Kamen, Makaze, Papir

About ‘KAMEN, MAKAZE, PAPIR’ (‘Rock – Paper – Scissors 4’):

SPANISH-SERBIAN ARTISTS EXCHANGE, PART 1

Time: 18. July – 7. August 2022

Place: Gallery “Fabrika”, Student Cultural Center, Novi Sad

Exhibition title: “Rock – Paper – Scissors 4”

Artists from Madrid: VÍKTOR ALBA, FERNANDO DAZA, ALBA ESCAYO, GUILLERMO LATORRE PLAZA, SILVIA LERÍN, LUCÍA LOREN, RODRIGO MARTÍN, MARÍA ORTEGA ESTEPA, NIKOLA SRDIĆ, ANA ZDRAVKOVIĆ

Artists from Novi Sad: DANICA BIĆANIĆ, JASNA GULAN RUŽIĆ, GORAN DESPOTOVSKI, JELENA ĐURIĆ,  LAZAR MARKOVIĆ, NEBOJŠA LAZIĆ, MONIKA SIGETI, JELENA SREDANOVIĆ, DANILO VUKSANOVIĆ, DANIJEL BABIĆ

Curators: Maja Erdeljanin & Begoña Ramos

Producers: Cultural Center of Novi Sad, Asociación Cultural Hispano Serbia “Ivo Andrić” (Madrid), Student Cultural Center of Novi Sad, Embassy of Spain in Serbia, Cervantes Institute – Spanish Cultural Center (Belgrade)

Before opening of the exhibition, each participating artist had five-minute presentation of their basic ideas in art. In two hours artists had chance to introduce their art work to each other and to the viewers all over the world via video link.

Exhibition was later opened by H.E. Raul Bartolome Molina, the ambassador of Spain.

The exhibition ‘KAMEN, MAKAZE, PAPIR’ (‘Rock – Paper – Scissors 4’) is being held for the fourth time as part of the seventh edition of the artistic exchange project “Art links”. Previous versions of this exhibition were held in the Austrian city of Holabruno (2018), Dortmund (2019) and Ljubljana (2021), and will be held in Madrid next year. The configuration of the exhibition also this time is modified and differentiated from the previous ones by the spatial conditions of the gallery and the curatorial conception, and at SKC Fabrika for the first time it is conceived as a series of dialogues between the works of artists from two countries different, two cultural scenes from Spain and Serbia.

Ten pairs of artists from two different countries, cultures and art scenes, who have never met, nor are previously familiar with each other’s work, present themselves through works on paper, using rock or scissors: drawings, collages, lithography , objects… This approach has been chosen because the theme of the exhibition, on the one hand, refers to the material used, and on the other, compares life and art with the famous game, as well as with less entertaining and complex phenomena such as : questions of power, (in)justice, decision-making in crisis situations, the factors of happiness or the existence of “force majeure” that sometimes overcomes ability and hard work, and that generally establishes the balance that we often upset ourselves.

The “Rock-Paper-Scissors” game itself is played in two, there are three symbols that players form with their fists, fist for rock, palm outstretched for paper, and two fingers outstretched for scissors. Each of these three elements is stronger than one and weaker than the other. The happiness factor or successful psychological evaluation of the opponents affects the choice of symbols displayed by the players. Due to its randomness, it is also often used as a fair method of making unbiased decisions rather than flipping coins or drawing the shortest straw.

The themes, concepts and approach to the material of the artists presented in this exhibition can also be seen in pairs. His personal creative expressions complement and contrast each other, solve certain artistic problems or open new questions. Undoubtedly, each author authentically found the “correct answer”, for some paper was the most suitable basis for processing a given theme, while for others contact with paper as a material was a source of new artistic solutions.