Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion
On This and on the Other Side. Slovenian Art after the Political Turns in 1945 and 1991. A Reflection - Whereas the first, revolutionary turn in 1945 brought a “twilight of democracy” in the form of a longstanding monopoly of the communist party over the “authentic interests” of the population in t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Institute Nova Revija for the Humanities
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Phainomena |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.phainomena.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/E-PHI27_106-107_3_Muhovi%C4%8D.pdf |
| _version_ | 1798002227843956736 |
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| author | Jožef Muhovič |
| author_facet | Jožef Muhovič |
| author_sort | Jožef Muhovič |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | On This and on the Other Side. Slovenian Art after the Political
Turns in 1945 and 1991. A Reflection - Whereas the first, revolutionary turn in 1945 brought a “twilight of democracy” in the form of a longstanding monopoly of the communist party over the “authentic interests” of the population in today’s territory of Slovenia, the second, democratic turn in 1991 opened the dawn of democracy and brought forth the independent country of Slovenia. In the effectuation of the first turn, art was used mainly in the manner of agitation or propaganda. By contrast, art played an active, implicit, and explicitly subversive role in the democratic transition. The analysis of Slovenian art during the Cold War (after 1948) shows that under the influence of interaction with Western art, significant transformations of formal and semantic types
occurred. That happened in two directions. First, in the direction of the
obvious “Westernization”, the agents of which were the informel and the new expressive figuration with its form-forming inventions. And, second, in the direction of a less noticeable increase in semantic relevance, that is, in the direction of a descent from the ideologically stylized semantics of the young socialism into the archetypal semantics of the life reality of the people on the Slovenian side of the Iron Curtain. This resulted in the thematization of the human tragedy of war in a nontoxic manner (Zoran Mušič with the cycle We are not the last) and a discussion of the Slovene “genocide trauma” of the postwar period, which was taboo in public discourse, but became manifest through a difficult-to-understand “discourse” of forms and colors that occurred spontaneously in the form of the so-called “dark modernism” in the case of various authors (M. Pregelj, J. Tisnikar, J. Bernik, A. Jemec). In contrast, art played an active role in the second turn of 1991. Among other things, in the dissident form of the (third) avant-garde or the retro-avant-garde, which coagulated after 1980 in the movement Neue slowenische Kunst – NSK. Instead of new art forms, as invented by previous avant-gardes, the retro-vanguard NSK palimpsestically used traditional templates. For example, a Nazi poster, which was supposed to celebrate the communist “Youth Day” in 1987, but in its ambiguous cynical symbiosis showed how despite the diametrically contrary ideological “jargons of authenticity” different totalitarianisms demonstrate the same aesthetic fascinations and a fortiori almost identical authoritative aspirations. In the second part of the paper, the author attempts to follow the footsteps of the third Slovenian (retro)avant-garde and describe its forms, ideological concepts, and influences in the time before the second political turn. In the context of Slovenian social development and the implicit processes of globalization, he emphasizes the transformation of the retro-vanguard movements after the Second Turn. This transformation caused the change from “the culture of presence” to “the culture of meaning” in Slovenian art as well, that is, the (quantitative) dominance of the visual in the fine arts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:48:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7dfb10f000544013bb1baf02fee97ad2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1318-3362 2232-6650 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:48:45Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | Institute Nova Revija for the Humanities |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Phainomena |
| spelling | doaj.art-7dfb10f000544013bb1baf02fee97ad22022-12-22T04:25:26ZdeuInstitute Nova Revija for the HumanitiesPhainomena1318-33622232-66502018-12-0127106-107358910.32022/PHI27.2018.106-107.3Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine ReflexionJožef Muhovič0Univerza v Ljubljani, Akademija za likovno umetnost in oblikovanjeOn This and on the Other Side. Slovenian Art after the Political Turns in 1945 and 1991. A Reflection - Whereas the first, revolutionary turn in 1945 brought a “twilight of democracy” in the form of a longstanding monopoly of the communist party over the “authentic interests” of the population in today’s territory of Slovenia, the second, democratic turn in 1991 opened the dawn of democracy and brought forth the independent country of Slovenia. In the effectuation of the first turn, art was used mainly in the manner of agitation or propaganda. By contrast, art played an active, implicit, and explicitly subversive role in the democratic transition. The analysis of Slovenian art during the Cold War (after 1948) shows that under the influence of interaction with Western art, significant transformations of formal and semantic types occurred. That happened in two directions. First, in the direction of the obvious “Westernization”, the agents of which were the informel and the new expressive figuration with its form-forming inventions. And, second, in the direction of a less noticeable increase in semantic relevance, that is, in the direction of a descent from the ideologically stylized semantics of the young socialism into the archetypal semantics of the life reality of the people on the Slovenian side of the Iron Curtain. This resulted in the thematization of the human tragedy of war in a nontoxic manner (Zoran Mušič with the cycle We are not the last) and a discussion of the Slovene “genocide trauma” of the postwar period, which was taboo in public discourse, but became manifest through a difficult-to-understand “discourse” of forms and colors that occurred spontaneously in the form of the so-called “dark modernism” in the case of various authors (M. Pregelj, J. Tisnikar, J. Bernik, A. Jemec). In contrast, art played an active role in the second turn of 1991. Among other things, in the dissident form of the (third) avant-garde or the retro-avant-garde, which coagulated after 1980 in the movement Neue slowenische Kunst – NSK. Instead of new art forms, as invented by previous avant-gardes, the retro-vanguard NSK palimpsestically used traditional templates. For example, a Nazi poster, which was supposed to celebrate the communist “Youth Day” in 1987, but in its ambiguous cynical symbiosis showed how despite the diametrically contrary ideological “jargons of authenticity” different totalitarianisms demonstrate the same aesthetic fascinations and a fortiori almost identical authoritative aspirations. In the second part of the paper, the author attempts to follow the footsteps of the third Slovenian (retro)avant-garde and describe its forms, ideological concepts, and influences in the time before the second political turn. In the context of Slovenian social development and the implicit processes of globalization, he emphasizes the transformation of the retro-vanguard movements after the Second Turn. This transformation caused the change from “the culture of presence” to “the culture of meaning” in Slovenian art as well, that is, the (quantitative) dominance of the visual in the fine arts. https://www.phainomena.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/E-PHI27_106-107_3_Muhovi%C4%8D.pdfiron curtainpolitical turn"westernization"kominforminformelnewspeakretroavantgardeoveridentification |
| spellingShingle | Jožef Muhovič Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion Phainomena iron curtain political turn "westernization" kominform informel newspeak retroavantgarde overidentification |
| title | Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion |
| title_full | Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion |
| title_fullStr | Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion |
| title_short | Diesseits und jenseits. Slowenische Kunst nach den politischen Umbrüchen 1945 und 1991. Eine Reflexion |
| title_sort | diesseits und jenseits slowenische kunst nach den politischen umbruchen 1945 und 1991 eine reflexion |
| topic | iron curtain political turn "westernization" kominform informel newspeak retroavantgarde overidentification |
| url | https://www.phainomena.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/E-PHI27_106-107_3_Muhovi%C4%8D.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jozefmuhovic diesseitsundjenseitsslowenischekunstnachdenpolitischenumbruchen1945und1991einereflexion |