‘Work in Progress’ was inspired by artists personal situation, but also the general problem of contemporary artists, who make art in their free time, after they have finished with the jobs that secure their material existence.
The project was moreover triggered by the fact that in Croatia it is extremely hard to get financial support for research based projects; it’s rarely possible to even cover the production costs, not to mention taking care of the author’s existential problems while working on the project.
Unlike artists working in the field of performance art or music, visual artist in most cases do not get any fee for their work and their presentation. Budgets donated by the state are usually too small and the money usually comes late, so the process of producing a new work is always prolonged, which is additionally complicated by the obligation to realize the financed projects by the end of the same year. At the same time, the market for this kind of production is still undeveloped. For the reasons above, it is not unusual that, with time, even affirmed artists become frustrated and give up on making art.
Lara Badurina’s research deals with this dichotomy: how big is the gap between labour (which secures the everyday existence) and work (art practice) on the local art scene, how much is it related to the existing art chain (art practice) and the dynamic of the (non-existent) market, is there a distinction between labour and work – or has the selection, presentation, distribution of the artist’s work become just another job… In order to more easily distinguish between different aspects of the issues that interested me I talked to artists, curators, critics, gallerists, as well as representatives of the independent cultural scene.
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‘Work in Progress is truly a work in progress: it’s a launching of a long-term research for me and a beginning in dealing with a more extensive issue of exploring the way the art system functions. Information resulting from the research and differing perspectives of the participants I interviewed refer to practical problems which are reflected on the whole artistic process and, finally – on the very quality of artistic production’
(Lara Badurina)
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Questions posed in the ½Work in Progress½:
/ What motivated you for the job you are doing?
/ Do you think that you had freedom at choosing your occupation or was it a coincidence?
/ Is there a difference between labour and work in what you do?
/ Describe the activities belonging to work and the activities belonging to labour
/ Describe the path from idea to realization
what is, in your own case, the final phase of production (work)?
/ Is there a constant for you in the production process and how would you describe it?
/ What are the ways of financing the process of production in your own case?
/ How much and in what ways do your definitions of labour and work overlap?
/ Do you feel underpriviledged in any way regarding your role in the production process within the existing cultural chain?
/ How do you see the existing cultural chain and your role in it?
Statements by the participants:
Nicole Hewitt
All the mistakes within the cultural chain begin at the Academy and that’s where things should be changed. The question is whether the Academy can be changed in the first place, whether it would be smarter to create a brand new institution, and let the Academy stay as an institution nurturing specific visual art techniques, so we would have something like the „history of academies“.
Emina Višnić
I feel underpriviledged regarding the position of state and city institutions and their relation to what we call the independent scene. We are trying to bring to attention, both on the level of the city and the country, to the internationally recognized quality of the Croatian independent scene.
Ranko Murtić
The role of the art agency ZONA is to create a platform for adequate presentation of Croatian artists on the international scene, which would also mean bringing the valorization of this kind of art to a higher level on the local scene as well.
Mladen Mikulin
Uniqeness is always the issue. So is the relation towards space and the people which is always unique, always different.
Darko Glavan
What is missing here is a transparent art market, as well as collectioners, because the couple of collectioners that are present on the scene have a monopolistic position. So if the author doesn’t belong to the circle of their favourites, he almost has no way of marketing his work.
David Maljković
The perception of individuals hasn’t yet occured in the local context, we still think in the socialist way. No-one will say today: let’s give money to an individual or group of individuals because he/she, they, mean something to us. That’s why the curators, artists, etc. form themselves into organizations because they know it is the only way to get some money.
Branko Franceschi
Croatian cultural institutions have no influence on economic developments, but I think it is very problematic that these institutions often don’t have the feeling for the economic situation within which they function.
Snježana Pintarić
What is missing are the galleries dealing with contemporary art and selling true, high-quality contempoary at.
Janka Vukmir
The strongest financial support in Croatia and Zagreb is granted to representative projects, those that can be shown, but what needs to be financed are projects bringing a novelty in production.
Andreja Kulunčić
In the beginning I had a bad reputation because I sought money for my projects, here everyone seems to find it surprising: why do I seek funding for my projects?! But when my colleagues complain that here they don’t get paid for anything, I ask them – and why did you agree to that?
Nataša Ilić
The cultural domain in Croatia is marked by understanding culture based on identity, primarily national identity, as well as culture oriented on a final product. There is no space at all for a time of reflexivity and a time of exploration, which we must include in our projects under great financial pressure.
Iva Rada Janković
The path from idea to production is full of obstacles and involves many phases. Finally the effort invested into the realization of an exhibition is transformed into the art of being inventive.
Ana Peraica
What I’m missing is a direct contact with the readers, because my texts are published translated from English into languages that I don’t understand. When the books and the magazines arrive, the only thing I understand is my name and surname, although I sometimes wonder about the meaning of that as well.
Ivana Mance
Academic knowledge should be more accessible and should eventually result in a socially accessible product.
Evelina Turković
What is negative, especially in local newspapers, is the trend of disappearence of criticism, it is constantly reduced and marginalized.
And there must be criticism, it must have the role of valorization, a corrective relation to all events. If it’s missing, then what?! Then everything is equal in value or, maybe – invaluable.
Dea Vidović
The development of tecnology has imposed, or enabled, collaborative work although we paradoxically live in a time which is especially supportive of a talented individual, who has advantage over the community. Nonetheless, networks and collaborative platforms have a future because they encourage the creativity of an individual.
Mejra Mujčić
You must know how, in what way, you can sell the product you present. It’s the job of a private gallery that cannot function without doing this. Because the artist should not do an additional job, a job he’s not educated for, that’s why he should have a person whose job is to sell and present his work.
Goran Trbuljak
There are talented people like Picasso and Meštrović while the rest of us are in art „by accident“, but I’m not interested in these true talents, I’m interested in all things taht could be art, in all that society and the environment make of one person; the extent to which a situation is responsible to label someone an artist or non-artst.
Mladen Stilinović
It’s important that non-commercial things are financed.
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Lara Badurina (1968.,Rijeka,Croatia) graduated and recieved her MA from Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia. She lives and works in Zagreb and Ljubljana.
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Public Discussion:
Work In Progress: Artist’s Positioning And Integration Into The International Art Scene
The discussion organized in the framework of the project deals with the issues of responsibility and role of artistic and educational institutions, galleries, as well as idependent organizations and curators in relation to the positioning and affirmation of artists and the models of their integration into the international art context. It is based on the conciousness that what is necessary for all protagonists of the existing cultural chain within the visual, contemporary and new investigative art practices is the orientation towards the international space.
The discussion will also point to the problem of absence of institutional actions and articulated marketing initiatives which would be related to specific artistic productions – and which would be recognized and supported on the national level.
Friday, May 5, 2006 at 7 pm
Participants:
Branko Franceschi ( director, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka)
Nataša Ilić & Sabina Sabolović (WHW curatorial collective )
Antonia Majača (curator, Galerija Miroslav Kraljević)
David Maljković ( artist, Zagreb)
Antun Božičević ( artist, Zagreb)
Moderators:
Gordan Karabogdan, Nikica Klobučar, Tomislav šoban .
