#OnVacation u okupiranoj Veneciji
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Ovogodišnje Venecijansko Bijenale pod nazivom All the World’s Futures umetničkog direktora Okvuija Envezora zvanično je otvoreno 9. maja. O preview-u za kustose i umetnike koji se ustaljeno održao pre samog otvaranja Bijenala Supervizuelna je već pisala. Postavka Bijenala se na aktivan način bavi onim što je Urlih Bek nazvao društvom rizika – kao društvom tehnoloških i ekoloških posledica globalnog liberalnog kapitalizma i vrsta budućnosti koje možemo očekivati u ovom nestabilnom društveno-političkom trenutku.
Osim zvanične postavke Bijenala, dve gerilske akcije koje na skoro zadivljijuć način slede i dalje problematizuju pitanja koju postavka preispituje su #GuggOccupied i #OnVacation i potpuno su slučajno otpočele istog datuma, 8. maja.
#GuggOccupied je okupacija muzeja Guggenheim u Veneciji, a kao nastavak akcije koja se nedelju dana ranije desila u muzeju Guggenheim u Njujorku. Oko četrdesetak protestanata je ponovilo ranije iznete zahteve za poboljšanje prava radnika koji su zaposleni na izgradnji novih “ekspozitura” Guggenheim-a i Louvre-a u Abu Dabiju. Protest u Veneciji nastao je u saradnji nekoliko umetničkih i aktivističkih grupa sa organizacijom Gulf Labor, koja je pozvana od strane kustosa Bijenala da kao oficijalni učesnik izložbe All the World’s Futures podnese javni izveštaj o uslovima rada u Abu Dabiju 29. jula 2015. godine.
Sa druge strane, u razgovoru sa jednim od anonimnih saradnika #ONVACATION, jasno mi je naglašeno da oni svoju okupaciju vide kao umetnički projekat, jer dok #GUGGOCCUPIED ima konkretne ciljeve u vidu poboljšanja nadnica i prava radnika, #ONVACATION želi samo da ponudi platformu koja će podstaći posetioce Bijenala da ličnije sagledaju pitanje okupacije.
Članovi grupe, koji žele da ostanu anonimni, posetiocima Bijenala dele cegere i kabanice sa printom #ONVACATION i sugerišu im da fotografišu selfie u nacionalnom paviljonu bilo koje zemlje koju smatraju “okupatorom” tuđe teritorije i ove fotografije okače na svoje Instagram i Twitter profile heštegom #ONVACATION što čini da se ove fotografije automatski pojave na sajtu projekta http://on-vacation.info. Ovim činom učesnici postaju i deo nagradne igre čije je poglašenje pobednika, koji dobija putovanje u letovalište u istočnoj Ukrajni trenutno pod ruskom okupacijom, planirano za 9. jul, što predstavlja kraj ove akcije.
Akcija je nastala kao mimikrična parodija nemilih događaja koji su se odvili pre godinu dana, kada je separatistički lider Aleksandar Zaharčenko izjavio da ruski vojnici u Ukrajni samo “uživaju u odmoru”. Cela akcija je “okupiranjem” digitalnog prostora društvenih mreža stekla ogromnu popularnost na internetu i na pitanje da li su dobili neki poriv da postanu zvanični deo Bijenala, jedan od članova grupe odgovorio mi je: “Ne, ali iako ne želim da učitavam nepostojeći kontekst u tuđe akcije, kustos Bijenala je viđen sa našim cegerom i volim da pretpostavljam da to nije učionio samo zarad mode”.
Iako je policija intervenisala tokom njihove prve akcije u Ruskom paviljonu, sada imaju prijateljske odnose sa umetnicom čija je ambijentalna instalacija poslužila za najveći deo fotografija. Na pitanje kako mu se čini sazdržaj ovogodišnjeg Venecijanskog bijenala, uz puno skromnosti pripadnik organizacije je odgovorio da ne želi da iznosi svoj subjektivni sud, ali da je definitivno zanimljivo promisliti načine na koji pojedine nacije sagledavaju koncept budućnosti.
