Impossible Histories: Historical Avant-Gardes, Neo-Avant-Gardes, and Post-Avant-Gardes in Yugoslavia, 1918-1991
All of the contributors live in the region and many of them
participated in the movements discussed. The book also reprints a
selection of the most important manifestos generated by all phases
of Yugoslav avant-garde activity.
The first critical survey of the largely unknown avant-garde
movements of the former Yugoslavia.
Impossible Histories is the first critical survey of the
extraordinary experiments in the arts that took place in the former
Yugoslavia from the country's founding in 1918 to its breakup
in 1991. The combination of Austro-Hungarian, French, German,
Italian, and Turkish influences gave Yugoslavia's avant-gardes
a distinct character unlike those of other Eastern and Central
European avant-gardes. Censorship and suppression kept much of the
work far from the eyes and ears of the Yugoslav people, while
language barriers and the inaccessibility of archives caused it to
remain largely unknown to Western scholars. Even at this late stage
in the scholarly investigation of the avant-garde, few Westerners
have heard of the movements Belgrade surrealism, signalism,
Yugo-Dada, and zenitism; the groups Alfa, Exat 51, Gorgona, OHO,
and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater; or the magazines Danas, Red
Pilot, Tank, Vecnost , and Zvrk .
The pieces in this collection offer comparative and interpretive
accounts of the avant-gardes in the former Yugoslavian countries of
Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. The book is divided into four
sections: Art and Politics; Literature; Visual Art and
Architecture; and Art in Motion (covering theater, dance, music,
film, and video). All of the contributors live in the region and
many of them participated in the movements discussed. The book also
reprints a selection of the most important manifestos generated by
all phases of Yugoslav avant-garde activity.
Review text:
'This volume is an essential guide to previously uncharted
territories. Until the publication of Impossible Histories , hardly
anyone outside of former Yugoslavia could have grasped the
region's extraordinarily complex contribution to avant-garde
and neo-avant-garde art, architecture, music, dance, and
performance--all of which are recorded here for the first time in
detailed historical accounts, precise documentation, and pertinent
critical commentary.'
--Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Professor of Twentieth-Century Art
History at Barnard College, Columbia University
'Impossible Histories is a nearly encyclopedic work and a
revelation to the outside world of the fruitful impact of
experimental modernism on artists and poets in what we now think of
as 'the former Yugoslavia.' In this assemblage of essays
and photographs by many hands, Dubravka Djuric and Misko Suvakovic
bring to light a hidden center of the avant-garde and by so doing
help complete the picture of the great experimental project of the
just concluded century.'
--Jerome Rothenberg, poet, University of California, San
Diego
'To participate in the international avant-garde movements was
for many intellectuals and artists of Eastern Europe the only way
to keep independence and critical distance from the violent ethnic,
religious and ideological conflicts that dominated this region
during the twentieth century. By documenting the political
relevance and tragic fate of the artistic avant-gardes on the
territories of former Yugoslavia, Impossible Histories reveals the
inner dynamics and true spirit of the avant-garde--as distinct from
its later commodification by the Western culture
industry.'
--Boris Groys, Professor of Philosophy and Media Theory, Center for
Arts and Media Technology, Karlsruhe, and author of The Total Art
of Stalinism: Russian Avant-Garde, Aesthetic Dictatorship, and
Beyond
'Impossible Histories is not only the most penetrating history
of modern culture in the former Yugoslavia yet to appear; it is a
model study of the creativity and complexity of modernism
generally. By offering critical perspectives not only on painting
and sculpture but also on music, dance, film, theater,
architecture, literature, and photography, Impossible Histories
reveals the complicity of all the creative and performing arts in
first begetting, then exploiting, and finally overcoming
avant-garde culture.'
--Steven Mansbach, Professor of the History of Modern Art,
University of Maryland, author of Modern Art in Eastern Europe:
From the Baltic to the Balkans, ca. 1890-1939
'In the endlessly war-torn and conflicted Yugoslav cultures of
the twentieth century, the avant-garde was not just a museum
luxury; it was always relentlessly political, activist, and truly
transformative. This fascinating and meticulously assembled
collection of essays by leading artists and scholars traces the
daring and imaginative cultural production of Yugoslavia from the
fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918 to the fall of
Yugoslavia itself in 1991. As such, this major publication opens
our eyes to a whole new dimension of avant-garde practice.
Impossible Histories will be read and discussed for years to
come.'
--Marjorie Perloff, Sadie D. Patek Professor Emerita of Humanities,
Stanford University, author of The Futurist Moment and Radical
Artifice
"A real explosion of artistic and intellectual energy took place in Ljubljana during the 1980s, the impact of which reverberated throughout the global cultural landscape. Alexei Monroe not only describes this explosion but transmits its energy to the reader."--Boris Groys, Professor of Philosophy and Art Theory, Academy of Design, Karlsruhe "*Impossible Histories* is a nearly encyclopedic work and a revelation to the outside world of the fruitful impact of experimental modernism on artists and poets in what we now think of as 'the former Yugoslavia.' In this assemblage of essays and photographs by many hands, Dubravka Djuric and Misko Suvakovic bring to light a hidden center of the avant-garde and by so doing help complete the picture of the great experimental project of the just concluded century."--Jerome Rothenberg, Poet, University of California, San DiegoPlease note: Diacritical marks: "Djuric" should have an acute accent over the "c"; "Misko Suvakovic" should have haceks over both "s"s and an accute accent over the "c". Thanks! "Rosler's writings of the past three decades have acquired an unsought monumental status: they remind us of what it means to conceive of the artist as a public intellectual, as an activist, and as a critical voice in the cultural public sphere. They thus serve as emergency instructions: how activist practice could be resuscitated now, when it is needed most -- in the darkest moment of the near disappearance of public political consciousness."--Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Virginia B. Wright Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at Barnard College, Columbia University
Dubravka Djuric is a poet and editor. Misko Suvakovic is Professor of Aesthetics and Theory of Arts at Belgrade University.
