Iskustvo pejzaža | Landscape experience. Robert Jankuloski i Monika Moteska

After the successful presentation of the exhibition Landscape Experience by Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska at the Pavilion of North Macedonia at the 59th Art Biennale in Venice, and in cooperation with the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia, the exhibition is presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Sad. It is a multimedia project whose focus is the research of the archaeology of space, the layering of abandoned and neglected landscapes within the collective culture of memory and the revival of the ‘’presence of the absent’’, and their replacement in a new context. Relationships between life and death, the beautiful and the ugly, the healthy and the poisonous, form the basis of the authors’ critical approach to the topics that both have previously dealt with.

’’A human is the only being that is aware of its existence’’, in the context of the philosophy of existence - if we continue with Sartre’s contemplation on the human's freedom in the sense of personal choice, selecting opportunities and taking responsibility for events and risks for human's existence, a conclusion or contradiction is drawn about meaninglessness or the absurdity of human existence, which is often confirmed in many examples throughout the history of mankind. The Landscape Experience project by Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska considers this topic, as well as its many other sub-layers.

The questions they ask are focused directly on the connection between ecology and corporate imperialism, gender perspectives, collective identities and the significance of decolonization not only of history but also of nature. They consider power relations in society and the dangers brought about in mutual struggles through mindless wars (whether explicit or implicit, real or psychological, physical or chemical) and the increasingly aggressive neoliberal exploitation and abuse of natural resources. They investigate issues of human freedom, responsibility and risk for their own actions, and the issue of the survival of humanity as a value of modern society. They deal with accumulated problems, pointing to the importance of establishing a new order that would provide the possibility of overcoming the anthropocentric view of the world. Can the beautiful, at the same time, be insidiously ugly, and can the aesthetically valuable become a servant of the evil?