CROssoverUK Project

A pilot program of artist exchange and establishing contact between Croatian and British artist led organizations from ‘non-central’ regions

Partners in the UK: 

— Station, Bristol
— PVA MediaLab, Bridport
— Re.projects, Stroud

Partners in Croatia:

— Art Radionica Lazareti, Dubrovnik
— HDLU Osijek
— HDLU Varazdin

Coordination: g-mk | galerija miroslav kraljevic

CROssoverUK is a sequel of sorts to the Blind Date project, initiated by Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic in 2001 with the purpose of bringing together artists from Great Britain and Croatia. The residencies of British artists took place in Split, Zagreb and Rijeka, where they were paired up with Croatian artists, developing new, collaborative projects. Instead of encouraging contact and production of a collaborative work of individual artists, the purpose of the CROssoverUK project is to bring together British and Croatian artist-led organisations, located and working in non-central regions, outside large cities with a developed art scene. Unfortunately, the form of artist led organisation barely exists in Croatia: artists are working individually, not even uniting themselves for pragmatic reasons, such as ?nding adequate working space. There is no awareness of the bene?ts of associating in the form of an independent organisation and the greater opportunities of asserting and defending their rights and privileges within an art collective as well as actively contributing to the art scene by developing new, progressive programs. The system of HDLU (Croatian Association of Artists) seems to be the only, and in many ways not the most effective, model of artist association, which primarily offers a framework for protection of artists” rights, rather than being a an environment of collaborative work, fresh ideas and initiatives for new projects and international partnerships. Considering the almost complete absence of independent artist organisations in Croatia, not to mention the absence of independent artist-led spaces, we decided to “experiment” with two branches of HDLU- those in Osijek and Varaadin, and ARL – Art Workshop in Dubrovnik, independent artist organisation and also the only space in Croatia in which residential programs form an integral part of the organisation”s activities.

In Great Britain, ever since the sixties, the model of artist led initiatives / artist led spaces is a common one. These are initiatives or spaces – instigated and managed by artists, often with support form local authorities and/or arts funding bodies with the purpose of developing diverse activities and programs independently. Artists” self-organisation is a common model of artistic work in Great Britain, where even in the smallest environments we can find heterogeneous initiatives, groups and spaces. British organisations participating in the project Re.projects & SVA (Stroud), Station (Bristol) PVA Medialab (Bridport) – are all different in character but are all founded as artist initiatives and are all located in non-central regions, without a strong art scene, or are in other ways working outside of the mainstream (Station). SVA Stroud is an art organisation located in a large space of an old factory, housing art studios, conference room and project spaces. PVA MediaLab in Bridport is founded as an independent laboratory for the production of new media art and as a resource centre for local and international artists, with a regular program of artist presentations and other events. Station is an independent production and gallery space, managed by the artist Louise Short and located in a former firereboat station on the Bristol docks. Despite the fact that two of the Croatian organisations involved in the project are branches of a state institution, they are often marginalized on the national art scene due to their “peripheral” position. They have more dif?culty in establishing international contacts and rarely present international artists. We felt that this kind of exchange, involving practical knowledge and a long tradition of artist s” self-organisation on the British side, can have a positive effect in encouraging the idea of developing artists” initiatives in smaller regions in Croatia, where ARL Dubrovnik represents an exception. We wanted to give Croatian artists the possibility of an insight into existing models of artists” self-organisation which would, in a most optimistic outcome, encourage them to develop similar initiatives in their own environments. At the same time, we were interested to see how the British artists would respond to the specific local context of the three Croatian cities they were visiting. For both sides it was also an opportunity to start new collaborations and develop new partnerships. Although the production of new works wasn”t the main focus of the exchange, it seems that all the artists reacted to the new situations spontaneously and with ease, using diverse artistic procedures that reflected their new experiences. The intention of Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic was primarily guided by recognizing a need for decentralization and affirmation of the idea of new art scene, with numerous small centres, flexible and dynamic organisations with the ability to actively participate and contribute in the national, but also the international art context. This initiative is, of course, only a beginning in dealing with this extensive and complex issue.

Antonia Majaca
                          

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The exhibition, as a spontaneous follow up presents works by Antun Božičević, Ivan Mesek, Ana Požar Piplica, Luko Piplica, Simon Poulter, Louise Short, Dominic Thomas and is accompanied by a publication with contributions by Antun Božičević, Srdjana Cvijetić, Colin Glen, Ksenija Kipke, Ana-Marija Koljanin, Ivan Mesek, Antonia Majača, Dominic Thomas, Louise Short, Luko Piplica, Ana Požar Piplica, Simon Poulter.