BALKANIZATION: Human wanted + No nos Representan

publication presentation and artist talk

artist talk: Miguel Gonz
ález Cabezas
moderation: Žarko Aleksić, Jelena Micić

Balkanization is a geopolitical term that most commonly relates to the Balkans and associates with the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 90’s, and is respectively, in a broader sense understood as a division of the multinational country into smaller, ethnically homogeneous entities. As the boundaries of the concept are not clearly defined, they are withdrawn for certain purposes, referring to the attitude of the one who acts on that behalf. The similar happens with defining the Balkans, which is based on an imaginary geographic mapping. The well-known formulation of the Balkans as the Unconscious of Europe can be brought into analogy with the revolutionary attitudes of the avant-garde movement Zenithism, where the Balkans is considered the new force that will regenerate European culture. Balkanization of Europe, according to Ljubomir Micić, means the cultural emancipation of Europe by accepting the new values of the awakened Barbarogenius. The current context which once more places the Balkans in the center of attention of European policy regards the Balkan route which refugees use on their way to the Western Europe. The refugee crisis leads to destabilization of the European Union, as well as the divided attitudes of its member countries, and as the result the borders are raised and a new kind of nationalism constructed.

Miguel Gonzalez Cabezas is going to talk about his master project “They don´t Represent Us. Representation Critique from Colonialism to Catalonia,” proposing a review from an historical perspective the break and continuation of the historical narratives from the colonial history and capitalism with its dispossession to the present neoliberal global context and exclusion politics with a focus on the Spanish context. The title „No nos Representan“ (They don’t represent us) refers to the main slogan on the 15-M / Indignados Protest that took place in 2011 against austerity measures and corruption. Protesters established a critique on the political representation by proposing more participative ways of organization on the square. The project develops around 3 lines: The national Narrative in Spain, the relation between the EU and Spain (as an integration process in supranational structures and its exclusion processes) and the last analyzing the problematic of the social movements that started as an alternative to the current situation.

This project relates directly to the one presented in the exhibition Balkanization, that could be seen as an introduction to the relation between the different countries in the EU and its power relations and structures.

An event in the context of: „Yallah!? – über die Balkanroute“. A traveling exhibition in the IG Bildende Kunst Vienna, until 22.04.2018. http://www.yallah-balkanroute.eu in cooperation with Jelena Micić, Žarko Aleksić and Student Union of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna