The project “... What is art? ...” takes a fresh stance at Raša Todosijevic’s 1978 performance series of the same name.

The exhibition examines how the unanswered element of that existential question repeated to the point of exhaustion around 35 years ago argues the case for an activation of the artist’s role in art discourse against the background of the massively changed territorial and cultural relationships in South-East Europe.

The catalogue uses photos by Markus Krottendorfer to document the exhibition in the Graz Halle für Kunst und Medien. Additional essays by Suzana Milevska, Marina Gržinic and Antonia Majaca offer art-historical retrospectives of erstwhile outstanding Southern European contributions such as the Slovenian artists’ movement OHO. The interlinking of forms of art and ways of life on a transnational, collective basis along the lines of IRWIN is also positioned in relation to practices in the formersocialist Yugoslavia. Another point of focus are the challenges faced by the current art scene in Eastern Europe’s post-communist states as they undergo political transition.

Language: English / German