Black Box Project

Important aspect of our project is about nomadic aspect of art and addresses
questions of mobility. With restriction that we have with our national identity,
we are making project that would give us possibilities and opportunities to
travel and communicate with other countries and communities. We
developed the form of wall drawing, as a kind of statement or manifesto, the
act of art which collects the inputs from media and communication with
people. We see ourselves as citizens of the world who use their artistic
approach to share experiences beyond all boundaries. Our intention it to
create art that doesn’t require any storage, or moving objects from one place
to another, or any complicated preparation or materials, but rather we just
document process and work itself.

In science, a black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed in

terms of its input, output and transfer characteristics without any knowledge of
its internal workings. The human brain can be used as an example of a black
box.
 
The Black Box Project is the junction of two artists, Damjanović and Žikić,
each from their own intimate starting point, re-contextualizing images,
subjectively.
 
As artists, they each give a new context to existing, recognizable images that
are easily available and present in contemporary media as well as from a
historical context. In a visually dominant culture, there is no general meaning,
only a subjective viewpoint that the artist perceives as a personal or social
phenomenon in an associative way. The focus of these artistic poetics is
social/personal goals, fears, ambitions, dreams, psychological phenomena,
historical, and religious layers as both content and motive. Damjanović draws
inspiration from the perspective of contemporary icons and media and Žikić
relates and appropriates historical imagery.
 
Damjanović’s images include unusual representations of violence and
distortion. Collective and individual psychological layers and conditions,
prejudice and modern myths and the context of everyday perception, as
representations of our constant and fragmentary experience through modern
media, are the main themes in Damjanović’s work; he deals with the dark side
of humanity.
 
Žikić explores the ancient and symbolic traces of human experience and
infuses it into a modern context. Žikić creates pictures of existing images of
myths and legends, shamanic symbols and archetypal images through a
direct intuitive approach and interpretation of visual patterns. Eclectic mixes
and visual hybrids of ancient and modern images, define a subjective view of
the world, which expresses a personal symbolic language, values, and frame
of reference in her drawings. The world, and what is worthwhile in it, used as
landmarks of moral and practical guidance for coping becomes not just a
rational and conscious message, but a set of contents encoded in images that
resemble mythological scenes.

As a direct means of expression, drawing becomes a dialogue between the

different perspectives illuminated by Damjanović and Žikić. Through the use of
contemporary imagery, using a critical eye, Damjanović’s re-contextualization
becomes the new iconic imagery of society through the exploration of images
in relation to one another. Žikić with intuitive inspiration brings impulsivity to
expression, allowing ancient imagery to resurface and become new through
the shamanistic experience of the contemporary artist in the act of creation. 
Black Box is the convergence of these two poetics, one that goes from the
inside out and the other goes from the outside to the inside; these are
drawings that reveal a relationship in context that is surprising and meaningful.
 
The project will be an installation in space, which will adapt to different
environments and thus, there are different possible outcomes.  Some of the
possible outcomes are:
 
1. There will be several boxes, which a person can physically enter into as the
viewer, creating an immediate metaphoric context. The dimensions of each
object are approx. 1x1x2 meters. These boxes are made of plasterboard
(wallboard) - the outside is white and the inside is black. There will be
charcoal and white crayon drawings with images chosen in relation to the
space, from a set of reference drawings used in the form of templates.  These
drawings will be on both the outside and the inside of these boxes. You will
find some of these reference images in the depictions of past projects at this
link http://blackbprojects.wix.com/blackbox#!remont-gallery/c1s65
 
 
Specifically:
 
Inside the box, on a black background, Žikić will make drawings created in
white crayon. On the outside walls, which are white, Damjanović will draw
images with charcoal. The symbolism of dark and light, internal and external,
is representative of the two different starting points of these two artists. On the
inside, Žikić creates drawings of the repressed world of mythological scenes,
preserved in the subconscious minds of humanity, reminiscent of a world that
is constantly trying to de-mythologize reality. On the outside the viewer sees
drawn depictions from contemporary media, modified by the subjective filter of
Damjanović.
 
In combination with the boxes the walls will have large drawings done in
charcoal and white crayon along with drawings on paper, depending on the
interaction in each environment.
 
The drawings become an artistic intervention into the space with each new
exhibition in this series transforming/morphing into something completely new.
The interaction of the artists with the space and with the work they each
create in each exhibition becomes a dramatic and rapidly evolving artistic and
cultural critique challenging the viewer on multiple levels.
 
Or
 
2. Public interaction with the artists is another possible outcome. The images
then would come from the interaction of the artist and the public in a local
environment according to what is important to a local community (locally
validated phenomena, myths and legends, the close or remote history
or direct events, important people, symbols and archeological layers). This
interactive process would be documented and would include interviews with
local participants. Artist would make small drawings that would be later used
for big mural piece.

Budget

1. Materials that we use are not expensive, as charcoal, chalk , black wall
paint, and plasterboards. Approximately for all materials depending on space
or how many objects are included, fees vary between 200-400 euros.

2. Airplane tickets for 2 artists approximately 250 x2= 500 euros

3. Accommodation during Biennial, approximately 20 euros per day x 2 artists