"Serbia - Frequently Asked Question" Exhibition

Austrian Cultural Forum NYC

poster for "Serbia - Frequently Asked Question" Exhibition

This event has ended.

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade presents an exhibition of works by 18 contemporary artists entitled Serbia - Frequently Asked Questions. The artists, many of whom are from Serbia, former Yugoslavia and Austria, reflect on two decades of drama in the Balkans with a special focus on Serbia. The exhibition will be on view from September 23rd to January 11th at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York.

With the onset of war in former Yugoslavia, Serbia became perceived by some as a violent and xenophobic nation. International media coverage of the war helped establish stereotypes across the world and within Serbia that inaccurately categorized all Serbs as an intolerant and nationalistic people. As with every stereotype, this oversimplification served as an attempt to construct a difference: to distinguish an other from what we are, how we behave, and what we tend to think of ourselves.

Speaking out on traumatic events the artists in Serbia - Frequently Asked Questions share a critical stance toward processes of economic and political transition and refute preconceived notions about a decade-old conflict fueled by irreconcilable stereotypes on all sides. The exhibition reveals the culturalization of the Yugoslav conflict. Marked neither by sentimentalism nor cynicism, it presents the sensitivity of the individual artists - some of whom were directly involved but maintained a critical distance - as a powerful guide to a tumultuous and painful chapter in recent European history.

This exhibition was curated by Branislav Dimitrijević & Andreas Stadler.

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