2nd edition of Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground
Curators: Basak Senova and Branko Franceschi.
Dates: April 26 – September 26, 2013
Opening: April 26th, 2013, 11am – 4pm
Tito’s Nuclear Bunker, Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Public Program: April 23 – 27, 2013
Venue: Adil Zulfikarpasic Bosniak Institute Foundation, Sarajevo
The Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground is run by a team committed to promoting solidarity, peace and reconciliation in the war torn area. The aim of this biennial is to re-establish broken ties within the region.
Acknowledging the significance of this biennial, Biennial Foundation has modestly contributed to the fundraising process for the second edition, and is collaborating on a Roundtable Discussion as part of the Public Program during the opening days.
The first phase of the Public Program is designed to engage the local art community with the participating biennial artists, including: Banu Cennetoğlu, Conor McGrady, Daniel Garcia Andujar, Paul Devens, Laibach, Nemanja Cvijanovic, Dalibor Martinis, Renata Poljak, Simona Dumitriu, Stealth.unlimited, and Yane Calovski.
The second phase presents a Roundtable Discussion which focusses on issues of the role of biennials as institutional models, the responsibilities of curators, the educational input of biennials, and the precarious role of labor in art. With: Iara Boubnova, Ute Meta Bauer, Nikolaus Hirsch, Pelin Tan, and Anton Vidokle, moderated by the curators of the biennial: Basak Senova and Branko Franceschi along with Marieke van Hal of Biennial Foundation, who will make an introduction.
Roundtable Discussion: 4 PM, April 27, 2013. Venue: Adil Zulfikarpasic Bosniak Institute Foundation, Sarajevo. Language: Bosnian and English. Entrance: Open to the public and free of charge.
The Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground is taking place in the space of the Atomic shelter in Konjic, 45 km south of Sarajevo, known as Tito’s atomic shelter. Its codename is “Istanbul”. The shelter occupies a space of 6.500 square meters and consists of twelve connected blocks. The construction and existence of this bunker was kept secret until the 1990s. The Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground aims to protect it and keep it preserved with the help of artists and their artworks. Most of the artworks from the first edition remained exhibited at the shelter.
The partner countries of the 2nd Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground are the Republics of Turkey and Croatia, in this respect, the curators are Basak Senova and Branko Franceschi, who have their paired curatorial statements under the titles Time Cube and The Castle and selected 35 international projects.
Regardless of constructed histories and collective memories, remembering means jumping from one sequence to another. Each reading guides towards a new reality and each reality illuminates a new path to discover curves, waves, missing details, obscured secrets, and disguised opinions. By navigating through sequences of time, Time Cube aims at dwelling in past and future memories by (1) reconstructing narratives; (2) experiencing diverse realities simultaneously; (3) connecting the temporal with the spatial; and (4) processing the evidences of fiction and fact together.
Following the same line of thought, The Castle focuses on the unnerving sensation of paranoia, doom and egotism emanating from the inversion of the ancient concept of fortress to the underground haven for the political and military elite of the Cold War era and its contemporary transition into the tourist attraction. The central object of the Biennial is “Facility D-0, Tito’s Atomic War Command” located in Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, this very object still stands as a unique fiction, which is also a pastiche of industrial aesthetics and facts with working engines and ventilators as the backdrop of a historical fact. The bunker simply freezes time and is totally isolated from the outer world. At the same time, the bunker unfolds all the possible tensions, disappointments, dreams, hopes, and miseries of the entire geography.
Artists:
Adel Abidin, Alban Muja, Alfredo Pirri, Almin Zrno, Apparatus 22 and Studio Basar, Armin Linke, Autopsia, Banu Cennetoğlu and Yasemin Özcan, Brian Dailey, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Carlo Crovato, Conor McGrady, Cynthia Zaven, Dalibor Martinis, Danica Dakic, Daniel Garcia Andujar, Dario Solman, Edin Numankadic, Edo Murtic, Emre Erkal, Ibro Hasanovic, Igor Bosnjak, Janos Sugar, Kim Cascone, Laibach, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Miroslaw Balka, Nenad Malesevic, Nemanja Cvijanovic, Renata Poljak, Paul Devens, Saeri Kiritani, Simona Dumitriu, Stealth.unlimited, and Yane Calovski.
Performances:
The opening performance Red Empty, Sarajevo by Carl Michael von Hauswolff, will take place at History Museum, Sarajevo, on April 23nd, 20.30h.
The sound artist Paul Devens will perform at Kriterion on April 26th, 9.30pm. His performance will be followed by the DJ performance of Sarajevo based DJ Abazmaj.
Curators: Basak Senova and Branko Franceschi
Curators’ assistant: Irfan Hosic
Project Biennial Director: Edo Hozic
Financial Expert: Snjezana Mesihovic
Coordinator in Chief: Sandra Miljevic Hozic
Executive Director: Ninoslav Verber
Project assistant: Jasmin Corbadzic, Belma Jusufovic
Production Team: Almir Abaz, Ivana Vukovic, Mirnes Bajic
Public program: Basak Senova, Didem Yazici, Irfan Hosic in collaboration with Marieke Van Hal, the Biennial Foundation