Vizionarsko Drustvo

ABOUT BARAKE

In 20th century, the 19th century term that defined art and art piece as completely independent from the rest of the world, was dominant. This concept obscured the concept established in the ancient times, which stated that art becomes one with life and implies something you live togeher with, having a concept of documentary image, an illustration of the ornament of the object of devotion.

In the time when we made a decision that we will do art, there was not a lots of choice. Knowing that every art work is sociopolitic, being an artist or a politican was not a choice at all. Not many periods give us much choice, and less and less themes for an artist exist. Global acceleration has drawn art disciplines of inscription, using them in every possible way of advertising. The quantity of advertisments even before intrenet, from it's mainly virtual form, got also physical character in sense of distraction and pressuring the already weakened and fragile psychophysiologic state of human being. In bosnian-hercegovinian and cultures alike, where there are just alternative solutions for both politcs and culture, the artist himself becomes an alternative solution, living as alternative as he can, dressing like that, and comming up with the new ideas of surviving day by day. It is very healthy for art to be alternative, because it brings solutions and possible models for the society where it is being created. But, is it normal and healthy to be as much alternative in everything that makes the social tissue, as in Bosnia-Hercegovina? At the end, if one, lets say, political model is very alternative, it becomes art. I mentioned that today's political solutions are more of an art composition with surrealistic tendencies, than they are a real applicable political solutions, but if a political solution is art, what happens next? What is a degree of psychophysical safety in this kind of living environment?

The Barake project is based on that exact principle - using the idea of manipulating general history, and art history as well, using it as it's work material.

The Barake Project poses questions about conventionalism in art, about conventional ways of sponsoring art and artistic events. Using the global acceleration and omnipresent interval of light by which help today's art reached speed limit, and capacity of omni-encompassing of here and now, also here artists in Barake offer possible ways of alternative thinking.

Knowing that ,artists who are present in Barake, testify with their works about possible existence of a new artistic practice that is an outcome of their reaction to the paradoxical and contradictory bosnian-hercegovinian society after war.

Demis Sinančević
August 2005, Sarajevo