In Search of 'Other' Space of Belonging

Alen Aligrudić, Damir Avdagić, Elvis Avdibegović Bego, Ismar Čirkinagić, Suada Demirović, Nermin Duraković, Amel Ibrahimović, Alen Mešković, Tijana Mišković, Vladimir Tomić.

Curator: Irfan Hošić

The exhibition In Search of 'Other' Space of Belonging brings together ten different artistic positions that are in some way related to the Danish social context, all of them have in common their Bosnian origin. The exhibition aims to point out the fluidity and multidimensionality of the Bosnian artistic context through the phenomenon of “traditional” departures from the homeland and a kind of atypicality through the work of artists “out of context.” The presented works, as well as the accompanying program of the exhibition, serve as a starting point for the reconstruction of the social environment in Denmark, but also as a kind of probe into the socio-political circumstances that devastated Bosnian and Herzegovinian society and led to the expulsion of its citizens during the 1990s. The immediate refugee experience as well as the transcultural transition from the Yugoslav, through the Bosnian, all the way to the Danish social and societal framework, raises a number of critical issues concerning the multi-layered and complex narratives of identity. Art seems to be a solid tester of the performativity of displacement and a resonator of creating a sense of belonging. The exhibition presents medially and genre-heterogeneous positions in the field of visual arts, literature and contemporary curatorial practices.

The concentration of Bosnian citizens in Denmark took place during the 1990s when they arrived in difficult circumstances as traumatized refugees. Subjecting to the inertia of integration was conditioned by the impossibility of returning to their homes for known reasons and this process was accompanied by social and cultural antagonism resulting from the shock. Although the Bosnian community appears to be well integrated into Danish society, the exhibition intends to map the critical points of the process and ask a few key questions about the extent of personal traumatic experience and its impact on art production; on possible comparative pillars of departures in the wider artistic context of Bosnia and Herzegovina; about the importance of trans-culturalism and its (im)possibility to become a new model of cultural production in the world.

Having in mind the importance of political, social and cultural contextualization of the presented works, the exhibition wants to articulate a new set of critical tools in the direction of synthesis of this phenomenon. It is important for both the Danish and Bosnian contexts because it deals with multi-layered and complex aspects of transcultural exchange—primarily between Denmark and Bosnia and Herzegovina, not one-way but multi-directional.

With its title, the exhibition refers to the symposium of the same name held in Charlottenborg, Copenhagen in the summer of 2019, which was designed and organized by curator Tijana Mišković. The exhibition is the result of research in Copenhagen from 2018 and presents its official end.

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