rozita Dimova, ‘Balkan as Metaphor’, Art Margins Reviews, [accessed 16 March 2005]
15. Dusan I. Bjelic, ‘The Balkans’ Imaginary and the Paradox of European Borders’, 15 December 2003, Eurozine, [accessed 2 March 2005]
16. Theodor Adorno, Asthetic Theory, trans. by C. Lenhardt, (London, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984).
17. Maria Todorova, Imagining the Balkans, (New York : Oxford University Press, 1997).

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13. Slavoj Žižek, “The Spectre of Balkan’, The Journal of the International Institute, Vol. 6, No. 2 1999, [accessed 27 March 2005]
14. Iara Boubovna, ‘Polar Bears on the Balkans’, Art Margins Main View.
15. Bojana Pejić, MoMa Symposium ‘East of Art: Transformations in Eastern Europe’ transcript on the exhibition What Comes After the Wall, 23 March 2003, [accessed 3 March 2005]

AuthorJessica Gearhart
2018-08-21T17:23:10+00:00 February 20th, 2007|Categories: Essays, Literature, Blesok no. 52|0 Comments