From Futurism to Degrowth and Social to Multispecies Justice
Artupunktura: October 12–November 13, 2023, different parts of the city. Opening: October 12, 6pm, Ilica 1 (Tomislav Gotovac Passage), Zagreb.
Artupunktura, now in its third edition, continues its mission of bringing art into public spaces, communities and various aspects of natural, urban and cultural ecosystems in Zagreb during October and November 2023. Artupunktura serves as a discursive art platform for new visions and practices, fostering relationships, thoughts, research, experiments and social processes at community level as well as the global scale.
This annual event explores the complex relationship between socio-political contexts and art, addressing the discontinuity in new visions as well as the ways natural ecosystems have been (mis)understood over the past 200 years. Functioning as a local ecosystem, Zagreb reflects global issues within its communities, stimulating the development of new visions and artistic tendencies, actions and activism that have shaped the city over the last century and up until today.
In the last 70 years, the streets of Zagreb have given rise to globally significant actions, conceptual art, interventions and performances. What also emerged in recent decades are engaged social practices as well as community art that has involved and included citizens of Zagreb in large numbers. In addition, Zagreb has been host to different art projects that actively advocate ecological and natural processes.
Mapping in this context involves exploring various issues related to past and present visions of artistic projects in Zagreb and the world. They span the historical avantgarde, socialist modernism, new tendencies and all the way to new art practices. These include visual and performative experiments, body memory and activism, as well as new research on ecofuturism and speculative futures. In this way, Artupunktura decodes the politics of memory and sparks conversation essential to living and breathing on Earth today. It offers new variables on addressing social, gender and class issues that are important for moving on from status quo, from decolonial, feminist and ecological movements to cultural diversity.
New visions encompass a wide range of emerging themes, issues and consequences, and calls attention to their global impact on artistic and socio-political contexts. Natural and human habitats are being endangered during this serious climate and ecological crisis. It’s a new paradigm, where conventional futuristic concepts don’t apply. As a result, projects showcased as part of Artupunktura include radical imaginations, cosmophonic performance, diverse intelligences, subversive practices, economic degrowth and multispecies justice.
City ecosystems refer to exploring nature in an urban context and understanding the lives of communities, which need fresh perspectives and culture that is accessible to all as a human right. Projects participating in Artupunktura show that neighborhoods can have cultural infrastructure that provides care, inclusiveness and hospitality. These art initiatives demonstrate that communities involve all life on Earth, beyond just human coexistence.
This year, Artupunktura serves as a meeting place for numerous projects led by various institutions, organizations and collectives, involving numerous artists and a multitude of artistic entities at different locations in all parts of Zagreb, in various communities and in nature. It also features an extensive public program of community activations, public forums, workshops, screenings and conversations throughout the event.
Artupunktura reimagines Zagreb as a consistently engaged point on the world map, serving as a global and local meeting ground. It provides a platform for discursive tendencies and experimental art practices with new unexpected impacts.
The Artupunktura project was initiated and created by Martina Bienenfeld, the Director of the Zagreb Tourist Board, and Tomislav Kličko, the founder of Lauba—House for People and Art. This year’s Artistic Director is Aleksandar Battista Ilić, an artist and co-founder of community art initiatives in Zagreb.
