**H-I-T** Milica Tomic, Lecture - 6.3. 19:00

[nicole pruckermayr]

Herzliche Einladung!

Graz Master Lecture #2
Fakultät für Architektur / TU Graz
(Institut für Zeitgenössische Kunst)


Milica Tomic
Ist Kunst Teil des Problems oder Teil der Lösung?
(Lecture in english)

Alte Technik - HS1
Rechbauerstraße 12
8010 Graz

06/03/2012 - 19 Uhr



The main task of a political art is not just to subvert and question  
given structures and the dominant ideological discourse but also to  
raise a critical awareness of how art itself is implicated in the  
mechanisms of the reproduction of power. In European democratic  
societies, art functions as a space where it is possible to act  
revolutionarily, subversively, critically or radically, but only  
within a set of isolated, strictly controlled conditions. This  
inevitably raises the question: is the act of naming something “art”  
the first step toward censorship and a diminishing of the relationship  
between art and society and of art’s impact on society? Thus posing  
the question "Is this art or not?" and refusing to be labeled as art  
challenge the consensus. Does this succeed in producing a space where  
political art could happen?

What is the role of individual artistic practice within this  
framework? What is the significance of self-organized,  
multidisciplinary collective work where collaborative creativity is  
not only a form of resisting the dominant art system and capitalist  
call for specialization and experts but also a performative production  
inscribed in a field of exciting, creative interactions and  
multidirectional and unpredictable group dynamics? It seems that only  
through these interactions can we imagine the realization of our  
potentialities. This has certain aesthetic, political and ethical  
implications, dangers and potentials that will be unpacked in this  
lecture.



Milica Tomić (born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia), lives and works in  
Belgrade. Her work centers on issues of political violence, memory and  
trauma, exploring the intersections and tensions between the arts and  
human rights discourse; personal experience and media constructed  
images. Author of numerous international art projects, workshops and  
lecturer/guest artist at international institutions of contemporary  
art. Founding member of a New Yugoslav art/theory group, Grupa  
Spomenik (Monument Group, 2002); one of the founders of the  
international platform Yugoslav Studies and Working Group Four Faces  
of Omarska. Participated in international exhibitions such as 24th Sao  
Paulo Biennale (1998), 49th Venice Biennale (2001), 50th Venice  
Biennale (2003); 8th International Istanbul Biennial (2003); Populism,  
National Museum of Art, Oslo/Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam/Frankfurter  
Kunstverein (2005); 15th Sydney Biennale (2006); Manufacturing  
Today/Trondheim Biennale (2010); 10th Sharjah Biennial (2011).  
Participated in artist's residencies at the ArtPace in San Antonio  
(2004), DAAD Artist in Residence Berlin (2006), Residencies for  
International Scholars, Stanford Humanities Center / Drama department,  
Stanford University, USA (2011).

http://milicatomic.wordpress.com/