That the full expressive capacity of graphics is not recognized in Montenegro is one of the conclusions of the Montenegrin artist and president of the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro, Igor Rakčević. He came to this conclusion while writing the book "Slovo o grafika" and working on the project "Printed cultural heritage of Montenegro - new creative mechanisms of promotion and valorization", which, among others, was recognized by UNESCO.
The book, through personal theoretical and artistic research experience, will be interesting to experts as well as to a wider audience, and it will be published by the end of the year, Rakčević announces.
"With its content, the book should refer, remind, affirm, sublimate the artistic potential and share interesting experiences and, I hope, move the sleeping participants. To that end, certain contents of the book are linked with QR codes to short video forms that belong to the context of this work and purposefully support it in its educational mission", reveals Rakčević in an interview with "Vijesti". He goes on to talk about the current situation on the cultural scene, which is conditioned by the corona virus, but also about technology, which this year more noticeably than ever has been put at the service of art. Commenting on the cultural scene, he talks about the expectations from the new Government of Montenegro in that field... He announces new activities of the Association of Fine Artists, as well as his own, and says that he is planning interesting things in 2021, which is getting closer.
To begin with, when can we expect the book "Slovo o grafika", how is it created and how will it be distributed?
The book is already in print and we can expect its final printed version by the end of the year. The necessity of establishing an integral and sustainable management mechanism and the valorization of print and letter graphics as one of the most significant segments of our cultural heritage, as well as the realization of the flow of time and its modern interpretation, are the reason for the research I conducted. Its results and further needs were recognized by UNESCO, which supported the project "Printed cultural heritage of Montenegro - new creative mechanisms of promotion and valorization" through the Participation Program.
The realization was arranged through a series of multidisciplinary workshops that engaged professionals from various fields such as artists, art historians and theoreticians, experts in the field of graphics and cultural heritage, representatives of relevant institutions, students and pupils. The book is one of the products of this project, it integrates its results and will be one of the reference bases for individual efforts in the valorization and promotion of traditional printing in Montenegro.
The book will be bilingual and will be distributed to all institutions that deal with, or at least should deal with, this issue, and it will be available in regional bookstores. The reviewers of the book are academician prof. Dr. Aleksandar Čilikov and Prof. MA Admir Mujkić from the Graphic Department of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Sarajevo.
Is it intended as theoretical, professional literature or is it adapted to a wider audience? How useful and interesting will it be for professional graphic artists, and how much for art lovers, laymen when it comes to graphic techniques, artists and the history of graphics?
"The letter about graphics" is the product of complex project tasks and the sublimation of personal theoretical and artistic research experience. The project itself was created with the aim of promoting the tradition of our printing and reaffirming artistic graphics in Montenegro, which should find its legitimation in contemporary graphic arts, but also through the recognition of the exclusivity of the six-century tradition of our printing and book graphics.
The content conveys interesting experiences from workshops from the current project and my lectures and presentations at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo and the University of Ljubljana, as one of the possible matrices in the modern educational approach directed primarily and with reason, but not exclusively, towards young artists and students.
The book's narrative is contextualized primarily through personal theoretical and artistic research experience, using it as an educational tool. In this sense, I believe that it will be interesting for both experts and a wider audience.
What did you cover in the book? What did you particularly focus on, and what was a particular challenge when writing?
The introductory part of the book looks at the cultural heritage that is contextualized through the beginnings of literacy and the artistic shaping of the text, the characters of our first printers and their works. Through its content, the concepts of graphic techniques, their possibilities and historical representatives are listed chronologically and introduced. Leading us through different periods of civilization, the book sheds light on lesser-known works and phenomena that are of crucial importance for the development of graphic art.
The ideological-propaganda context of graphics is a segment that introduces us to modern times and gives rise to a kind of summary of my own artistic engagement, which is dominantly linked to artistic graphics and is dispersed through various works and partly accentuated by cultural heritage.
