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ALEKSANDAR MAĆAŠEV / BOOK
PRINT / SCREEN / PAINT / SPACE
Going in for The Kill
By Steven Heller
www.hellerbooks.com
i became aware of aleksandar macasev when I was introduced to The Joseph
Goebbels™ project. I was both seduced and appalled. Was this the Dr. Frankenstein
who took the brain of the evil propagandist, Herr Geobbels and joined it to the body
of conceptual satire? In fact, the project was a multimedia attack on the information
and disinformation glut that used the infamous Nazi minister of mind-control and so-
called enlightenment as its poster child. Dredging up the Nazi past is always charged,
but plastering Belgrade’s streets with posters featuring Goebbels was asking for trou-
ble. Macasev, who was graduated from the faculty of architecture, University of
Belgrade, in 1998 and teaches interactive design at the BK Academy of Arts in
Belgrade, understood the issues raised and the responses received. He is no wanton
gag-maker, his work is a marriage of wit and savvy, anger and skepticism.
In a 2006 interview I asked him, “Why didn’t you base your iconic image on Hitler
himself?” “Joseph Goebbels was the media mastermind, not Hitler,” he said about
ultimate opportunist. “He was a left-wing (almost Communist) activist at the begin-
ning. Realizing that he didn’t need a weathervane to tell which way the wind was
blowing, he switched to a much more plausible option: the fascist one. And he was a
totally non-Aryan type: crippled, refused from the army service, black-haired and
brown-eyed. But he had a hypnotizing voice of a messiah–spooky, but fascinating. You
can easily recognize the type in many of today’s politicians and media personas.”
This was the response of someone who has done his homework — who understood
and could manipulate word and image for best advantage. “But,” I asked, “doesn’t this
project run the risk of making a villain into a hero?” “Part of the point is that I can
create a heroic icon out of a villain,” he explained, “by using the power of an iconic
advertising image. You place a convincing huge outdoor image in front of the masses,
presented in the form of a positive campaign, and people are likely to perceive the
image as heroic. But I think the majority of the people who saw the campaign still
perceived him as a villain. My attitude in the whole project was to avoid dichotomies:
villain-hero, truth-lie, good-bad ? I am just offering imagery and a broad statement.
Joseph Goebbels is much more about the Joseph-Goebbels state of media culture and
not about the man himself.”
I have to say, as much as I try to avoid making Nazis the symbol of anything but evil, I
believe Macasev is not just flagrantly playing with matches. His work may have shock
value — indeed it may ignite some fires in the mind (and elsewhere), but his work is an
expression of cynicism and hope. It is the audience’s job to determine which is which.
As an explanation of his motives, Macasev told me: “The power of the media is such
that people often believe what they are told. That’s the power of media. You cannot
see with your own eyes or experience personally every single detail about some news
that you have heard or seen. In theory, you can choose to believe in it or not by using
your common sense. My message is that there is no truth or lie. Everything is just a
story or a message and you can choose to believe in it or accept it. Healthy skepticism
for a healthier life.”
And yet there are dichotomies in Macasev’s work — or at least profound contrasts.
Page after page of this book is peppered with ideas, but an idea alone is nothing with-
out a means of communicating it. On one level, this book is a real beauty, a model of
good design. But that’s the big lie (as Goebbels would say) of Macasev’s strategy. Make
it pretty, seduce the prey, then go in for the kill.
BACANJE NA PLEN
Stiven Heler
www.hellerbooks.com
za aleksandra maćaševa sam saznao kada sam se susreo s njegovim projektom
Joseph Goebbels™. Bio sam istovremeno zaveden i zgrožen. Da li je u pitanju doktor
Frankenštajn koji je uzeo mozak zlog propagandiste her Gebelsa i spojio ga s telom
konceptualne satire? U stvari, taj projekat je predstavljao multimedijalni napad na
(dez)informativnu zagušenost, gde je kao glavni motiv upotrebljen zloglasni nacistički
ministar kontrole uma i tobožnje prosvećenosti. Izvlačenje nacističke prošlosti na
svetlost dana uvek je praćeno nabojem, ali prelepljivanje ulica Beograda posterima s
Gebelsovim likom bilo je znak da neko traži nevolju. Maćašev, koji je završio arhitek-
tonski fakultet u Beogradu 1998. i koji je u to vreme predavao interaktivni dizajn na
Akademiji umetnosti BK, je dobro razumeo pitanja koja je postavio, kao i reakcije koje
su usledile. Ne radi se ni o kakvom razuzdanom šaljivdžiji. Njegov rad čini spoj
domišljatosti i znanja, besa i skepticizma.
