Pregledni rad
The Performativity of Politics in an Artistic Context
Irena Borić
Sažetak
An analysis of artworks from the series called Art, Property of Politics I and II by the Dutch contextual artist Jonas Staal reveals the complexity of relations between politics and art. The borderline character of Staal’s art practice is marked by actions on the borderline between art and politics, where the role of politicians is constructed anew within the context of art. Constructing a politician’s role has a performative character, but Art, Property of Politics I and II were not conceived as performances, and cannot be fully interpreted as such. Therefore, this analysis explores the issue of margin/ality with regard to both the content and the medium. Art, Property of Politics I was a research on artworks owned by the political parties of the City Council in Rotterdam (2010). Jonas Staal involved the politicians as mediators who explained the meaning of each particular artwork, as well as the attitude of politics towards art. As common as these artworks were for the party offices in the town hall, they seemed like foreign bodies on the walls of Rotterdam’s Tent gallery, since their primary meaning reflected the ideas of the political party that owned them. Art, Property of Politics II (2010) was conceived as a reproduction of the so-called Freethinkers’ Space, which was inaugurated in 2008 at the initiative of the Dutch liberal-conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the extreme nationalist Freedom Party with the aim of exhibiting artworks that had been censored for political or religious reasons. However, eventually they exhibited only artworks censored for criticizing Islam. By reproducing Freethinkers’ Space at Van Abbe museum, the populist politicians performed the role of curators.
Ključne riječi
Jonas Staal; in-betweenness of art and politics; performativity of politicians; reproduction; the Netherlands
Hrčak ID:
185626
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.7.2013.
Posjeta: 705 *