Under Construction / Oprez!Radovi!

“Under Construction / Oprez! radovi!” is theThird Annual Exhibition of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Sarajevo

Participating artists: Šejla Kamerić, Alma Fazlić, Kurt & Plasto, Alma Suljević, Gordana Anđelić-Galić, Damir Nikšić, Danica Dakić, Braco Dimitrijević, Nebojša Šerić Šoba, Jusuf Hadžifejzović, Maja Bajević, Dejan Vekić, TRIO (Bojan and Dada Hadžihalilović), Zlatan Filipović

As in previous years, the Annual Exhibition of SCCA-Sarajevo is being held in an open space of the city, this time on the facade of the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, due to reconstruction, is surrounded by scaffolding. The basic intention of this year’s exhibition is, through a series of artistic interventions (which change every few days during the two-months) to transform the static utilitarian structure of the scaffold into a dynamic surface (frame, background, screen).

Since it is being carried out on the exterior of an institution that collects artistic works of “proven value and national significance”, this action establishes a dialog between that which is outside and that which is inside, “lasting” and “passing,” classical and contemporary, the formal structure of the museum and the informal structure of a mobile art center.

The confrontation of two artistic scenes, practices, realities—interior and exterior—bridges the hiatus between “the old” and “the new,” calling attention to art itself.

The works in the exhibition “Under construction” are turned toward the broader public, casual passers-by, who are not generally visitors of museums and exhibitions. In demystifying the artistic act by creating works on the scaffold and attracting the attention of the ordinary passerby to the exterior of the museum, there is also the wish to awaken interest in what is going on inside.

Dunja Blažević, curator of the exhibition

The exhibition “Under construction” has been realized with the support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, department Réseaux-Est-Ouest, and in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland and the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Facade of the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina
July 23 – September 1999.