Life as Such
video
twelve clips of varying duration
2012–2015
The series of video recordings is about the absence of a coherent narrative, pointing to the scenes of the world filmed at different locations and in diverse situations over a period of three years (2012-2015), in Belgrade, Prague, Maribor, Munich, Paris, Ohrid, Berlin, Raška, Rennes, Trieste and other places. They all testify about general state of limbo, about the kind of life that an individual perceives between turning points in history, a life devoid of big decisions, ambiguities or mystifications, devoid of the need to say something truly radical or new until the first sprouts of growing resistance against the exploitatively tailored reality articulate.
Unlike Đurić’s dominant practice of presenting himself as a “theoretical character” in most of his works, this time we see the author and his social framework, the social scene through which he moves. The video works or film recordings, as the artist points out, are edited in units, but individually, they have the flexibility to be shown in different ways. By their structure, some recordings appear to be performative, while others are characterized by documentary-situationist potential. Situations are different, from those intimate, with moguls of gallery and art life at fairs, to proletarian situations, with marginalized artists in Munich, etc. The recordings show the layeredness and the abundance of hidden social comments, which the artist provokes to reveal themselves, provided that the viewer is sufficiently socially, visually and semantically literate.
© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, the October Salon Collection and the artist
Purchase Contract: III-5-380/16.11.2016.
Inventory No. 1449
Photo: stills from the video works
Selected Bibliography:
Uroš Đurić: Život kao takav, Nov. 19 – Dec. 12, 2015, Podroom Gallery, Cultural Centre of Belgrade, text for the solo exhibition, 2015
Uroš Đurić / Život kao takav, Feb. 9, 2016, Supervizuelna – online magazine for contemporary art https://www.supervizuelna.com/uros-duric-zivot-kao-takav-1-deo/
https://www.supervizuelna.com/uros-duric-zivot-kao-takav-2-deo/ (accessed on May. 9, 2020)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Uroš Đurić (1964, Belgrade, Serbia) studied art history at the Faculty of Philosophy (1984–87) and painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, from which he graduated (1992) and received a master’s degree (1998). He has actively exhibited since1989 and presented his work at Jeu de Paume in Paris, Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, Kunsthalle in Vienna, Zaheta Gallery in Warsaw, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Museum of Modern Art in St. Etienne, Secession in Vienna, Katzen Arts Center in Washington, Tecla Sala Cultural Centre in Barcelona, Museum Moderner Kunst Sammlung Ludwig Wien in Vienna… He has collaborated with Harald Szeemann, René Block, Marina Gržinić, Gerald Matt, Lorand Hegyi, Lenka Klodová, Thomas Trummer, Gabi Mackert, Toby Mayer, Yara Bubnova, Thomas Miessgang, Victoria Combalia, Jiři Ševčik, Mika Georgescu, Goranča Đorđijevski, Ivan Mečl… His works are part of the collections of Ludwig Museum in Vienna, Essl in Klosterneuburg, EVN in Maria-Enzersdorf, Antoine de Galbert in Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art, Telenor, Zepter Museum and City Museum in Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, as well as of numerous private collections throughout Europe. Lives and works in Belgrade.