Od celokupnog bogatog i krajnje zanimljivog sadržaja ovogodišnjeg Venecijanskog bijenala, meni lično je ova akcija kao i njena specifična korespodencija sa temom Bijenala, definitivno ostavila najjači utisak i svakako bih savetovala svima koji planiraju da odu na odmor u Veneciju da obrate pažnju na ove momke i devojke i – ko zna – možda osvoje besplatno letovanje. U svakom slučaju zapratite ih na instagramu na https://instagram.com/onvacation_2015/.
#OnVacation in occupied Venice
The 56th Venice Biennale under the title All the World’s Futures, curated by Okwui Enwezor, opened on May 9, 2015. Supervizuelna has already written about the preview days of the Biennale, which took place a few days before the opening. This year’s exhibition deals with consequences of technological and ecological implications of the global liberal capitalism and the potential futures we could expect in this complex and instable sociological and political moment, described by Urlich Beck as a society of risk in an active way.
Among official exhibition and collateral events two guerilla actions occurred, which follow the concept of the Biennale in almost fascinating way: #GuggOccupied and #OnVacation both started on May 8 due to a pure chance.
#GuggOccupied is the occupation of the Guggenheim Museum in Venice, as a follow up of an action which took place in Guggenheim New York one week earlier. Previous requests for the improvement of working conditions of employees involved in building of Guggenheim and Louvre in Abu Dhabi have been repeated in front of Guggenheim Museum in Venice by a group of about 40 protestants. Organization Gulf Labor, which was among other groups part of the protest, is expected to pronounce report on working conditions in Abu Dhabi, as an official part of All the World’s Futures on 29th of July 2015.
On the other hand, one of the anonymous members of #ONVACATION project has clearly stated that they see #ONVACATION as an art project. He further explained that #GUGGOCCUPIED is a protest with a clear material goal, while #ONVACATION only wants to offer a platform, which would invite the Biennale visitors to think about the problem of the occupation from a more personal perspective.
The members of this group, who want to stay anonymous, give out jackets and bags with #ONVACATION sign to the visitors of the Biennale, enforcing them to take a selfie and upload it to their personal Instagram and Twitter accounts under the hashtag “on vacation” in the national pavilion of whichever country they personally find connected with the term of “occupation”. This hashtaging make those personal selfies automatically visible on #ONVACATION project web site http://on-vacation.info and participants also become part of a contest to win a free vacation in Eastern Ukraine which is currently occupied by Russians. The pronunciation of the winner is planned for July 9, and it will also be the official end of the #ONVACATION action.
The #Onvacation action is actually a parodic mimicry of the infamous events which took place in Eastern Ukraine one year ago, when the separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko stated that Russian soldiers only enjoy their vacation there.
The action of “occupying” digital space of social networks gained huge popularity on Internet. As an answer to my question, if they got an invitation to become an official part of the Venice Biennale, the group member said: “No, and I do not want to overly interpret it using nonexistent correlations, but the curator of the Biennale has been seen with our bag, so I like to believe that he did not do it as an merely fashion statement”.
Although the police intervened during #ONVACATION first action in the Russian pavilion, they have stated to now have friendly relations with the artist whose ambient installation served as a perfect background for most of the selfies. To my question what does he think about the 56 Biennale Exhibition, the group member modestly stated that he doesn’t want to tell me his subjective point of view, but that he consider examining the ways in which certain countries concepualize their future definitely an interesting task.
In my opinion, among various mesmerizing content of All the World’s Futures, #ONVACATION made the biggest impression with its specific correlation with this year Biennale’s curatorial framework and I would definitely advise all the visitors to pay special attention to those guys and girls – and who knows – maybe they will win a free vacation. For those who are not lucky enough to travel #onvacation to occupied Venice, their instagram profile https://instagram.com/onvacation_2015/ still remains a great source of the news on this provocative action.
