serbian artists zoran todorovic and katarina zdjelar

though they are artists who come from different generations, attitudes and philosophies, zoran todorovic and katarina zdjelar who represent serbia this year at the venice art biennale, share a common point in arguing that an artist is a free mediator within the space of social interaction, and that artistic subjectivity emerges only if situated in the frictions of a world constructed from social matter.

the collection of hair image courtesy of zoran todorovic

for his contribution to the serbian pavilion, zoran todorovic is presenting ‘warmth’, a systematic stockpiling of up to two tons of human hair. the hair was collected for months in hairdressing salons, as well as in military barracks where hair-cutting is a norm of discipline – a form of control or social care. the conditions in which this process is carried out have been thoroughly documented, and this bio-waste is reused as the material for curious looking blankets which are amassed and made available for exhibition, utilization, inspection or hypothetically behaving as a DNA test in which each participating / inscribed body could be identified.

hair was collected from barber shops image courtesy of zoran todorovic

image courtesy of zoran todorovic

sorting through the piles image courtesy of zoran todorovic

hair all bagged up and ready to be felted image courtesy of zoran todorovic

more sorting image courtesy of zoran todorovic

image courtesy of zoran todorovic

image courtesy of zoran todorovic

process of felting image courtesy of zoran todorovic

image courtesy of zoran todorovic

image courtesy of zoran todorovic

‘warmth’ installation at the serbian pavilion

two tons of felted hair are on show

tagged piles of felted hair

zoran todorovic was born in belgrade in 1965. he obtained a BA degree in painting, from the faculty of fine arts, belgrade. he lives and works in belgrade.

image courtesy of katarina zdjelar

in the other section of the pavilion, katarina zdjelar explores contrary processes of self-realization with all their paradoxes, promises and failures. through her work, zdjelar find ways in which to situate the experience of dislocation by investigating form of regulated systems of communication and learning, rather than focus on the loss churned out by this dislocation. language learning is of particular significance for her as this is a codified method of cultural integration not only involving a symbolic ‘rite of passage’ of the uprooted individual, but also the corporeal affect shaping this ‘speaking body’

her videos examine the norms of establishing individual relations from trying (and failing) to pronounce another’s name (there is no is, 2006), up to procedures of removing an accent in attempt to extract the ‘foreignness’ within a subject’s speech (perfect sound, 2009). she has also turned to situations in which a group effort is made to recover or improve abilities which are not motivated.

film still from ‘perfect sound’, 2009 image courtesy of katarina zdjelar

film still from ‘perfect sound’, 2009image courtesy of katarina zdjelar

film still from ‘perfect sound’, 2009

katarina zdjelar was born in belgrade in 1979. through her work she investigates what happens to subjectivity and communication in a foreign language, when a mental and physical struggle with language occurs.