U okviru intervjua koji sam s njim obavio 2006. godine upitao sam ga: “Zašto za
svoju ikoničku predstavu nisi odabrao samog Hitlera?” “Jozef Gebels je bio medijski
’mozak operacije’, a ne Hitler”, odgovorio mi je on o ovom ultimativnom oportunisti.
“Na početku je bio levičarski (gotovo komunistički) aktivista. Shvativši odakle vetar
duva, prešao je na stranu koja je delovala kao dobitna — na stranu fašizma. Bio je
totalno nearijevski tip: sakat, nesposoban za vojsku, crnokos i smeđih očiju. Ali imao
je hipnotički glas mesije — sablastan, ali ushićujući. Takve osobine danas možete vrlo
lako prepoznati kod mnogih političara i medijskih ličnosti.”
Bio je to odgovor nekoga ko je dobro uradio domaći zadatak — ko razume slike i reči, i
u stanju je da njima manipuliše tako da dobije pravi rezultat. “Ali”, upitao sam, “ne
postoji li opasnost da se u ovom projektu od zločinca napravi heroj?” “Upravo je to deo
poente, mogućnost da kreiramo heroja od zločinca”, objasnio je, “kroz upotrebu moći
ikoničkih reklamnih slika. Ako postavite veliku i ubedljivu sliku na ulicu pred mase i
predstavite je u formi pozitivne kampanje, velika je verovatnoća da će ljudi da je percip-
iraju kao pozitivnu. Mislim da je većina ljudi u ovoj kampanji ipak videla Gebelsa kao
zločinca. Moja namera u čitavom projektu bila je da izbegnem dihotomije: heroj-
zločinac, istina-laž, dobro-zlo. Ponudio sam sliku i sveobuhvatnu poruku. Joseph
Goebbels™ nije rad o Gebelsu, nego o gebelsovskom stanju medijske kulture.”
Bez obzira na to što naciste ne mogu da vidim kao simbole bilo čega sem čistog zla,
moram priznati da mi se čini da Maćašev nije neko ko se bezočno igra vatrom. Njegov
rad možda poseduje element šoka i zbilja može da zapali poneku vatru u glavama
(kao i na drugim mestima), ali je njegov rad istovremeno izraz cinizma i nade. Na
publici je da odluči za šta je šta.
Da bi objasnio svoje motive, Maćašev mi je rekao: “Moć medija je takva da ljudi često
veruju u ono što im je rečeno. Jednostavno, ne možete lično iskusiti ili se sopstvenim
očima uveriti u svaki detalj vezan za vest koju ste čuli ili videli. U teoriji, na osnovu
zdravog razuma birate da li ćete u neku informaciju verovati ili ne. Moja poruka je da
ne postoje ni laž ni istina. Sve je samo priča ili poruka u koju ćete verovati ili ne.
Zdravi skepticizam za zdraviji život.”
Pa ipak, u radu Aleksandra Maćaševa ima dihotomija, ili bar dubokih kontrasta.
Stranice ove knjige su bogate idejama, ali ideje ne bi bile ništa bez sredstava kojima se
komuniciraju. Na jednom nivou, ova knjiga je prava lepotica i uzor je dobrog dizajna.
Međutim, lepo je, po Maćaševu, samo gebelsovska Velika Laž. Učini nešto lepim,
namami plen i baci se na njega.
print
Art / Umetnost
Interior Graphics / Enterijerska grafika
Promotional Material / Promotivni materijal
Illustration / Ilustracija
Type Sketches / Tipografske skice
Identity / Identitet
Ads / Oglasi
Apparel / Odeća
Europa, illustration, 2008 / Europa, ilustracija, 2008.
europe by designers exhibition / izložba europe by designers
—
20 / 21 | PRINT : Art / Umetnost
Family Portraits, personal project, 2006 / Family Portraits, lični projekat, 2006.
—
22 / 23 | PRINT : Art / Umetnost
Human After All v.2.00, installation, 2007 / Human After All v.2.00, instalacija, 2007.
printed whiteboard screen / štampani whiteboard paravan.
—
24 | PRINT : Art / Umetnost
Human After All, wallpaper installation, 2005 / Human After All, tapet instalacija, 2005.
—
25 | PRINT : Art / Umetnost
Joseph Goebbels™, poster no.2, 2005 /
Joseph Goebbels™, plakat broj 2, 2005.
