2nd edition of Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground, Bosnia and Herzegovina
April 26–September 26 2013
Tito’s Nuclear Bunker, Konjic
The Biennial Directorate of Project D-0 ARK Underground announced 26–27 April 2013 as the opening dates for the 2nd Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The biennial will take place April 26 through September 26, 2013. Partner countries for the 2nd Project Biennial are the Republics of Turkey and Croatia. The curators of this edition, Basak SenovaandBranko Franceschi, also announced their paired curatorial statements under the titles Time Cube andThe Castle, along with the list of the artists invited to participate in the biennial.
Regardless of constructed histories and collective memories, remembering means jumping from one sequence to another. Each reading guides towards a new reality and each reality illuminates a new path to discover curves, waves, missing details, obscured secrets, and disguised opinions. By navigating through sequences of time, Time Cube aims at dwelling in past and future memories by (i) reconstructing narratives; (ii) experiencing diverse realities simultaneously; (iii) connecting the temporal with the spatial; and (iv) processing the evidences of fiction and fact together. Following the same line of thought, The Castle focuses on the unnerving sensation of paranoia, doom and egotism emanating from the inversion of the ancient concept of fortress to the underground haven for the political and military elite of the Cold War era and its contemporary transition into the tourist attraction. The central object of the Biennial is “Facility D-0, Tito’s Atomic War Command” located in Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, this very object still stands as a unique fiction, which is also a pastiche of industrial aesthetics and facts with working engines and ventilators as the backdrop of a historical fact. The bunker simply freezes time and is totally isolated from the outer world. At the same time, the bunker unfolds all the possible tensions, disappointments, dreams, hopes, and miseries of the entire geography.
Participating artists are: Ahmad Hosni (Cairo/Barcelona), Alban Muja (Pristina), Alfredo Pirri (Rome), Apparatus 22 and Studio Basar (Bucharest), Armin Linke (Berlin/Milan), Autopsia (Prague/Novi Sad), Banu Cennetoglu and Yasemin Ozcan (Istanbul), Carl Michael von Hausswolff (Stockholm), Carlo Crovato (London/Berlin), Conor McGraddy (Burren/New York), Cynthia Zaven (Beirut), Danica Dakić (Sarajevo/Weimar), Daniel Garcia Andujar (Barcelona), Dario Solman (Split/New York), Edo Murtic (Zagreb), Emre Erkal (Ankara), Ibro Hasanovic (Brussels/Srebrenica), Janos Sugar (Budapest), Kim Cascone (San Francisco), Laibach (Ljubljana), Luchezar Boyadjiev (Sofia), Miroslaw Balka (Warsaw), Nenad Malešević (Banja Luka/Belgrade), Nemanja Cvijanovic (Rijeka), Renata Poljak (Zagreb/Split), Paul Devens (Maastricht), Sanja Ivekovic (Zagreb), Simona Dumitriu (Bucharest), Stealth (Belgrade/Amsterdam) and Yane Calovski (Skopje).
Project D-0 ARK Underground, stationed in the space of the Atomic shelter in Konjic, 45km south of Sarajevo, is known as Tito’s atomic shelter. The CODE name is Istanbul. The shelter occupies a space of 6.500 square meters and consists of 12 connected blocks. The construction and existence of this bunker was kept secret until the 1990s. The object is still under the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Biennial Directorate wants to protect it and keep it preserved with the help of artists and their artworks.
The first biennial was realized in 2011. The partner countries were the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro, and the selectors were Branislav Dimitrijevic and Petar Cukovic. It was curated by Branislav Dimitrijevic. There were 44 participating artists and most of the artworks are still exhibited at the shelter. The Council of Europe proclaimed this project as a Cultural Event of Europe. The project also has strong support from UNESCO.
Opening: 26 April 2013, 10–18h. Tito’s nuclear bunker, Konjic
Performances and party: 20h, Kriterion, Sarajevo
Presentations and talks: 23–25 April, 16–19.30h
Bosniak Institute Foundation Adil Zulfikarpasic, Sarajevo
Roundtable discussion: 27 April, 16–19.30h
Bosniak Institute Foundation Adil Zulfikarpasic, Sarajevo
Curators: Basak Senova and Branko Franceschi
Curators’ assistant: Irfan Hosic
Project Biennial Director: Edo Hozic
Executive Director: Ninoslav Verber
Coordinator in Chief: Sandra Miljevic Hozic
Project assistant: Jasmin Corbadzic
Public programming: Basak Senova, Didem Yazici, Irfan Hosic
Support: Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ministry for Culture and Sport of Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ministry for Culture and Sport of Canton Sarajevo, Ministry for Culture of Republic of Croatia, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNESCO, City of Konjic.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Sandra Miljevic Hozic, bhbijenale [at] gmail.com
