Exhibition “Milena Pavlović Barili: One Artist, 15 Photographers – 30 Works of Art”
A wonderful collaboration with photographer Misha Obradovic.
Milena Pavlović-Barili was a Serbian painter and poet. She is the most notable female artist of Serbian modernism. The topics of her work varied from portraits to imaginative interpretations of biblical stories. The motifs often included dream-like situations, veils, angels, statues of Venus goddess, and Harlequins. Many of her works are parts of permanent exhibitions in Rome, New York City, Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade), and her hometown of Požarevac, where the house in which she was born has been converted into a museum in her honor. In 1943, Pavlović-Barili’s work was included in Peggy Guggenheim‘s show Exhibition by 31 Women at the Art of This Century gallery in New York.
This homage is organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the City Assembly of Pozarevac, the Milena Pavlovic Barilli Gallery and the Pozarevac Cultural Center.
“El calidoscopio ha dado una pequeña vuelta, y otras leyes rigen este mundo en el que solo persiste un elemento común: mi ojo que mira, que mira.”
Julio Cortázar
“The co-authored work of photographer Obradovic and graphic designer Lakić follows the enigmatic composition of Milena Pavlović Barilli, in which ancient elements intertwine with contemporary ones in an imaginary space. The fusion of characters and body fragments creates symbolic visions that indicate both the personal state of mind of those present, as well as the phenomena and symptoms of the society in which we live. Metamorphosis, transformation, statue, doll, animated and static body. Physical and metaphysical transformation is associated with words in a series – portrait, fantasy, rebus. This series is again associated with a new series – desire, consumer society, the desire to fit in, and the constant transformation of character and personality.
The simulacrum that Baudrillard talked about in the 1970s is present more than ever in today’s society, where the telematic reality that provides and encourages consumption achieves symbolic dominance and creates confusion between the real and the illusory. Perniola talks about the image that takes the place of reality, both in politics and culture, as well as in everyday life. It mentions the triumph of posing and repetition, the disappearance of truth, meaning and values that we knew as such.
The general “crisis” of the mentioned parameters affects the human being, the way he relates to himself and the world. Virtual reality and social order generate phenomena that affect the understanding and awareness of oneself and the world around one. In this context, the question of the body does not refer only to the body, but to the materialization of social interactions, emotions and cognitions.
In a globalized world, the media imposes a point of view and an attitude on us through a spectacular report of information. Through the flow of information through countless channels – television and the cyber world, one can see the models offered by society, passing on a whole series of aesthetic codes, models, habits, and values that shape our desires, needs and opinions. In the realm of images, there is constant ideological construction, the designing of identity, the result of which is a virtual being that designs itself or is designed through influences.
The body becomes the territory where the inner and outer worlds (unconscious fantasy and social structure) intersect. This kind of ritual staging of materiality, meaning and possibility constantly changes our perception of the ultra-fast world where we are faced with the constant possibility of shaping and redesigning.
Overwhelmed by static and moving images, we are exposed to a kind of symbolic, “hypnotic” violence that manifests itself through the body and the effects of static and moving – an ancient statue, a puppet body. These bodies seem hypnotized or manipulated, and as a result, they hypnotize us with their continuous change and constant search for movement in immobility and immobility in movement.
A kaleidoscope plays with our perception like a puppeteer who moves invisible strings; hypnosis in front of the screen and the almighty algorithm of confusion. Tragic ancient, disaffected Chekhov and unsympathetic modern characters in a whirlwind race.”
Discover more visuals here.