collection-artist

Here’s the thing about the work Holy Fathers, I will now briefly tell you what I remember about making it. Let’s say that it was made under the influence of fresco painting and the idea that elongated figures symbolize spirituality. I achieved this by placing one figure on top of another. I placed the woman on the table, the old woman on the stairs or the young man who climbed on the old man’s head, and I supported them all with sticks, which are there so that they do not fall. In the compositions in churches, the Holy Fathers are all male; here, it is half-and-half.
Aleksandar Jestrović Jamesdin

© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, the October Salon Collection and the artist
Gift Contract: III-5-287/1/22.9.2014.
Inventory No. 1345
Photo: Courtesy of the artist

I don’t know any longer where to and how I’ve managed to drag all these works, for if it’s not Požega or Smederevo, you always need some kind of permit or other. And now that I live across the border, it’s even more of a hassle, I’ve been debating with these retards of ours on the border crossing whether it’s an oil on canvas or an acrylic painting, and whether it’s finished or just started; they are the very same Bosnian Comancheros from the Kelebija crossing who wanted to send me back to Bosnia on a truck in ‘95, for I was born in Zagreb. It was even worse with those Hungarian nationalists – I was only centimetres away from a rectal examination. I somehow managed to convince those idiots on the Croatian border that I’m one of them and that I have a studio in the Croatian Zagorje region, the stress of it all cost my curator, who was driving me then, a bout of diarrhoea. I guess I’d better not even mention those poor wretches on the Slovenian border, who are trying to practise Austro-Hungarian strictness… And when, after all that jerking off, you don’t even come to see the exhibition, well, I feel like committing suicide.
Aleksandar Jestrović Jamesdin

© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, the October Salon Collection and the artist
Purchase Contract: III-5-476/1/15.12.2014.
Inventory No. 1380
Photo: still from the video work, Milan Kralj, installation view 53^rd October Salon, Ana Kostić

The work is inspired by the fear of disease, which, along with the fear of war, is still widely present here, as in other Third World countries. I came to that conclusion when I talked to a friend who is my age and with the same education, who dropped art and is engaged in video production. He confided in me that he came up with the concept of the show in which he would deal with the most common health problems of our generation (early thirties), because in communication with friends he noticed that everyone has them, that is, that no one is healthy here.
Aleksandar Jestrović Jamesdin

© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, the October Salon Collection and the artist
Gift Contract: III-5-37/5.12.2020.
Inventory No.
Photo: Milan Kralj

The rules of good manners found in books of etiquette – claim that they help people understand each other and facilitate their mutual communication, thus enabling us to engage socially with greater ease and self-confidence. We learn these rules from birth, which is the only way to completely internalize them. The film deals with customs of eating and drinking – specifically with the lunch situation, as eating together is the central place for showing others our refinement and civilized manners.

Be careful not to get into an awkward situation and lose the reputation of an honest and upright person due to a small intentional or unintentional breach, because you must not forget that, abroad, our people will often be judged based on your behaviour.

Grabovac-Knor, Bonton, Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1972

© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, October Salon Collection and the artist
Gift Contract III-5-16/23.01.2018.
Inventory No. 110
Photo: still from the video work

Mexico City
2 teams
us and them
playing
51 min
1:0

Distributive attention has a handful of various forms in which it is shown during play. There is often a tendency for players not to be able to divert their attention from place they are looking at. Their attention is focused on only one object. The ability to change attention faster is a big weapon in game tactics. For the accuracy of the kick, the dimensions of the goal can be drawn on the wall and then divided into squares, and each square is marked with an ordinal number. On this wall, all kinds of kicks are practiced. The wall is very economical, because the player does not waste time while learning, which speeds up the automation of the striking technique.
Knežević, Priručnik za treniranje nogometa, Mala športska biblioteka, Zagreb, 1954

© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, October Salon Collection and the artist
Gift Contract III-5-16/23.01.2018.
Inventory No. 111
Photo: still from the video work