The Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina

Opening of the exhibition: Friday, Sept 9, 7PM

Duration: Sept 9 – Oct 5 2022.

Curators: Sanja Kojić Mladenov, PhD The exhibition TOMORROW IS MONDAY comprehends a presentation of artworks of the esteemed neo-avant-garde artist Dragoljub Raša Todosijević, who was among the protagonists of an informal group of Belgrade conceptual artists. During the sixties and the seventies, they took a radical turn from the ideology and practice of social modernism, choosing new artistic trends emerging locally and around the world instead. These – at the time – young artists (Marina Abramović, Era Milivojević, Neša Paripović, Zoran Popović, Gergelj Urkom) gathered around the Belgrade Students’ Cultural Center and sought new forms of artistic expression to explore. Among others, these included video-art, performance art, action, and installation, and their common goal was to provoke and re-examine the structure and the functionalities of the current practice, as well as of the social context of the time. TOMORROW IS MONDAY (2022) is Dragoljub Raša Todosijević’s first retrospective exhibition at MSUV and it comes as an opportunity to comprehend the artist’s significant and substantial practice anew, as well as to collect and present works from some of his pivotal series, such as: Diary, Decision as Art, Was Ist Kunst?, Gott Liebt die Serben, and Fluxus Piano. The exhibition centers around the artist’s continuous practice within the domain of socially and politically engaged art, as well as in the field of re-examining standards observed by artistic frameworks, imposed and commonly accepted principles, as criteria that may be subjected to criticism and more recent review.

Avant-garde artistic practice encompasses innovative methods applied by modern art that is directly affecting the development of its social environment. The problems and issues tackled by these artist have – since the seventies – represented the pillars of social and artistic conservatism, traditionalism and nationalism. Todosijević’s work made them all more visible and thus exposed to conscientious critique. The view that the local environment witnessed engaged artistic trends that were evolving simultaneously with innovative and radical artistic practices emerging across the international art scene is substantiated by Dragoljub Raša Todosijević’s work, placing his oeuvre within the wider context of neo-avant-garde art. On one hand, the exhibition prepared by MSUV emphasizes the importance of this artist’s contribution, as well as the international affirmation of the local art scene. On the other, it underlines the crucial role of institutions in terms of how the legacy of contemporary artists is to be preserved and made visible to the general public. In 2011, Raša Todosijević represented Serbia at the 54th Venice Biennale with his exhibition “Light and Darkness of Symbols”, shown at the Serbian Pavilion. This exhibition garnered the international UniCredit Venice Award, marking the first and – so far – the only award won by the Serbian Pavilion at this renowned international event. The exhibition was produced by Novi Sad MSUV, represented by the Commissioner Živko Grozdanić, who was Director of MSUV at the time, and by the Curator and Publication Editor Sanja Kojić Mladenov. After the exhibition was closed and the award was presented, the artist donated one of his monumental installations to the Museum. Thus, the retrospective exhibition of his work in Novi Sad, in addition to being a logical continuation of MSUV’s cooperation with the author, comes as an opportunity to present – among the widest possible selection – some of the works shown in Venice, ten years later. Together with the works from the MSUV collection, the exhibition TOMORROW IS MONDAY will feature works from the collections of the Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art, Sarajevo Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, and the “Gradac” Cultural Center in Raška. The exhibition is organized as part of the program “Kaleidoscope of Culture” – Novi Sad, European Capital of Culture 2022. MSUV is patroned by the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities. The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and Saša Marčeta Foundation from Belgrade.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dragoljub Raša Todosijević was born in Belgrade, on September 2, 1945. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1969. He has since become one of the most active and internationally recognized artists from Serbia. Among other museums, his works have been acquired by the London Tate Modern, Paris The Centre Pompidou, Stockholm Moderna Museet, Kumamoto Contemporary Art Museum, etc. In addition to the 54th Biennale Venice award (2011), Todosijević received the IASPIS Residential Award of the Moderna Museet (Stockholm, 2001), ArtsLink Award (New York, 2004), Emily Harvey Foundation Award – recognizing artist related to the Fluxus movement (New York, 2006). Todosijević was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 50th October Salon (Belgrade, 2009), as well as Politika Award, together with Marija Dragojlović (Belgrade, 2009), The City of Belgrade Award (2003), Nadežda Petrović Memorial Award (Čačak, 1998), Sava Šumanović Award (Novi Sad, 2008), etc. Raša Todosijević lives and works in Belgrade as a freelance artist.

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