Constructed Landscape. Contemporary Forms of Social Realism
The artistic research Constructed Landscape. Contemporary Forms of Social Realism explores a (hu)man- made forest in Yugoslavia, created over ten years through collective volunteer labour. This landscape is studied as a socio-political environment and a natural space.
The research first asks how the ecological and ideological processes behind this forest can help us understand the contemporary and contradictory world we inhabit today, and what new imaginaries might emerge from it. Secondly, it addresses the question of authorship and the autonomy of the artwork. It seeks to understand how art can contribute to the common good while coexisting with aesthetics, and how we can resist the privatization of culture and nature. The artistic research questions the separation between cultural, political, and artistic work, advocating for their entanglement as essential for rupturing social consensus and categorization.
Methodology that is employed consists of: re-enactment of reforestation, witness seminars, documentation of participatory processes, and film as a tool for artistic research and a way of social history writing. The main objectives are to expand and diversify artistic research on nature as a political and social space and
document (micro)community mobilisation through art. The expected outcomes are: a new forest, art film and installation, artist book and series of discursive events (curated public programme, seminar and workshop).
Results
-New Forest — The re-enactment of reforestation efforts in Yugoslavia will take place on Pešter, where volunteers, mobilised through an open call, will plant a new forest as the core output of this artistic research.
The nursery developed in the 1970s and '80s is still functioning, and will provide acclimatized seedlings (Pinus nigra Arn.) for the reforestation guided by experts from The Institute of Forestry. The site where reforestation will take place was recently burned in summer fires, a result of the climate change. It is surrounded by a maturing anthropogenic forest, now in the process of spontaneous rewilding.
-Docu-fiction Film — It is a portrait of the forest as a fictional character. The film is a synthesis of the research, a meditation on collective labour and the social and political imaginaries realized in the form of the forest.
-Installation — A multimedia installation made together with the volunteers, applying methodologies developed throughout the research.
-Artist Book — Four docu-fictional characters—Artist, Forester, Volunteer, and Forest—are at the core of the
book, each using a different medium: photo essay, drawing, scientific paper, and diary. A reflection on artistic
processes unfolding during the research, preferably published through Track Report.
-Seminar/Workshop — A framework for collective experimentation in a process-driven trajectory during the Academy’s Articulate research weeks and Project weeks, expanding further on the research questions
posed in this proposal.
-Public Program — Regular public gatherings organized as part of the Eco Lab. These will take the form of an assembly=Forest, facilitated through a curatorial frame.
