Aleksandra Domanović – Turbo Sculpture

SPACE

1 Jun – 15 Jul 2012

'The political and economic turmoil of the early 1990s Yugoslavia rendered the society compliant enough for the concept of ‘turbo culture’ to gain momentum. With all its exaggerations, inordinateness and random amalgamations of both local and global ornamentation, turbo eventually became a prefix for social and media phenomena of the war and post-war period. As a result terms such as turbo politics, turbo television, turbo architecture and turbo urbanism developed…'

- excerpt from Turbo Sculpture, Aleksandra Domanović, 2011

‘Turbo sculpture’ refers to the depiction of popular non-national media celebrities in public sculpture projects across the former Yugoslavian nations. In recent years turbo sculpture monuments of Bruce Lee (Mostar, 2005), Rocky Balboa (Žitište, 2007), Johnny Weissmuller / Tarzan (Međa, 2007), Bob Marley (Banatski Sokolac, 2007) and Tupac Shakur (Belgrade, forthcoming) have been unveiled. 

It is commonly argued that the rejection of the traditional regional/political context of civic monuments (leading to the turbo sculpture age) is a condition of the post-traumatic recalibration of identity and ideology that occurred following the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. 

The story of turbo sculpture, as well as turbo culture, is outlined in a new edit of Domanović' original video essay on the subject. This will be displayed as part of an installation that will also include works by Michael Blum and Paolo Chiasera. 

Aleksandra Domanović (born 1981, Novi Sad, Former Yugoslavia) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include From yu to me, Kunsthalle Basel (2012), 19:30, Galerija 001, Ljubljana (2011). Group shows include 1st Kiev Biennale, Kiev (2012), Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech (2012) and In Practice, SculptureCentre, New York (2010).

Watch the full film here