366 Liberation Rituals

2008-2009
multimedia interventions in public space

(selection from 33 works)

The project ‘366 Liberation Rituals’ consist of lots of minimalistic micro-political interventions in public space realized by the artist on everyday basis actions during whole 2008 and partly 2009. The starting point for 366 liberation rituals is the 40th anniversary of 1968, but it refers also to the heritage of conceptual art practices of ex-YU region – in which, for example, the Group of Six Artists played a significant role – and to Jean Luc Godard political movies and conceptual strategies from late 60ties, early 70.

Every day over the course of one year, Grubić performed a series of rituals, micropolitical actions and interventions, marking the 40th anniversary of the revolutionary 1968. The work documented a combination of illegal actions, the immediacy of the encounters with the street, performativity, civil disobedience and poetic terrorism, producing tensions in the inert public field. With these “rituals”, the artist initiated a series of social corrections aimed at the irregularities in Croatia’s post-transition society. In some of the works, the color red serves as both a symbol and a recurring motif. It appears in various forms, from a red star adorning discarded Christmas trees to a red flag fluttering in his hand as he cycles by, or as the pioneers’ scarves on the busts of national heroes of the National Liberation War. Some ideas and methods explored in the 366 Rituals of Liberation, such as Small Citation Lessons, move from one piece to another, continue to live and grow, becoming the basis for some of Grubić’s future works and actions.

SCARVES AND MONUMENTS – By placing scarves on monuments, I aimed at reviving them and giving them an aura of active fighters in our everyday life. Placing the scarves on monuments was often done at the same time as Little quotes lessons. Both actions were carried out with the aim of awakening and questioning (the impact of) our cultural and political heritage. I placed the scarves on monuments to heroes of the anti-fascist movement.

BICYCLE AND FLAG – “Under all those flags that fly… one day I accidently found a way… I am free…” (from a song by Haustor) I wrapped the Croatian flag around its pole and around it I tied an unmarked red cloth. With this act I wanted to symbolically strip the state flag of its meaning. At the break of dawn I drove around the city on a bicycle, as a ‘phantom of freedom’. I managed to bring a smile to the faces of sleepy commuters on their way to work.

MONUMENT AND FLOWERS – On the anniversary of the death of a French tourist — a homosexual beaten to death by skinheads in the centre of Zagreb — I put flower buds at the place where he had died. When I realized that close-by there was a Second World War monument to the fallen fighters against the Nazi regime, I paid respect to them as well. I treated them as fighters for the freedom of all citizens, including those of different sexual orientation. I did this by putting flower buds on the hero’s chest.

CHRISTMAS TREES – Several days after New Year’s celebration, I would walk around different city districts in the morning, looking for Christmas trees that had been thrown out as garbage. I walked around neighbourhoods representing different social structures: middle-class, elite, as well as barracks where homeless people live. I put red baubles and a red star on top of the trees that I came across, suggesting a potential unity in a celebratory nostalgia for the past times.

SMALL COTEMPLATIVE ACTIONS – I remember when I was in high-school, I saw for the first time a photo of a man who had his head shaved in the shape of a star (as a priest’s tonsure): I was completely awed by the idea. Back then, I did not know who that person was or what the act meant, so I interpreted it in my own way. Some time had passed before I learned the true meaning of the photograph, which disappointed me at first. Although I could grasp Duchamp’s intention to point to the fact that man is a comet, I preferred my youthful interpretation of the work as a proclamation of the artist’s left-wing anarchist radical attitude in the context of the period of modernism and the rising of capitalism in which he had lived. In accordance with my first impression, I shaved the tonsure in the shape of a star. I wore a cap, and would occasionally appear at specific locations and would, in the form of a small ritual, take off the cap and stand in silence for a while. Symbolically, I was commenting on the different processes of transition of our society from socialism to capitalism, by touching upon some relevant issues: false patriotism, politicizing of the Church, the destruction of social ownership and the corruption of privatization, the increasing poverty, art as an uncompromising battlefront, and the significance of continuing the battle even though significant change may seem impossible.

RED FOUNTAIN – On the day of the official visit of the U.S. President George W. Bush to Croatia, in front of the National Bank of Croatia at the Croatian Nobles Square (where also the International Monetary Fund offices are situated) I coloured the water in the fountain blood red, symbolically alluding to the blood of the victims of Bush’s international policy as well as protesting against the IMF policy. The action of colouring the fountain was carried out as an illegal action, despite strong security measures and a large number of police officers monitoring the square as well as the circulation of citizens. The action also served as a direct provocation to the atmosphere of emergency-like state in the country during Bush’s visit, as well as the regulation of public space and citizens’ behaviour, ranging from subservient cleaning of parks to welcome the American president, up to covering up and neutralizing any attempt of expressing criticism and resistance.