2010, illustration, Kvart magazine, 2009 / 2010, ilustracija, Kvart magazin, 2009.
Accept and Proceed, illustration, 2007 / Accept and Proceed, ilustracija, 2007.
—
73 | PRINT : Illustration / Ilustracija
Vintage socialist signs, 2010 / Soc-realističke firme, 2010.
—
74 | PRINT : Type Sketches / Tipografske skice
Presentation slide, 2009 / Slajd iz prezentacije, 2009.
Personal tag cloud, 2009 / Lični tag cloud, 2009.
2009: points of interest/influence tag cloud, 2009 /
Tag cloud objekata interesa/uticaja za 2009. godinu, 2009.
—
75 | PRINT : Type Sketches / Tipografske skice
Moleskine sketches, 2008–2010 / Moleskine skice, 2008–2010.
—
76 / 77 | PRINT : Type Sketches / Tipografske skice
Non-Hollywood movies, illustration, Huper magazine, 2008 /
Neholivudski filmovi, ilustracija, Huper magazin, 2008.
—
78 / 79 | PRINT : Illustration / Ilustracija
QUEERIA CENTER
Atelier Varan /
Varan filmska škola
Joseph Goebbels™
Cinemania
Logos, 2004–2010 /
Logotipi, 2004–2010.
—
80 / 81 | PRINT : Identity / Identitet
BOOKA
SUPERSTE
Mikser
BizArt 07
Light Point
Swatch, 2002 / Swatch, 2002.
—
82 | PRINT : Ads / Oglasi
tu re
ment picwhe re
new mo m
create ob jects and pl ace the
som e
ag pl ay
jus t dr can also
t ! you
you wan
mus ic!
ADz, web site with spoof commercials, 2002 /
ADz, veb sajt sa reklamnim parodijama, 2002.
—
124 / 125 | Screen : Web Art / Veb umetnost
paint
Consuming Images / Potrošnja slika
series of paintings, tempera on cardboard, 2000 /
serija slika, tempera na kartonu, 2000.
Motel / Motel
—
128 | PAINT
Star / Zvezda
—
129 | PAINT
Zoomin'
Rumour
Hunger
—
132 / 133 | PAINT
Basil's Tryptich, oil on cardboard, 1997 /
Vasilijev triptih, ulje na kartonu, 1997.
—
134 / 135 | PAINT
Body / Telo
series of paintings and drawings, mixed media, 1995 /
serija slika i crteža, mixed media, 1995.
—
136 / 137 / 138 / 139 / 140 / 141 | PAINT
space
Spatial Re-semiosis, spatial interventions, 1997 /
Prostorna resemantizacija, prostorne intervencije, 1997.
www.macasev.com
thanks / Hvala:
ana adamović maja m marinković
belef centar vladimir melentijević
andrea brbaklić milica pekić
sanja bunjevački jasna rackov
svetlana ćopić ladislav raičević
slađana danojević saša reljić
mia david tatjana ristić
andrej dolinka sava ristović
tatjana drapšin dragan sakan
stephen gee ivan savić
ksenija graovac slaviša savić
steven heller gordana stanišić
mirko ilić zorica stojkov
marko jobst jelena stojković
jennifer kabat zoran subotički
damir krkobabić anica tucakov
ana krstić tukan print
vesna kukić ivana veljković
maja lalić borut vild
special thanks /
posebno se zahvaljujem:
rajko i milka maćašev
nada mrdalj
Publisher / Izdavač:
Mikser Books, Beograd / Belgrade
Editor / Urednik:
Aleksandar Maćašev
Photos / Fotografije:
page / strana 24: Andreja Leko
25/3: Vesna Perić
39: Andreja Leko
44: Marko Obradović
46–47: Mirko Ilić's photo archive / foto arhiva Mirka Ilića
57: Mirko Ilić's photo archive / foto arhiva Mirka Ilića
88: Ana Kostić
99/2: Dragan Mileusnić
138–141: Dragan Radaković
144–149: Branislav Milovanov
150: Tijana Bulatović
157/1: Ana Adamović
159/4: OK Magazine photo archive / foto arhiva magazina OK
Printed by / Štampa:
Standard 2, Beograd / Belgrade, 2010
ISBN 978-86-84537-01-2
CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији
Народна библиотека Србије, Београд
766:659.133.1(497.11)”20”(083.82)
7.071.1:929 Маћашев А.(083.82)
ISBN 978-86-84537-01-2