Proposal (for a better future)III and IV
During the KAMEN residency in Orah, Bosnia and Herzegovina (July and August of 2022) I worked on 'Proposal III and IV', a series of modular, painted cardboard sculptures. The sculptures were made using waste materials, sourced from local supermarkets. The pieces were influenced by the sense of physical and ideological abandonment caused by the ruins of the villages emerging from the Bileća lake and by the remains of the socialist world. Another large source of inspiration were the colors and shapes found in nature and structures around the KAMEN residency and in the socialist architecture in the towns of Bileća and Trebinje.
The work at KAMEN resulted in a two person exhibit, 'parallel relocations//relocated parallels' with KAMEN resident artist Vita Soul Wilmering. The exhibit was held at Kulturni Centar Trebinje and showcased the sculpture installation 'Proposal III' and Vita’s sound and video installation 'Parallel Lake Bottom Cinema'.
A second presentation was held at the KAMEN residency a week later after the sculptures had been taken apart, rearranged and rebuilt into a new installation; 'Proposal IV'.
'Proposal' or 'Proposals for a better future', as the full title was meant to be, referred to ephemerality in both social structures and political ideas, aside from the physical aspects of the sculptures. The sculptures were leftovers from a proposed better future, not fully graspable anymore. By rearranging them, there was a suggestion of a possibility of finding a yet better plan, but as it was done with the same core elements, one could wander if a different outcomes was even possible. During the event around 'Proposal IV', it was pointed out to me how the pieces also resembled the seemingly rough but in actuality fragile structures of human relations and systems within a country or society.
Beginning as packaging of products, vessels of a kind, 'Proposals' got reshaped into modular sculptures, installed, deinstalled, transported, rebuilt and adjusted several times, before finally being cut into pieces, stacked, tied up and thrown out at the local dump.