I would say that the biggest challenge in the modern age, which above all nurtures superficiality as an imperative, is to think that a book of this structure can be interesting. With its content, the book should refer, remind, affirm, sublimate the artistic potential and share interesting experiences and, I hope, move the sleeping participants. To that end, certain contents of the book are linked with QR codes to short video forms that belong to the context of this work and specifically support it in its educational mission.
To what extent is graphics a classic form of art, but on the other hand, how modern and current is it today?
It is wrongly believed that graphics is an anachronistic process by which a drawing is duplicated in multiple copies while losing its originality. Contemporary graphics is a complex discipline that is reflected through all kinds of works of art: painting, installations, film and video, sound art, sculpture, landscape architecture, street art and, of course, works on paper, sublimating them to the level of visual poetics of graphic artists.
Multiplicity and adaptability make graphics an adequate promoter of educational and artistic, but also a bearer of ideological, political and advertising messages, and thus power. Its adaptability to change expensive and cumbersome glorification symbols is a powerful tool for directing social and social processes. Her direct explicits such as posters, flyers, billboards or computer graphics carelessly levitate in the multi-layered graphic universe of the contemporary moment, and her technological dynamism permanently secures her such status.
What is the attitude towards graphics and graphic artists in Montenegro? What is it best reflected in? Do you perhaps expect that with this edition you will actualize the issue of the position of graphic artists, techniques, creativity and the like?
With the establishment of anachronistic and fixed educational matrices in the official higher education discourse in our country, graphics collided with its resilient nature and began to die. A significant number of artists educated in graphic art fail to adapt the acquired knowledge to contemporary conditions, so they direct their energy to other art forms, not recognizing the full expressive capacity of graphics.
The research we conducted within the ULUCG on the example of exhibiting media at the Traditional Exhibition resulted in the data that in the last ten years we have had a continuous decline in the display of graphics by as much as 90 percent. At this year's edition of the exhibition, out of 102 works, only 2 exhibited works belong to the medium of graphics in classic, experimental or extended form. These data are worrying for everyone who deals with culture, and they are especially problematic for established authorities in the subject area who operate in umbrella educational and cultural institutions.
Through an affirmative approach, the book creates a new paradigm when it comes to artistic graphics and thus points to the aforementioned regressive practices.
Did the whole situation with the corona virus pandemic affect your work and how much, and in what way? Was it more difficult or did you get some extra time due to all these measures?
The current pandemic has undoubtedly imposed a new reality that has affected all actors in society differently and everyone has felt the consequences. At first, it seems that the drop in life intensity is giving us some extra time. With the decrease in intensity, the creative energy also decreases, especially if, as was the case with me, you were a direct victim of the virus.
And how did it affect the art and cultural scene in Montenegro in general? Did it show the necessity and importance of art and culture in moments when it started to be neglected?
It is a large body of virus. In this time, many have been reminded that the logical, old good, existential upgrade, is precisely culture. Those who have not understood its importance until now, I think that even the corona cannot help them in that. It is significant that the younger generations, willingly or not, have been exposed to the cultural tide in the digital space and this has an impact. It is truly a pleasure to discover all the wealth of the cultural scene, to be reminded of significant achievements and above all - to create.
On the other hand, all the possibilities of technology have come to the fore. What is the relationship between technology and art today? You, as the Association of Fine Artists, were the first to resort to the organization of the Traditional Exhibition online, and then to the online Art Market. Is there anything else planned, have you perhaps updated the book?
The promotion of new communication and visual methods has led to an absolutely acceptable cultural product. The problem is that technology and its ultimate reach cannot and should not replace the sensory component of art, especially when it comes to performing arts.
The flexibility of cultural systems proved to be a key contemporary characteristic, and therefore became one of the imperatives of cultural activity. We are witnessing that exhibition and market trends are gradually moving to the field of virtual and interactive. This phenomenon is not only present in our country, but is part of a global phenomenon related to the contemporary way of interpreting cultural needs and their explicits. In this sense, we transferred the 75th Traditional Exhibition, in addition to the established exhibition practice, to the virtual field, which turned out to be the right move. Several thousand views of the 3D display speak of the relevance of this recognizable exhibition and represent a benefit for all exhibitors.
