Jasmina Cibic: SPIELRAUM
(September 2018)


Spielraum presents comprehensive documentation of a three-part film and exhibition project that Cibic developed in cooperation with the Ludwig Museum, Budapest; the International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade.

Cibic is known for her investigation of how art and architecture are utilised as soft power strategies in the enterprise of nation building. Her works often gather and restage found materials that are in some way infused by the spectre of political ideology but that have, over time, changed in their performative function as enforcers of state identity.

The title of the project is drawn from an essay by Karl Kraus, in which he vehemently opposes the use of decoration in both language and architecture. In this multidisciplinary work, Cibic takes Kraus’s concept of 'Spielraum' as a lens through which to examine strategies of nation building by political figures and establishments via the use of linguistic and visual decoration, with particular focus on the first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, in 1961.

This title includes commissioned curatorial texts by Anna Gritz, Rona Kopeczky, Una Popovic, Dubravka Sekulic, Jelena Vesic, Alessandro Vincentelli, Giovanna Zapperi and WHW.

The book is published in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, and Esker Foundation, Calgary.


Published by Distanz, Berlin

Format: 28 × 23 cm
Pages: 352
Language: English
Contributors: Anna Gritz, Rona Kopeczky, Alessandro Vincentelli, Giovanna Zapperi, WHW
ISBN: 978-3-95476-254-5
Order at: www.distanz.de