A book as an image, reading as resistance

The art program of the jubilee 40th Grad Teatar festival opened on the Statehood Day of Montenegro with the exhibition "Word and Thought. Large Abstract Painting" by the artist Irene Lagator PejovićThe interactive installation has been placed in the church of Santa Maria in Punta, where it will be available to the public until August 1st.

The work consists of books from the pocket edition of Reč i misao (Word and Thought), published by the Rad publishing house (1959–2009), which in socialist Yugoslavia represented an important part of the project of democratizing knowledge and culture. Their distinctive red covers form a large monochrome surface resembling an abstract painting, while the books themselves are available for the public to read, blurring the line between a work of art and an everyday object.

The Budva exhibition was realized in cooperation with six Montenegrin libraries: the National Library "Đurđe Crnojević" and the Public Institution National Library "Njegoš" from Cetinje, the Library of the Elementary School "Stefan M. Ljubiša" from Budva, the City Library of Tivat, the City Library and Reading Room of Kotor, and the National Library "Radosav Ljumović" from Podgorica, which provided books for the realization of the installation.

The opening was addressed by the editor-in-chief of the festival program Svetlana Ivanovic and member of the Council of the City Theatre Public Institution Anita Šabotić, who pointed out that the forty years of the festival confirm that art remains a space of freedom, dialogue and critical thinking, reminding us of the importance of knowledge and culture in contemporary society.

Exhibition curator Branislav Dimitrijevic He emphasized that the Budva installation is not a repetition of the previous Belgrade performance, but a new reading of the work, created in a different space and cultural context. Speaking of the installation as a "large abstract painting", he pointed out that each book bears the mark of time, while the artist gives a new meaning to their former function, transforming text into an image and inviting the audience to reflect on the relationship between art, history and society.

On this occasion, we spoke with the author of the exhibition, artist Irena Lagator Pejović.

The 40th edition of the Grad Teatar festival carries special symbolism. What does the fact that this work is part of the jubilee program mean to you?

I am truly grateful to "Theatre City" and I can say that this invitation came as a surprise to me, but it made me very happy because it is the right context where this work should be shown, especially in relation to the history of performances, to the history of the very concept of "Theatre City" as a Yugoslav cultural product, also in relation to the tragic and sad, and therefore paradoxical history of the common space. If we think about the new democratic and political movements in the region, we see different forms of future integration. In them, we will all meet again, but in a reshaped community, where we hope for a better future. So this work also bears witness to the questions of whether we, in fact, already had that future in our hands, in our homes, in our policies and in some of our utopias and ideologies towards which this installation critically and researchly addresses.

You placed the installation in the church of Santa Maria in Punta. To what extent did that space determine your artistic approach?

It was really a challenge for me to think about the setting of the work in this space because it carries a special level of meaning. So many interesting artists exhibited there. In relation to the history of exhibitions and the archive of this space, we already have an impressive number of creators who have thought about how to set up and perform their works and exhibitions, plays and concerts in this context. Also, another challenge for me here was the appearance of the space itself and its history that goes back to the ninth century. As for its aesthetics, the presence of tonally well-matched stone, shaped in a very thoughtful way, points us to the notion of manual labor, the process of manual work, dedication, presence in shaping, thinking about space and of course the purpose of that space for society. We can also recognize all these concepts in relation to the concept and subject of books, publishing, education, knowledge and history in general. After all, manuscripts of ancient authors were copied in this space for centuries. It was very interesting for me to think how the place where the book used to be copied by hand is now the place where the book becomes a picture.

The work was first presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. What does its Budva version bring?

This is the second installation of the work in a series, but it is not a repetition. In Budva, the installation takes on a new dimension and reading because it was created in cooperation with six Montenegrin libraries. The number of books is significantly higher than in Belgrade, we also have titles that we did not have in Belgrade, and the work in a certain sense relies on the issue of local cultural heritage. It is a continuation of research that develops in relation to the geographical, historical and cultural space in which it is presented.

Why did you choose the "Word and Thought" edition as the basis for your work?

This edition is much more than a series of titles. It bears witness to a time when knowledge, education and culture were planned and accessible to a wide range of people. The choice of authors, the quality of the translations and the variety of topics show how seriously the democratization of knowledge was considered. Today, when knowledge is increasingly becoming a commodity, it seemed important to me to raise the critical question of what we have lost and what we gain in the current techno-feudal order, as he would say. Varoufakis.

You also define the installation as an engaged work of art. What is its political aspect?

Art cannot be separated from society. This work, among other things, speaks about the commercialization of education, culture, and leisure. It speaks about the moment in which knowledge becomes a privilege, not a common good. In that sense, the installation is political, but above all because it invites the audience to think critically about the world they live in and the unequivocally aggressive colonization of our perception. At a time when libraries are being bombed, universities are closing, and access to knowledge is narrowing, picking up a book and reading it in a public space becomes a political gesture.

You particularly emphasize the role of the audience. Why was it important to you that they be active participants in the work? What do you expect from the audience of the City of Theatre?

Interaction is one of the most important layers of the installation. In Belgrade, I saw how emotionally people react when they find a title among the books that takes them back to their childhood or reminds them of some important life episode.

I would like the same to happen in Budva. I would like different generations to meet in front of the installation. For parents, children and grandparents to recognize the same books, but from different experiences. That is precisely where I see the potential of this work - it does not divide people by nationality, religion or education, but rather brings them together around a common cultural experience.

But the installation also offers the opportunity to ask critical questions, for example, what it would mean in the context of current geopolitical developments to place titles by American and Russian authors side by side or to notice that some works have the same titles, such as "Mother". Pearl Buck i Maxim GorkyThis would mean activating the deeper layers of a work of art, which is also supported by the transparency of the structure on which the installation is placed so that between the books, in the so-called negative space, you do not see a wall, but shaped stone, the history of architecture, the history of a community and heritage.

You often talk about the democratization of knowledge. Do you think we are losing that ideal today?

Unfortunately, I think we are slowly losing it. The "Word and Thought" edition, translated into more than twenty languages, was the infrastructure of freedom of speech before the term became a political phrase. Today, that approach is narrowing: knowledge is increasingly a commodity, not a right, and is very often manipulated by the short-term interests of power structures.

In your work you also problematize the relationship between art and capital. Why is that important to you?

It is important to me that the work is not an object that someone can own. The installation is created thanks to the collaboration with different libraries and the process of lending books, and after the exhibition everything is returned to where it came from. Lending is also an act of responsibility. In this way, the work rejects the logic of the market and reminds us that there are values ​​that should not be reduced to ownership or profit. What I emphasize here, with reason, is my intention for this installation to be, like most of my artworks, an anti-capitalist artwork.

You also call the installation a “large abstract painting.” Why?

For years I have been researching the history of the concept of the image, the way in which art produces meaning. Here, for a moment, the books also become color, line, and surface. Together they build one large abstract composition, but at the same time each one carries its own story and history. This is why this is both a work of visual art and a space for reading, a space for thinking and abstraction, but also research on the import of abstraction into a socialist cultural space. Branislav Dimitrijević, the curator of the exhibition, precisely names it in the text for the catalogue: "The materiality of the image is in the materiality of its content, and these are literally: words," referring to Smithson and defining this work as a logical image, an image that arises from thought, not from expression or symbol.

How much do new technologies change our relationship to books and thinking?

What worries me most is that we are increasingly witnessing the impoverishment of the connection between words and thoughts, which is gradually leading to an alarming digital dementia. Technologies speed up communication, but often reduce the space for concentration, imagination and critical reflection. That is why this installation is also a kind of invitation to return to this connection between words and thoughts, haptics and abstraction. In an era in which images are produced faster than they can be understood, the ability to create an image from thoughts becomes one of the most important forms of freedom.

Six Montenegrin libraries participated in the implementation of the work. How important was this cooperation to you?

Extremely important. It shows that cultural institutions can still create valuable projects together. At the same time, it confirms that this heritage is still accessible precisely thanks to the libraries that have carefully preserved it for decades.

For forty years, the City Theatre Festival has been showing that culture connects people. Can art still have that power today?

I believe it can. That is why contemporary art must remain a space for dialogue and critical thinking. Its greatest value is not in providing ready-made answers, but in raising questions and bringing people together around them. If an installation encourages someone to pick up a book again, to reconsider their own views or to look at the world around them differently, then it has fulfilled its purpose.

What worries me most is that we are increasingly witnessing the impoverishment of the connection between words and thoughts, which is gradually leading to an alarming digital dementia. Technologies speed up communication, but often reduce the space for concentration, imagination and critical reflection. That is why this installation is also a kind of invitation to return to this connection between words and thoughts, haptics and abstraction. In an era in which images are produced faster than they can be understood, the ability to create an image from thoughts becomes one of the most important forms of freedom