Texts

THE ASPECTS OF MINIMALISM IN THE ART OF THE NINETIES: MIRJANA ĐORĐEVIĆ AND IVAN ILIĆ

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The paper focuses on mapping out the elements of historical Minimalism on the art scene in Serbia during the nineties. Modular structures, repeated units, serial syntax, reductive, primary and/or geometric forms, were all present in the art of Serbia (and Yugoslavia) during the sixties and the seventies, although more systematic reference to historical Minimalism and its formal and conceptual aspects will be featured in some art practices during the nineties. Artistic practice of Belgrade artists Mirjana Đorđević and Ivan Ilić (who spent some time at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with the professor Klaus Rinke and Jannis Kounellis, respectively) in the late eighties and during the nineties served as study cases in this research of the nature and meaning of the aspects of Minimalism in the art of the last decade of the 20th century. Therefore the paper investigates whether the formal codes of Minimal art presented in their artworks from that period have been the outcome of some kind of critical reception as was the most common case in the worldwide art productions during this decade, or they have been related to contemporary visual culture that inclined to reductive and minimal ‘look’ and aesthetics. Ilić and Đorđević certainly were not the only artists in Serbia who, under the influence of the ‘cool’ and hi tech industrial design, adopted the essential minimalist lexicon, but they have been very consistent in pursuing and developing in different ways. Their art practices were beyond question in terms of historical Minimalism. as much as the Minimalist aesthetics fashioned the visual horizon of the nineties and as much as the new technology and the possibilities based on logical structures and algorithms produced series, difference, subjects, objects, representations and reality and by the Minimalist model became desirable and included into process of making art. In the worldwide art of the nineties the artists have adapted the forms of historical Minimalism for their own use: the cold, precise, calculated, reserved Minimalist aesthetics was replaced by relational aesthetics, i. e. by interactive human relations and social exchange de facto following the processes of establishing the postindustrial society. In the circumstances of different kind of transition or more precise double transition: from Socialism to Capitalism and from industrial to postindustrial, post-Minimalism reflects the transition desire created and modelled by commodification and ideology of choice.

MINIMALISM AS AN EXPRESSION OF VISUAL IDENTITY ON THE SEPHARDIC TOMBSTONES AT THE BELGRADE JEWISH CEMETERY

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Sephardic tombstones at the Belgrade Jewish Cemetery provide a significant topic in studying the visual identity of the Jewish community in Serbia. Being symbols of the cultural history of a nation, they are also evidence of a style which became typical of the Sephardic Jews in the entire Balkans in the 18th and the 19th century. With their simplicity and minimalistic monumentality, they induced a certain contemplativeness in the observer, and their refined form inspired those who studied the funerary art to analyse their style which was created as a blend of ’traditions’ of two nations. Here, we will try to connect this style of funerary art with the philosophical minimalism, which in case of the Jewish people occurred due to many historical and social circumstances. Not wishing to overrule the philosophical grounds on which this art school was born in the 1960s, the paper rather aims to recognize its first beginnings in the cult tombstone art, which in time gained on historical and religious value which the newly started art school excluded from its symbolism. If we place these types of tombstones into Einstein’s relative time and space from which they emanate a different energy, then we can evoke the motto of the minimalistic art forms – The Less is More – where a deliberate absence of objectivity speaks louder than the objects themselves. 

MINIMALISM IN THE SHORT STORIES OF ANN BEATTIE: LIKE GLASS

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This paper analyses characteristics of minimalism – the narrative poetics that appeared in America in 1980s – on the example of short stories by Ann Beattie in general, and specifically her short story Like Glass. Analysis leads to the conclusion that the main features of the Beattie’s narrative coincide with the typical characteristics of minimalism: first of all simplicity in sentence structure, sparseness of motifs and vocabulary, small number of characters and absence of classical elements of narration like the plot or description, which give way to discovery of visual content i.e. to the visualisation of the narrative as a characteristic technique of Ann Beattie, giving her story such a typical non-linear structure.

STRATEGIES OF FILM MINIMALISM AND THE TRANSCENDENТAL IN THE SCIENCE FICTION FILM ARRIVAL BY DENIS VILLENEUVE

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Science fiction as a film genre often employs strategies of minimalism – through elements such as narrative structure, shots, camera angles, camera movement, composition, lighting, colour, costume, set design and sound narration. The minimalistic technique manifests transcendental style – the way Paul Schrader uses this term in his study Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (although it doesn’t cover this genre). This technique involves the principle of reduction in all possible forms, as well as repetition, abandoning decorative details and expressive techniques, conveying the film narrative to a stasis – a point where sparse means collide. Ontological query posed by SF dramas such as Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tarkovsky’s Solaris, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, where suspense derives from human contact with the Universe and from transcendence of earthly existence, also frames the film narrative Arrival directed by a Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. Consistently executing minimalistic strategies, Villeneuve guides his female protagonist through contact with extra-terrestrial beings into the sphere of transcendental experience. This paper interprets those strategies in a film medium which follow minimalistic practices of painters and visual artists (Frank Stella, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and similar) as well as techniques of music minimalism through sound design and original soundtrack. The protagonist’s contact with heptapods (extra-terrestrials with seven limbs) not only results in deciphering their written language but in her own epiphany: going through transcendental experience she is given a gift of foreseeing her future and making life changing decisions.