RED ESCADRILLE (THE FREE FLIGHT OF POETRY) – I asked Vlado Martek, inspired by his well-known actions „Read the poetry of“ (Hölderlin, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Trakl, Mandeljštam, Pessoa, Celan), to select one poem by each of the seven – in the opinion of Vlado Martek, most relevant – poets. I printed the selected poetry on red papers and made paper airplanes which I then threw from the rooftop of the “Mamutica” (“the Giant”) building – the largest and the most populated building, made in the period of socialism in Zagreb.

READ MARTEK – On different public locations I read the poetry of Vlado Martek using a megaphone. I read a radical anarchist poem “Politicians, kill yourselves” from his book Actions of Writing. As Martek had for years performed actions in which he suggested reading the poetry of the Russian avant-garde (e.g. “Read Mayakovski”), I thought it would be interesting to do an action titled “Read Martek”. Martek’s poetic style is close to the idea of the avant-garde, its boldness and belief that that it can exalt and culturally enrich people. For this reason I began the action by shouting out: “Poetry to the people!” By ironizing militarism, I suggested that politicians and the military — who should both be in the service of the people — safeguard their own positions of power and, by doing so, distance themselves from the very people they are supposed to serve. Two artists of the younger generation whose artistic practice is also critical and socially engaged (Marko Marković and Božidar Katić) participated in the action. In the sense of ‘caring for future generations’, I demonstrated the baton-like transfer of the spirit of activism from one generation to the next.

SAD CLOWN – The sad clown burst into tears, thus joining the mourning over the world economic crisis.

HAND-PRINT – While performing the action with graffiti in the neighbourhood where mass apartment construction is taking place, I saw an electricity station, on which traces of a worker’s hand were printed all over. I was fascinated by this simple visual gesture. In these times, which are hard for workers, I decided to leave such a hand-print at the place where this problem should be discussed the most – the building of the Croatian Parliament. Workers’ hands, although dirty, remain clean, in contrast with the ‘dirty’ hands of local politicians who capitalized their positions of power by corruption, distancing themselves definitively from the workers which they are supposed to represent.

LITTLE QUOTE LESSONS – I intervened on public monuments in different cities, by putting up banners with quotes by famous historical thinkers and writers. In this way the monuments – as symbols of social values which, however, become neglected and invisible over time – would come to life again. They would become commentators of the contemporary socio-political situation.

BURIED DREAMS – As a teenager I used to completely indentify myself with the music and the authors I listened to. For me they were not just idols but prophets of the life and world where people strove to fight for their rights, where one can find understanding, compassion, love. This point of view was initiated by a wave of global proportions in which we all dreamt of a different world. This impulse brought about a change by softening the staunch conservatism, but the ruling capitalist system has remained the same. No radical change has been brought forward, in the sense of reaching towards the desired utopia. The vinyl records which I use in the action were not maybe the biggest influence on forming my teenage attitudes, but they reflect the spirit of the period. The part of the writing or the image on the cover which is left visible, functions as a seed for future generations. I bury the old form of the message, but at the same time the nucleus-essence remains, as a seed for a new one. The ritual Buried Dreams in a symbolic way evokes another consciousness and power which exists in all of us; however, in order for it to come alive, the old consciousness has to die. Like in Shamanic initiations, a man has to symbolically die in order to be reborn as a different person (consolidated, transformed).

SUN ECLIPSE – I covered the sculpture Landed Sun, a work by the artist Ivan Kožarić from 1971, which symbolizes radiance, well-being and optimism, with black cloth in the action performed during the day, in the most crowded pedestrian street in the centre of Zagreb. The protest gesture warns about the overall state of ‘eclipse’ in our society, what with regards to the socio-political situation, as with regards to culture and education. The action was performed as the support to the students of the Faculty of Philosophy and their rebellion against the commercialization of education.

