East Side Stories

2013 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

14 min

Igor Grubic

location: Zagreb, Hrvatska
year born: 1969
gender: male
nationality: Croatian

The installation “East Side Story” is based on events that took place in the streets of Belgrade in 2001 and Zagreb in 2002, during the Gay Pride demonstrations, where the participants were the victims of verbal and physical injury by neo-Nazi groups and other citizens. This work is composed of two projections: the first uses television images of the demonstrations while the second is the reconstitution of the events performed by dancers. This piece witnesses nationalism at work in society, aiming particularly at the “internal enemy that sexual minorities might represent”. The use of performance and dance symbolizes creative freedom as well as the possibility to free the body from the public space. The performer’s body sends a signal in the public space in a society lacking social solidarity. This is a counter- monument or a monument of extreme fragility that reactivates repressed images. Aware that art produces hardly any political effects, Grubic keeps on questioning the power of symbolic gestures. According to him this work, full of emotions and intensity, is an aesthetic act of resistance.


Having started his carrier as an activist artist, Igor Grubic became known in 1998 through an action made in tribute to the group RED PERISTYL that had painted in red, the floor in front of Diocletian’s Palace in Split as a provocative gesture against totalitarism. Thirty years later, he reactivated this gesture as a response to a different context in which nationalism and corruption are appearing in different countries of the former Communist bloc experiencing a period of transition. Since then he has performed symbolic actions in the public space recalling May 68 political, as well as anti-fascist, values. His belief in the necessity of individual action is strong. In order to address social and political topics, he prefers using the transgressive power of poetic language rather than critical discourse. Igor Grubic has participated in many international exhibitions including Manifesta.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Interview with Matthew Angelo Harrison
© » KADIST

Interview with Matthew Angelo Harrison...

Nuevo Dragon City
© » KADIST

Sergio De La Torre

2008

Nuevo Dragon City is a reenactment of a historical event from 1927 in which six Chinese were either trapped or voluntarily hid themselves inside a building in northern Mexico...

A Vast Annie Leibovitz Retrospective at Crystal Bridges Is a Memorable Experiment in Curation
© » ARTNEWS REVIEWS

Review: 'Annie Leibovitz: At Work' at Crystal Bridges Skip to main content By Tessa Solomon Plus Icon Tessa Solomon Reporter, ARTnews View All January 10, 2024 1:42pm Artist Simone Leigh, photographed by Annie Leibovitz...

Ken Grimes “Space Oddity”
© » ARTPRESS

Ken Grimes "Space Oddity" - artpress 21 décembre 2023 In AP Web , arts visuels Ken Grimes “Space Oddity” Par Bruno Dubreuil...

Mekong River, Stung Treng Province, Wrapped Future II Series
© » KADIST

Lim Sokchanlina

2018

The photographic series Wrapped Future II by Lim Sokchanlina brings fences used on construction sites to enclose the surrounding areas, to different locations, lakes, valleys and forests; and places them at the center of works to obscure the beautiful Cambodian landscape...

Gabriel Sierra: ( )
© » KADIST

This publication marks the 2012 residency and public exhibition of ( ) by Gabriel Sierra, including text and translation by Christopher Michael Fraga and photography by Jeff Warrin....

Minimal Secret
© » KADIST

Voluspa Jarpa

2012

To make Minimal Secret (2012), Jarpa created sculptures based on pages of declassified CIA information about the United States’ involvement in Chile...

Not Fully Human, Not Human at All
© » KADIST

With Saddie Choua, Valentina Desideri, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Arely Amaut, Nilbar Güres, Ibro Hasanovic, Jelena Jureša, Doruntina Kastrati, Kaltrina Krasniqi, Pedro Neves Marques, Christian Nyampeta, Daniela Ortiz, Monira Al Qadiri, and Lala Rašcic...

Blackout
© » KADIST

Rossella Biscotti

In a broader sense, the meaning of ‘blackout’ —primarily an electrical failure or momentary interruption, opens up to new organizations, perceptions and different ways of experiencing time and space...

At 90, Photographer Fred Baldwin Still Has ‘So Much Work Left to Do’ (Published 2019)
© » NYTIMES LENS

At 90, Photographer Fred Baldwin Still Has ‘So Much Work Left to Do’ - The New York Times Lens | At 90, Photographer Fred Baldwin Still Has ‘So Much Work Left to Do’ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/lens/fred-baldwin-photography.html Give this article Share Advertisement Continue reading the main story Fred Baldwin reckons he could have become a writer — if the manual Olivetti typewriter he used while studying at Columbia in 1955 had spell-check...

Hommage To Balotelli's Missed Trick
© » KADIST

Burak Delier

2013

Burak Delier’s sculpture Homage to Balotelli’s Missed Trick is a symbol of resistance to the demand for success and performance...

Forest Gathering N.2
© » KADIST

Gregory Crewdson

2005

Forest Gathering N.2 is part of the series of photographs Beneath the Roses (2003-2005) where anonymous townscapes, forest clearings and broad, desolate streets are revealed as sites of mystery and wonder; similarly, ostensibly banal interiors become the staging grounds for strange human scenarios...

Akram Zaatari
© » KADIST

Akram Zaatari talks about the influence of the Arab Image Foundation and the images of Hashem El Madani in his work...

Didier Houénoudé: Présentation de la scène artistique béninoise
© » KADIST

Didier Houénoudé est actuellement en résidence à la Fondation...

iLiana Fokianaki presents State (in) Concepts
© » KADIST

iLiana Fokianaki presents State (in) Concepts, the exhbition she curated with with Margarita Bofiliou, Laure Prouvost & Jonas Staal, Alexandros Tzannis and screenings with Zbynek Baladrán, Filipa César, Keren Cytter, Cao Fei, Basim Magdy From October 21 to December 2017 Directed by Victor Baton...

A line is not a border — Group show
© » SLASH PARIS

A line is not a border — Group show — Xippas Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook A line is not a border — Group show — Xippas Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back A line is not a border — Group show Exhibition Installation, painting, photography, sculpture.....

Scenic Routes
© » ARTFORUM

Scenic Routes at the 17th Jogja Biennale – Artforum Read Next: ARGENTINIAN PRESIDENT JAVIER MILEI SHUTTERS MINISTRY OF CULTURE Subscribe Search Icon Search Icon Search for: Search Icon Search for: Follow Us facebook twitter instagram youtube Alerts & Newsletters Email address to subscribe to newsletter...

Collecting to Explore ‘Origin, Culture, Form, Function and Race’ - via The New York Times
© » LARRY'S LIST

This Washington couple has floor-to-ceiling art as well as wearable creations and folk art curiosities....