Wall newspapers

• We are now in a place called "Oktober" in Belgrade,00:00:00.620
• 00:00:00.620
• where the "Wall Newspapers" project exposition is being currently displayed,00:00:03.178
• 00:00:03.178
• made by "Kontekst" and "Kurs" Collectives00:00:06.824
• 00:00:06.824
• within the project “Culture in Protest” organized by00:00:10.986
• 00:00:10.986
• the “Independent Cultural Scene of Serbia” association.00:00:14.884
• 00:00:14.884
• The exhibition features the first two issues of "Wall newspapers".00:00:20.700
• 00:00:20.700
• The first one pertains to the matters of precarious work,00:00:24.942
• 00:00:24.942
• while focusing on notions, such as00:00:28.500
• 00:00:28.500
• flexibilisation, precarious work, self-exploitation, and so on,00:00:33.193
• 00:00:33.193
• but these notions are not explained solely and exclusively00:00:40.310
• 00:00:40.310
• through the viewpoint of a cultural worker and artist,00:00:45.060
• 00:00:45.060
• because we wanted to present these new ways of00:00:50.995
• 00:00:50.995
• labor which are being imposed to cultural workers00:00:55.630
• 00:00:55.630
• and to lay them out in a wider context00:01:00.383
• 00:01:00.383
• that refers to present changes00:01:03.190
• 00:01:03.190
• in labor legislation in Serbia,00:01:08.025
• 00:01:08.025
• which will introduce and00:01:10.700
• 00:01:10.700
• enforce those precarious positions00:01:12.917
• 00:01:12.917
• on a much larger scale in the future.00:01:16.157
• 00:01:16.157
• We think it's important, firstly, to address00:01:21.168
• the artists and cultural workers00:01:25.290
• 00:01:25.290
• 00:01:25.290
• and to seek the explanation of these notions in some way,00:01:29.142
• 00:01:29.142
• and likewise to invite them to join in some manner00:01:32.524
• 00:01:32.524
• this widespread struggle,00:01:37.019
• 00:01:37.019
• along with the union members against00:01:39.022
• 00:01:39.022
• already mentioned changes in labor legislation.00:01:42.804
• 00:01:42.804
• The second issue mainly refers to the00:01:48.050
• 00:01:48.050
• material conditions of artists and cultural workers.00:01:54.477
• 00:01:54.477
• We tried to connect modern situation regarding this issue,00:01:57.943
• 00:01:57.943
• with the situation in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during 1930s,00:02:06.182
• 00:02:06.182
• to be more precise, with two concrete examples of struggles00:02:11.488
• 00:02:11.488
• carried out by the artists.00:02:16.967
• 00:02:16.967
• First example relates to the exhibition of the artist Mirko Kujačić00:02:19.506
• 00:02:19.506
• who has read his manifesto during the opening ceremony of his exhibition,00:02:25.500
• 00:02:25.500
• which is displayed here as archive material,00:02:29.278
• 00:02:29.278
• wherein he denounced bourgeoisie concepts of art00:02:33.014
• 00:02:33.014
• and urged the artists to incorporate their work and00:02:36.501
• 00:02:36.501
• achievements in this broad working class struggle,00:02:42.658
• 00:02:42.658
• in order to enable for themselves a better position.00:02:49.687
• 00:02:49.687
• Second situation depicts further continuation of Mirko Kujačić’s struggle.00:02:54.245
• 00:02:54.245
• But, that second time in 1936,00:02:57.880
• 00:02:57.880
• he was not acting alone, because he has initiated together with a group00:03:02.172
• 00:03:02.172
• known in those days as “Independent artists”,00:03:05.580
• 00:03:05.580
• a boycott against the private association00:03:08.577
• 00:03:08.577
• which had the sole right to an exhibition room for modern art in Belgrade in that period.00:03:12.174
• 00:03:12.174
• They started a boycott in which they00:03:19.129
• 00:03:19.129
• clearly defined the problems of their material condition,00:03:22.547
• 00:03:22.547
• and the manner of exploitation exerted over them by that private association00:03:27.420
• 00:03:27.420
• and they have also demanded for their position to be improved,00:03:32.101
• 00:03:32.101
• and to redefine their working conditions00:03:35.525
• 00:03:35.525
• and relation with this private association.00:03:39.179
• 00:03:39.179
• This struggle ended with00:03:42.076
• 00:03:42.076
• overtaking of the management of Association of Fine Artists in Belgrade,00:03:47.445
• 00:03:47.445
• and it has also marked the beginning of00:03:55.471
• 00:03:55.471
• self-organizing of fine artists in Serbia.00:03:59.400
• 00:03:59.400
• Further result was achieved when those artists00:04:07.439
• 00:04:07.439
• joined the revolutionary fight in the Second World War00:04:10.986
• 00:04:10.986
• after which they have significantly00:04:14.868
• 00:04:14.868
• improved the material condition of artists and cultural workers00:04:19.304
• 00:04:19.304
• based on positive law regulations.00:04:22.781
• 00:04:22.781
• Relying on these two examples we tried to00:04:28.716
• 00:04:28.716
• show modern situation and to somewhat explain00:04:31.643
• 00:04:31.643
• that present issue of precariousness of material condition00:04:34.700
• 00:04:34.700
• of artists and cultural workers00:04:38.289
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• can not be resolved solely by means of appeal.00:04:42.016
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• It will not be resolved by adopting certain ministerial decisions,00:04:46.104
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• or through work of some political structures.00:04:51.122
• 00:04:51.122
• The said material conditions can be improved only00:04:53.631
• 00:04:53.631
• by means of struggle that one has to carry out,00:04:57.888
• 00:04:57.888
• and that the former benefits that artists and cultural workers both have had,00:05:03.045
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• concerning the working position,00:05:08.409
• 00:05:08.409
• were not God given ones, but they rather represented a result00:05:10.281
• 00:05:10.281
• of a long-term struggle,00:05:12.931
• 00:05:12.931
• that evidently needs to be reinitiated once again.00:05:15.661

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