The "Online Art Market" platform was created motivated by the need to increase the visibility of actors in the field of fine and applied creativity and creative industries. The goal of the project is to improve the social status of artists, which is achieved through the opening of a wider market and a more systematic placement of works of art. The platform offers a profiled presentation of Montenegrin artists and their catalog collections and the possibility of selling and buying works of art and products. With this project, we offered the Montenegrin creative scene an alternative and global form of art placement, and we already have concrete results.
When I talk about the plans within the ULUCG, our intention is to turn the facade of the Art Pavilion into an exhibition space. The inauguration of the exhibition function of this space is planned in cooperation with the National Museum of Montenegro on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Dad's death. Paying respect and recalling his genius, we will exhibit a huge reproduction of his work from the NMCG collection. It is about a facade space of 35 square meters located in a frequent location in the center of Podgorica and the intention is to locate one of the focuses of the presentation of works of art by contemporary Montenegrin artists in a public space.
Should art keep up with the times, that is, with modern technological means, or should it function on its own as an expression?
Art is always a reflection of the time in which it is created, and often foreshadows a new time. The new age brings a new reality that camouflages the semantic boundaries of visual art and inexorably raises the question of the sustainability of its classic concepts. It seems that graphics are one of the expressive methods with the help of which we more easily perceive the complex visual and philosophical reality of the current moment, while the insistence on interactivity as a contemporary imperative is in its very essence. The sweet malleability of pictorial messages generated with the help of a computer erases the aura of the artist as the only possible author of a work of art, while only the polyvalence of artistic-technological action with reliance on the artistic self can provide a justified use of technological means.
Are you working on any other independent projects related to fine art? Can we expect a presentation soon?
I am planning interesting things in 2021. I started a new cycle of graphics and established a nomadic exhibition concept for the performances I plan in Subotica and Podgorica. I look forward to creating!
That the new time will bring a mature cultural policy
Considering the change in the political scene of Montenegro, do you have any expectations for the period ahead, and when it comes to the cultural scene?
Understanding the driving and developmental character of culture and art is the basis for improving the social environment. First of all, it is necessary to establish and respect competitive principles based on knowledge, ability and results, but also on law and fairness. It is right to expect that the results of institutions and individuals in culture and art education will be evaluated based on these principles, and it will act in this sense. Culture is an activity of public importance, and as such it should not be a field of political wrangling dominated by party sycophants with dubious references, sleepers and defenders of privileges of a general profile.
I expect that the new time will finally bring dialogue and consensus between true cultural actors and decision-makers and that it will be the zero point of further activities.
I expect artists and cultural workers not to be marginalized members of society, but true participants and leaders of change. I expect a mature cultural policy based on respect for national and cultural differences that leads to general social progress.
Whether these expectations are just New Year's wishes or a realistically based voice of a cultural worker is a dilemma, the resolution of which will give a realistic assessment of the progressivity of the ongoing political transition.
Contrasts of uneven distribution of money
How do you see the Montenegrin art scene lately? What dominates, what is the position of younger authors, is there room for affirmation?
There is room for the affirmation of young artists, the question is what it brings to them. The absence of a market and real incentives in the form of state purchase of works or covering the production costs of new projects does not reflect a rosy picture of the current position of young artists. The uneven distribution of funds for culture brings interesting contrasts. On the one hand, we have artists who receive significant funds from the state on several grounds and who act as umbrellas in relation to the others. Those umbrellas, protecting their privileges, do not allow passage and thus demoralize young colleagues. Folding umbrellas, along with increasing the budget for material incentives for young artists and independent artists, would produce curative effects.
At the same time, the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations in conjunction with the Law on Culture causes quite a bit of dyslexia in relation to the recognition of cultural interests and participants, and further complicates the functioning of independent culture, which is the basis for currents of fresh art.
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