1998-2000
(p.RT™ + APSOLUTNO)
United
Artists Under Sanctions (UA!US) statement
UA!US is an association which aims at
gathering artists from the countries punished by the international community
by being put in "quarantine". UA!US encourages the exchange
of artistic ideas and various experiences from the life with sanctioned
opportunities, in real reality (RR).
UA!US is not limited to
promoting the artistic production which directly relates to the political,
economic and cultural sanctions imposed by the international community.
It also deals with the position of the artist within the sanctioned society,
since in such a society there are sanctions from within in addition to
those from the outside. Therefore UA!US particularly emphasizes the importance
and responsibility of the artist's critical attitude towards that society.
UA!US deals with the phenomenon of excluding whole communities from the
global flow, at the end of the millennium, when the world has truly become
a global village. In such communities and systems sanctions become a reality,
a way of life, which in turn shapes the art production in specific ways.
Currently there is a large number of countries in the world which are
punished in this way, with different levels of sanctions depending on
the gravity of the offence (e.g. economic, political and/or cultural sanctions,
'outer vs inner wall' of sanctions etc.), such as Cuba, Iraq, Lybia, India,
Pakistan, Yugoslavia. However, even in the countries which do not belong
to this group, there are invisible sanctions towards certain groups of
artists, based on political, racial, gender, class and other criteria.
The common denominator for all artists under sanctions is FRUSTRATION,
which is essential, real and inevitable, and is caused by various limitations.
SANCTIONS are meant to punish a community by BLOCKING its COMMUNICATION
with the rest of the world on a political, economic or cultural level.
By various measures, the flow of information, goods, money, traffic or
people is made more difficult or completely stopped and the community
is 'sealed'. This creates an apathic atmosphere within the community and
causes a regression into a tribal form of culture and also an invisibility
of those who oppose this trend. At the same time, such a form of pressure
creates an authentic frame for artistic practice, which is completely
different from the one in 'developed' societies and art systems. The aim
of UA!US is to explore the specific characteristics of the artistic production
and ways of thinking in such conditions, as well as the ways in which
such artistic production is able to communicate with the outside world.
UA!US was founded by art association APSOLUTNO and p.RT™ in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia
in 1998.
(1998)
UA!US:
Welcome to the System
Original UA!US postcards and post stamps
were used for mailing between p.RT™ in Austria -
during turbulent political period of establishing
Heider's extreme right-wing party government
- and association Apsolutno in Yugoslavia
of Milosevic's regime (April 2000)
On the presentation of the action
"UA!US: Welcome to the System" in <rotor>, Graz,
sanctioned members of the UA!US
were communicating with each other and
the Austrian audience through the Internet chat
(upper right image).
In
the period from 1998 to 2000, UA!US has made several actions, including
printing four UA!US postcards, and UA!US post stamps.
-
Clean - Unclean, postcard (upper left)