OUTLINE | an attempt to map Sarajevo

We studied together at the Utrecht School of the Arts. The curriculum included an interdisciplinary project, but we didn't feel like taking part in the programme offered. The connection between us arose partly through this dissatisfaction.

When we exchanged our first plans in the summer of 2017, we didn't really know what we were getting into. This leap of faith has become a guiding principle in our way of working; being flexible and letting yourself be led by what you encounter.

Within our platform we radically opt for dialogue and multi-voicedness.

The work we were going to make had to be a meeting and an experience. Within our platform we radically choose for dialogue and polyphony. In a time that is characterized by individualism and a strong lack of nuance you can call that a statement, but a statement that you can talk about. The four of us form the basis as project initiators, but everyone who participates is a temporary part of the collective, adjusting the form of OUTLINE and stretching its boundaries.

Publication OUTLINE#1

One of the first conversations we had in Sarajevo was about experience versus analysis. Our then unknown interlocutor -and now our friend- told us an anecdote about an exchange of letters between the philosopher Slavoj Žižek and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, prominent member of Pussy Riot, when the latter was imprisoned as a political prisoner. In the correspondence between the two, Žižek realizes that his theoretical analysis, which he tried to apply to Tolokonnikova's plight in his writing, is worth nothing:

"...I feel guilty writing this: who am I to explode into such narcissistic theoretical outbursts when you are exposed to very real deprivations?"

One question we were asked, and have since asked ourselves many times, was "what are you doing here, and what do you have to offer us?" That simple and direct question set the rest of our stay on edge. This self-reflection was simultaneously a reflection on the phenomenon of the artist residency. Travelling and discovering strange places has become an indispensable part of an artist's self-development. However, this can also have a predatory quality; a search for nourishment on someone else's soil. We therefore found it important to continuously question ourselves and our position; why are we moving through this city, what stories can we tell, and what do we have to offer

The recent history of Sarajevo is turbulent and has many horrors. But we didn't want to focus on these stories, they are not ours. Some of the people we met were afraid that we would subjectify the city, that we would spend a week photographing the bullet holes in the walls and the ruins that were never rebuilt and, back in the Netherlands, exhibit them in a white cube for a Western audience, without reciprocity. We wanted to avoid this at all costs.

We thought it would be good to take a look at this with an editorial eye and suggest some 'improvements' but -what do we actually know?

Despite the best of intentions, we have also had to blow the whistle on ourselves. A telling example of this is when we invited artist and curator Smirna Kulenović to contribute something. In her essay Real Art Comes From Real Frustrations she shares her personal experiences and thoughts on the cultural scene in Sarajevo and on the time we spent with her. We thought it would be good to look at this with an editorial eye and suggest some 'improvements' but -what do we really know? This moment of friction eventually resulted in two essays in the fairest form; the original by Smirna including our well-intentioned suggestions and a letter by Maite entitled Dear Smirna about what her contribution and the time together in Sarajevo triggered in her.

To unleash these encounters, we organized eight events in Sarajevo. The first of these was a walk through the city through the theory of the drive, a form of wandering through an urban environment, designed by the French situationist Guy Debord. Two people came to it: we had great conversations about architecture, politics, our differences and similarities -and it was ultimately these encounters that allowed us to engage in a dialogue, which we were then able to collectively bring together in the subsequent publication.

Outline, Kriterion, Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, 2017, Graphic Desing, Photography, Derive, Guy Debord, cultural exchange

Another event we initiated was an attempt to horizontalize the traditional artist talk. Exchanging the success story for the process story, from which the concept emerged Anything Makes Sense.

When you are in a process, you get inspired by many different things. Some of it will be recognizable in the end result, some of it will disappear somewhere in the back of your mind, but will keep its quality. We invited everyone present to share something, trying to turn the classical form of the lecture around. Initially on an evening in an informal setting and later also in blog form on our website. From artworks to experiences, from books to music.

Because we realized that many of our events require the necessary participation of our visitors, we also chose to organize something more accessible; a Short Film Night in the cinema Kriterion Sarajevo. Here we showed short films by filmmakers living in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Netherlands to an almost full house. The low threshold of this evening got the ball rolling.

Back in the Netherlands, we elaborated on these fragments, put them in the form of a publication, and presented them in January 2018 at gallery SKLOP in Sarajevo.

After a month in Sarajevo, organizing events, facilitating exchange between individuals and making new friends, we found ourselves with a pile of fragments that symbolized our stay in this city, and which we thought were worth sharing. A collection of art projects, essays and work from both the people we met and ourselves.

Presentation publicaction OUTLINE#1, lecture by Maite Vanhellemont

Back in the Netherlands, we elaborated on these fragments, put them in the form of a publication, and presented them in January 2018 at SKLOP gallery in Sarajevo. This presentation was also about encounter and exchange. In the context of an exhibition, performances, a lecture and music took place. We ended the opening weekend with a conversation between several artists, curators and other participants from the cultural scene of Sarajevo. This conversation was led by Sandra Bradvić (founder SKLOP) and focused on identifying and addressing some of the most aggravating working conditions in the field of culture in Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina in general but most of all, to look forward together.

Presentation publicaction OUTLINE#1, lperformance by Smirna Kulenović.

OUTLINE #1 is the crystallization of our findings in this city, and attempts to communicate fragments of our encounters, our findings, and the current state of its cultural and political landscape. It subjectively collects bits and pieces of Sarajevo as we got to know her. It does not form a clear story with a nice structure and obvious conclusions, but shows the different perspectives from and on a city. We hope that the collection of these can result in new dialogues and collaborations.

OUTLINE is still active as a platform; our stay in Sarajevo was followed in the summer of 2018 by a residency Bekegem (BE) for Kunstenfestival Plan B and we organised another film night in January 2019, this time in collaboration with Kriterion Amsterdam. The most recently completed project is a correspondence between Jan-Pieter and Smirna Kulenović, the publication of which was presented at the last edition of the Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art. In addition, we regularly update our website with new contributions. We are always open to conversations, ideas or meetings in other ways.

www.outline.jetzt
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