You’ll Remember Me
installation – drawings, acrylic panels (print on PVC foil), sound (mp3 file, DVD carrier)
various dimensions (5 pcs); 90 cm x 190 cm (4 pcs); 91’
2013–2016
With the installation You’ll Remember Me, which consists of subtle drawings, transparent foils, sound and some of her intimate notes, the author wants to give physical form / make visible what most often eludes us, because it leaves no physical trace: full force of psychological violence in partnerships. Visually, the work is a composition of drawings and acrylic panels (Plexiglas) showing female figures in motion, cut out from the photo documentation of the dance performances I Dance Dance Dance. The figures are carefully chosen so as not to indicate dance moves and arranged so that it is not clear whether they are defending, attacking, confiding in each other, dance together or each on their own.
The work was exhibited at the 54th October Salon.
Each figure (transparent PVC foil lined on acrylic panel) is covered with text in fine print – excerpts from the so-called “diary of insults” – the sentences written by the artist during her traumatic personal experience or, rarely, heard on the street or in public transport (one figure – one sentence, infinitely multiplied). Taken out of the context, they are banal, ambiguous or witty (“you made it up nicely”, “you think if you’ve married you are secure”, “you will remember me”, “be grateful to be with me”…).
Acrylic panels can lean against the wall (giving the impression that the text is on the wall) or placed (hanging) in the space, in several planes, making the composition more complex.
The figures in the drawings are also created using templates from dance photographs. They are covered with stamp imprints – words: I want, I grow, I wish, I dance, I can, I blossom – with the idea to empower and encourage the women who recognize themselves to leave their violent partners. Tempera and acrylic paint were used instead of stamping ink, and the contours were drawn in various pencils or markers. Self-adhesive transparent foils were also used, glued directly to paper or to the inside surface of the glass, in the process of framing.
Sound is an important part of the setting: at rare intervals, every 15 minutes, the author announces herself by uttering one of the sentences from the “diary of insults”, but only those few that directly insult, humiliate and threaten the integrity of the addressed person (“you incapable shit”, “you disgust me”, “I shit on your dignity”, “your tits are nothing”, “whore”…). The sentences are spoken word for word, with no expression, inconsistent with the meaning, so they sound vague, like a language course or a talk machine. The role of the sound is to inform the visitors about the seriousness of the topic, to help them see the whole composition, apparently gentle and bright, from another angle.
© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, October Salon Collection and the artist
Purchase Contract: III-5-386/16.11.2016.
Inventory No. 1451
Photo: installation view 54th October Salon, Ana Kostić
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ivana Smiljanić (1980, Belgrade, Serbia) graduated (in 2005) and received her master’s degree (in 2009) from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. As a scholarship recipient of KulturContact (Vienna) and SSA (Salzburg), she attended video and performance classes at the Salzburg Summer Academy of Fine Arts in 000 and 2002. She completed Women’s Studies Programme at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Belgrade (2012/13). Using different media and resources of her own body, she deals with re-creating / re-interpreting of the experiences / phenomena / problems she encounters as a woman, artist and citizen. She has had solo exhibitions and performances in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pančevo, Prijepolje, Smederevo, Vranje, Zagreb, Osijek, Pula, Ljubljana, Bratislava, Brussels, Bergen and New York, participated in the 49th and 54th October Salons, and in more than sixty group exhibitions in the country and abroad. She won Henkel Art Award for Serbia in 2011 and Dimitrije Bašičević Mangelos Award in 2009, which included her involvement in the International Studios & Curatorial Program in New York. Her works are part of the Telenor Collection. More information at www.ivanasmiljanic.com