THE RED THREAD – „You will die once you start doubting your own ideals“. S.S. Kranjčević The intervention was performed as support to the student blockade of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and their initiative for free education. With the intention to remind of certain historical ideals, the intervention brought attention to the monument to Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević (1865-1908), which contains various historical connotations and meanings, but which are all directed towards the ideals of achieving freedom through education of the people. The sculpture was used as the field in which it is possible to insert new meaning, while the artistic intervention became the paradigm of struggle, activism and intellectual rebellion. The red threads connecting the sculpture with the faculty building symbolize the forces leading towards the student revolution. The red color, filled with symbolic meaning, was not chosen as the carrier of ideological associations, but as the color representing life energy, youth, rebellion and passion. Knowledge to the people! Knowledge is liberation!

AGAINST TRASH – We are witnesses to the prevailing decadence of contemporary civilization, which functions on the principle: ‘produce, consume, throw away!’. Even the danger of complete destruction of planet Earth doesn’t move most of its citizens to change their life philosophy. We determine how future generations will live on Earth.

POST-IT – The post-it sticker carries the message “Just like you, I am waiting for change; let me know when it happens”, signed: “Passive citizen”. The messages were hand-written using a red highlighter, as a reminder on the relation private – public. I placed the stickers across town, mostly in places where a large number of citizens fluctuate daily: trams, buses, phone booths, coffee bars… I tried to use humour to encourage citizens not to give in to the sense of desperation and lethargy, reminding them that with our actions, we can influence the situation in society.

INTERPRETATION – Exactly ten years after the work Translation, I got a new commission for a billboard project. In contrast to the first work (in which I quoted and translated a work by Barbara Kruger from the English/US language/context into Croatian), this time I decided to completely change the text on the Croatian flag so that it would refer more directly to the current situation in the country. The questions touch upon the post-war period in Croatia and all the parallel processes we have faced in transition: the criminal privatization process, sudden social stratification, digging through garbage as means of survival for a large number of citizens, corruption, and the fear — still present among citizens — of standing up for their rights. The text on the flag read: “Who fought honourably? Who is an honest politician? Who is religious? Who is nationalist? Who is corrupted? Who is a naive fool? Expect the moment when the middle class will disappear. Who stole in the privatization process? Who works hard? Who is a squanderer? Who digs through garbage? Who remains silent fearfully? Who stands up for their right?”

RED NOSES – I placed the clown-like noses on monuments to various historical figures in the field of Croatian culture and science. I made the action with the intention to awaken and question our cultural heritage and the relativity of accepted historical values.

BANKNOTES – During the whole year, on banknotes of all values I wrote the message “Resist the epidemics of greed”. The message refers to the wave of consumerism which had a massive impact on us during the transition process. Shopping malls create a new way of community life by becoming places of fun and pastime, where the whole families spend their time together… Spending more money than one earns has become the lifestyle for the citizens of Croatia. In this action I marked 1300 banknotes.

GRAFFITI – Wall graffiti during socialism in former Yugoslavia were often witty, intelligent and mostly positive. Following the war in Croatia from 1991 to 1995, there has been an emergence of graffiti rife with hate and negativity, mostly nationalist and fascist in character. I decided to transform those graffiti so that they would have positive meaning. During the day, I would walk around the city and photograph them. Then during the night, I would alter them.

RETURN THE FACTORIES TO WORKERS – The graffiti “Return the factories to workers” deals with the transition from socialism to capitalism and the shift from social to private ownership. In the transition, a large number of workers lost the privileges that they had enjoyed in socialism: more workers’ rights, better salaries, more significant position and visibility in society. All these working families that barely survive today readily claim they were better off in the previous system. (Once they used to work 8 hours, and today, because of low wages, they do extra work after their regular jobs in order to survive and educate their children.)

WORKSHOPS – A group of young art historians initiated the project Neighbourhood Museum, which has been taking place in various neighborhoods in Zagreb. They invited me to join their initiative of waking up the tired city sleeping areas, by creating different cultural activities. We made workshops that involved local participants. In collaboration with several of them, I made three actions: 1 making the stencil with the text: “active citizen – passive citizen” and applying it in public spaces 2 transforming the graffitti with negative messages into positive ones 3 symbolical protest bicycle-ride, carrying a red flag, through a park which is meant to be torn down When the kids playing in the park realized what the protest was about, they spontaneously joined the action.

MAKE LOVE NOT ART – During the night, I intervened with the graffiti “Make Love Not Art” on the facades of various contemporary art venues. Since the art scene in Croatia is still quite divided and unaware of the importance of developing a cultural policy, I symbolically tried to connect them and direct them to each other.

Installation view, Degrees of Freedom, MAMBO, Bologna, Italy, 2015.

Installation view, Fragile Sense of Hope, Collectors Room, Olbricht Foundation, Berlin, Germany, 2014.