Carnival in the Eye of the Storm
War / Art / New Technologies: KOSOV@

Kosovo /Kosova has been referred to here as Kosov@ in the attempt to retain both the "o" and "a" characters used in both (Serbian and Albanian) spellings

Kosov@. Whose side are you on?

The exhibition, conference and film series attempt to set up a conversation of voices from the US, Europe, Serbia, and Kosov@. In the public discourse the Albanian side is rarely heard, in the internet you will find only few of them. The dialogue about Kosov@ is a Western discourse with some Serbs. How was the Internet used in response to the events of the Kosov@ months? Were there meaningful ways for art to intervene? How was this war impacted by the existence of internet communities such as"Nettime" and "Syndicate"? How did this war internationalize these political communities? The exhibition focuses on the juxtaposition of mystified media imagery with the lived experienced of suffering, death and mass displacement in the Balkans.

"It's us the armchair passengers who observe what passes, and decide what passed. <...> To "do" something doesn't always mean to engage oneself in the concrete practical situation. Grasping the meaning of historical historical events can have an impact on them..."(1)

"There is never enough time- for an accurate knowledge of the history of the region, for reliable, confirmed information, for an instant theory that explains it all..." (2)

Who had access to new technologies and who did not? How do we negotiate our ethical stand as artists/ scholars/... producing work (or curating an exhibition) about a war such as this one?

Why Kosov@?

Kosov@ is one of the most visible wars of our time that demands our intense attention. The issues that were raised by the war in Kosov@ will stay with us. It is the first extensive war since World War II on European territory, directly involving the US and EU countries. The NATO bombardments caused a profound split inside leftist groupings that could not decide which side they should support. The Western media were largely instrumental to the US / NATO military. Much more images from Serbia were shown. From March until June 1999 there was a complete Kosov@ media black out. Which imagery was depicted by the media to represent this war and why? While we are caught up with Kosov@ NATO still bombs Iraq every day. The gulf war took place but it did not happen on TV where the actual battlefield was not shown. During the Kosov@ war military strategists had to take the simultaneity of immediate alternative reporting online into account (ie. Radio B92). How did art respond to or even intervene with this war? How efficient can this intervention be? A large number of artworks on the subject will be made accessible in the PNCA Media Gallery. Now Serbian artists are more visible than ethnic Albanians from Kosov@. The exhibition includes both.

The Exhibition in Context

Comparable exhibitions are the "War Zone" exhibition in Vancouver, the "After The Wall" exhibition in Stockholm and "War Bulletin" at Postmasters Gallery in New York. In October 1999 there will be a "Annual Show of Artists" in Belgrade with an online chat option. This program is part of the necessary effort to investigate the efficacy of art in relation to the war in Kosov@. The exhibition will present a selection of web based artwork on this war in the Balkans. Offline art pieces will take on the form of videos, installations, photographs, postcards, political cartoons, sound pieces, sculptures, satellite computer prints and drawings. Furthermore, a time line of events contextualizing the war will be made available in the exhibition.

by Trebor Scholz

notes:

(1) (2) (3)- from "Bastard", (global edition) editor in chief: Boris Buden