What is transcended is not thereby reduced to nothing... It still possesses within itself, therefore, the determination from which it originates. To transcend has a dual linguistic meaning: on the one hand, to preserve, to retain, and also to interrupt, to end. Hegel.
In short - sublation. It is a term most often associated with Hegel, but it is also the theme, or rather the title, of the exhibition of this year's 47th edition of the Montenegrin Art Salon "November 13th", which was chosen by the selector, art theorist Milovan Novakovic. An international exhibition of works by selected authors opened in Cetinje, at the Montenegrin Gallery of Art (CGU) "Miodrag Dado Đurić", traditionally on the eve of the Day of the Royal Capital, and is available for visitors until December 15.
Art historian Ljiljana Karadžić, who was also the president of the expert jury responsible for the awards this year, assessed the exhibition as "outstanding".
"The selector articulated his idea so clearly that he connected it with all the artists he invited to the Salon, on the one hand, and on the other, each of the artists is fantastic in their self-reflection and poetics, while on the third hand, it is such a layered exhibition that we can read in many ways," Karadžić said.
The Grand Prix laureate is an artist Damir Sobota, and the three equal Salon awards went to: Vladimir Novak, Luka Mrkaić i Nikola Pavlićević.
The jury stated in its explanation that Sobota, with his work "Light Reliefs", creates a strong aesthetic illusion and experience that transcends materiality itself.
"A series of 15 aluminum units, placed at carefully defined intervals and with a delicate hanging system, demonstrates the exceptional aesthetic and technical precision of a seemingly simple aluminum plate. Thanks to the processing method, the surfaces become a source of rich optical effects of shimmering, shimmering and reflections that constantly change depending on the angle of observation... When walking slowly in front of the relief, rhythms of light are revealed that pulsate and change form, transforming the metal surface into an almost immaterial light phenomenon... The impeccable execution and sensitivity of the material contribute to the impression of pure visual sublimation at the moment when aluminum ceases to be matter and becomes light. Damir Sobota has shown with this work how a powerful aesthetic illusion and an experience that transcends matter itself can be created from basic materiality," Karadžić stated.
In addition to them, the following are also presenting their works at this year's Salon: Dragomir Ugren, Jelena Bulajić, Aleksandra Aranitović, Aleksandar Ostojić, Branislav Nikolić, David Husić, Mihael Klanjčić, Jelena Pavicevic Marković.
Selector Novaković assessed that exhibitions of the salon, biennial and collective type in general are often conceived and carried out as cultural manifestations that should have a reductionist attitude, and that under the pressure of active engagement, such exhibitions are often led to topics that concern social, political, economic and other circumstances. Thus, he adds, works of art and their creators are adapted or forcibly brought under a predetermined thematic framework, and exhibitions become a visual commentary. This exhibition is not that, he claims.
“This exhibition is not thematic: there is no predetermined theme to which the works directly respond, draw attention or refer. However, there is a conceptual affinity between the artists included here. The connecting factor is not the unanimous following and portrayal of a previously established theoretical pattern; on the contrary, these artists themselves individually perform and understand their artistic process as a theoretical problem. They operate within a specific medium, exploring its capacities, but at the same time question, criticize and exceed its limits and scope with their works,” Novaković points out.
He adds that the works that the audience can see in this exhibition "manage to transcend their own physical boundaries and exhibit an expansive, ambient, atmospheric power", which fully corresponds to the name of the exhibition.
"Sublation is an ambiguous term, coined from the Latin language as an equivalent for an almost untranslatable philosophical term repeal, which in the verb form - aufheben, sublate, relever - denotes a counterintuitive process of simultaneously affirming and transcending, preserving and erasing, remaining within boundaries and exceeding them. With the works exhibited in this exhibition, the artists thoroughly explore the possibilities of the medium in which they create, think in the material, affirming and emphasizing its physical and formal characteristics; at the same time, they create structures whose material basis is visually, spatially and conceptually annulled and transcended,” wrote Novaković.
All selected works carry within them a triple operation of confirmation, annulment and transcendence, the selector stated. In addition to art historian Karadžić, the jury also included visual artist Dino Karailo and selector Novaković himself. The organizers of the Salon are the Royal Capital of Cetinje and the Society of Art Historians of Montenegro, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Media, and the partner is the National Museum of Montenegro.
Authors who have carried out the most radical form of sublation in painting and literature
As part of the exhibition, tributes were also realized that bring attention back to two artists, the Croatian abstract painter Julija Knifer (1924-2004) and writer, publicist and journalist from Cetinje Miodrag Vukovića (1947-2013).
Commenting on the tributes, Novaković said that he sees them as a need to dedicate two rooms at the Salon, as a kind of historical support for the exhibited works, to authors who have carried out the most radical form of sublation in this region, in painting and literature.
“Undoubtedly, labeling these works as sublational simply means that they question the understanding of a work of art as a self-contained, static, ineffective, framed composite of purely formal values. It is precisely by intensifying the basic visual and physical elements that make them up - that is, by confirming their material determination - that these works manage to provide a completely new aesthetic experience that transcends and questions established sensory and conceptual categories. To this extent, it can be said that the exhibited works are not formal exercises but experiential propositions,” concludes Novaković.
Bonus video:
