Join us for the Dutch Premiere of an intriguing documentary Yugoslavia, How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body by artist and filmmaker Marta Popivoda! A research-based essay film that deals with the collective history and politics in a specifically cinematic way, via found-footage, with question of how ideology performs itself in public space through mass performances.

The screening will be followed by a talk with Marta Popivoda and Q&A joined by co-writer and dramaturge Ana Vujanović. This will provide the opportunity for an in-depth and open discussion about the film, its concepts, the techniques and the researcher/artist’s practice.

Screening + Artist’s Talk: Wednesday 23 January 2019 at 19:30 hours in BAK – Basis voor actuele kunst

Director Marta Popivoda | Writer Ana Vujanovic, Marta Popivoda | Editor Natasa Damnjanovic | Sound Jakov Munizaba | Producer Marta Popivoda – TkH (Walking Theory); Alice Chauchat – Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers; Heinz Emigholz – Universitat der Kunste Berlin; Ann Carolin Renninger – joon film | Year 2013 | Length 62 min | Country Serbia, France, Germany | Subtitles English

Synopsis

Yugoslavia, How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body is a research-based essay film that deals with the question of how ideology performs itself in public space through mass performances. The author collected and analysed film and video footage from the period of Yugoslavia (1945 – 2000), focusing on state performances as well as counter-demonstrations, civic demonstrations in the ‘90s. Going back through the images, the film traces how communist ideology was gradually exhausted through the changing relations between the people, ideology, and the state. After its world premiere at the Berlinale, this cinematic essay travelled internationally and received a Special Jury Mention at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Director’s statement

This research-based essay film is a very personal perspective on the history of socialist Yugoslavia, its dramatic end, and its recent transformation into a few democratic nation states. Experience of the dissolution of the state, and today’s ‘wild’ capitalist reestablishment of the class system in Serbia are my reasons for going back through the media images and tracing the way one social system changed by performing itself in public space.

Director’s bio

Marta Popivoda (Belgrade, SFRJ / based in Berlin) is filmmaker and video artist, and a cultural worker. Her work explores concerns with the discursive power structures of the contemporary (art) world, intersections between performance and film, as well as through the production of films, video installations and performance. Her work is strongly related to the TkH (Walking Theory), a theoretical-artistic platform and journal, where she is a member of the editorial collective. Her works have been part of exhibitions and programs at Tate Modern London, MoMA New York, MuHKA Antwerp, 21er HAUS Vienna, GARAGE Museum Moscow, Beirut Art Center, Museum of Modern Art + MSUM Ljubljana, Museum of Yugoslav History and Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade etc.