MILAN BOŽIĆ
THE BIGGEST: ANTONIO GOTOVAC LAUER
Bačva Gallery, Home of HDLU
June 18– June 28, 2020

Exhibition THE BIGGEST: ANTONIO GOTOVAC LAUER, by MILAN BOŽIĆ, will be opened in front of the Home of HDLU, on Thursday, June 18 at 7 pm at the Bačva Gallery (Home of HDLU).

The exhibition opening will be accompanied by artist’s performance.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The Biggest

With this project I want to draw attention to the importance of culture valuation, the culture of remembrance as well as the culture of nurturing and protection, both tangible and intangible cultural heritage and valuation of those who have, with their opus, enriched domestic and world cultural heritage. I want to pay tribute to all those who have used disobedience, as a means of exposing the intellectual laziness and sluggishness of individuals and the masses, seduced by supposedly important and sublime ideas and ideologies, which serve to protect the ridiculous and deceitful current regimes. Gotovac created, as a member of the BLACK WAVE in former Yugoslav cinematography – an intellectual and critical artistic current, which was condemned by the communist authorities because it ridiculed the ugliness of the government and propagandistic, in most cases partisan, films. With their attitude and artistic work, the participants of the BLACK WAVE came to the disfavor of the government, experiencing censorship, persecution, the ban on activities, court and prison punishments. By their example, they showed how an individual, in this case an artist, should behave and how to deal with the image that the society in certain conditions forms about the disloyal individual, trying to silence him, without choosing the means. With this project, I want to draw attention to how everyone should, with their work and life, be themselves. How they must follow moral and ethical principles, regardless of possible threats of material or existential nature. I want to motivate artists and consumers of art to work honestly and seriously in culture and art on the path of building and developing a culture that is in line with world cultural trends and which, at certain times, precedes these same world trends.

With this project, I follow the path of BLACK WAVE members who, contrary to the prevailing ideology and propaganda activities of state artists and cultural workers, devised a critical artistic direction, which portrayed real life and the hidden dark face of life in the “socialist paradise”. As a volunteer, officer, and disabled war veteran, I fought against the same opponent as the members of BLACK WAVE.

With the end of the Croatian War of Independence and the defense of the Republic of Croatia, I replace war weapons with artistic means and thus prove that artists are warriors in one way and those true warriors can be artists.

To me as an individual, as a person, my body and my mind are a unique and inseparable whole and together they equally form a tool by which I realize myself while at the same time realizing space, time, history and social, economic, religious and all other circumstances, situations, and spiritual movements in which I currently exist. What is especially similar to LAUER and me is the realization… that the naked body in the public space of my city is blasphemy, insulting the petty bourgeoisie, so, exposing myself, I publicly take off the false conformist masks of hesitants who, by living their lives, actually lie, hide from their reality, who are afraid to publicly express opinions and views, and try to, in every single way, avoid any change done by their own actions.
My goal is not just to realize a project, or to create a work of art. What is important to me is the course and process of making a work of art, each phase through which a thought or idea passes. That is, the path – the thought – the idea – the process of work – a finished work of art.

Milan Božić, 2019

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Milan Božić was born in 1958 in Zagreb. From 1973 to 1978 he was a member of the Folklore Group – KUD Adria. He finished the School of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering in 1978 and enrolled Faculty of electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. In 1982 he got a job at the Sintal factory (sinter metals-hard metals). From 1986 to 1991 he was a member of the Aero Club Zagreb (sport pilot/air sailing). 1991-1995 he was a volunteer in the Croatian War of Independence. In 1993 he passed the first officer’s course, and in 1994 the second officer’s course. From 1994-1996 he attended the HVU Petar Zrinski officer school. In 1995 he worked as a teacher and commander of teaching groups (company – battalion) at the HVU, (FPZ study). From 1999-2010 he was an active HV officer in the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia. He is a disabled war veteran (first wounded in the Karlovac battlefield on November 21, 1991). Since 1999 he has been performing together with Vlasta Delimar and independently. He does videos, film, photography, and performance.

Organizer:

Supported by:

WORKING HOURS:

Wednesday – Friday: 11am – 7pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 6pm

Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays: closed.

The exhibition will remain open until June 28, 2020

*Remark*

At the entrance to the Gallery there is a bottle with a disinfectant for visitors, which are obliged to disinfect their hands when entering the Gallery.
The security guard at the entrance to the Gallery will have a protective mask and gloves and control the number of visitors.
Visitors are required to maintain a distance of 2 meters.
Touching the exhibits is not allowed.
Doorknobs and any other surfaces that are frequently touched by visitors will be regularly disinfected.