The live podcast episode explores the contemporary art scene, focusing on both Ljubljana and Belgrade. The guest is Lav Mrenović, a Belgrade-based independent art writer and curator.
As part of the Zine Vitrine cycle at the DobraVaga Gallery this April, he is presenting his zine titled I Feel Like Contemporary Art Is Over. The zine functions as a diary, travelogue, and critical essay, intertwining impressions of the Belgrade art scene with a critique of gallery institutions and the personal experience of precarious work. It includes honest admissions and bitter reflections on an exponential, involuntary descent into loneliness, irony, resentment, and a sense of shallowness.
The conversation will address working conditions within the sphere of contemporary art, as well as its purpose, power, and potential in the current socio-political context. Topics will include the understanding of art criticism, the precariousness of freelance curators and writers, and the possibilities for survival and funding models – specifically examining opportunities outside the European Union. We’ll discuss how the art scene (and its workers) are impacted by widespread dissatisfaction, depression, burnout, elitism, nepotism, overproduction, and the question of quality.
The discussion will be held in English, and the audio episode will later be available on the podcast’s online channels.
Kritiški pose(la)dek is a para-artistic podcast exploring current events within the local art scene. It is hosted by art historian and curator Maša Žekš alongside editor and artist Jernej Čuček Gerbec. Through the lens of art criticism and an in-depth look at various aspects of the visual arts and the broader cultural sphere, these informal dialogues with selected guests touch upon local art, recently visited exhibitions, and trends, as well as scandals and themes that cross traditional visual art boundaries. Individual episodes feature a mix of bad jokes, serious moral dilemmas, and interpreted expertise, covering everything from stonemasonry, performance, and colouring books to tattooing, socialist illustration, drag queens, and game design. The podcast’s name derives from the intersection of the deficit profession of the art critic, hanging out over coffee, and sugar-laden snacks. The wordplay combines a “sit-down” with a “sweet treat,” the latter of which is represented in their graphic identity in the form of a potica cake.
Free admission.
Organisation: Kritiški pose(la)dek and DobraVaga / Kino Šiška.
