Institution & Autonomy – Gentle Mechanisms of Ideology
In the last, fourth session on Nature and Ideology we synthesize our thoughts and artistic discipline. This time, the canvas is a bit larger, a razor blade is needed, the conclusions sound sharp and direct. Preliminary theses on nature and ideology:
The natural environment which encompasses all living and non-living things does not have an ideology.
The image of nature is the ideological image.
Every ideology needs a space for reproduction and this space is the institution.
The institutional space is a space where the elements are relationally organized.
An instituent practice is connecting the flow of the institutional and non-institutional spaces.
The progressive element of hybrid floral moments is related to symmetry.
A dialectics of infrastructure of nature and its deconstruction includes possibility of progressive moments.
Negative dialectics brings a progressive consciousness, autonomy and possibility of solidarity.
Nature’s infrastructure is often hijacked by non-solidary deconstructivist thinking, while the solidary deconstruction might be contributing to the autonomous consciousness.
The gentle mechanisms are holding the structure of the institutional space because it is a space where the ideology is reproduced.
The bureaucracy is driven by the control board and performs the ideology on a daily basis.
An emancipation from dominant ideology is the emancipation which comes from natural forms.
Nothing is strict, there is a certain probability of unexpected moments and playfulness.
The role of art in society is to give an impression that everything is okay.
In the educational painting and drawing sessions “On Nature and Ideology” Rena and Vladan discover and visualize aspects of the discourse on ‘nature’s ideology’ and the relations it activates. Looking at nature, western dominant ideology sees it as a separate sphere, a space for human cultivation, exploitation, or as a beautiful landscape. The sessions aim to generate a sensorial knowledge through an artistic gesture that interrogates the dominant views on nature and our relation with it. What is the ‘ideology of nature’? The contradictions of an anthropocentric dominant ideology and its gaze projected on the natural world become visible in our four episodes: 1. Symmetry and Abstraction – Hybrid Floral Moments; 2. Emancipation and Nature – Emancipatory Extensions of the Tree; 3. Solidarity and Infrastructure – Progressive Consciousness “En plein air” and 4. Institution and Autonomy – Gentle Mechanisms of Nature’s Ideology.
The new series is part of Performative Drawing , thoughtful and joyful, militantly optimistic drawing sessions initiated by Rena Raedle and Vladan Jeremic, artists from Belgrade. In an artistic and pedagogical manner, they invite the viewers to practice relational capacities of thinking and visualization and to engage in a process of creation and reflection without a safety net of pre-formulated ideas.
“On Nature and Ideology. How to Draw from the Perspective of Nature?” was possible thanks to the support of the Ecoversities Alliance 2020 Publication, Film and Multimedia Initiative.
Rena Rädle & Vladan Jeremić are Belgrade-based artists whose research-oriented work comprises drawing, text, video, photography, installation and artistic interventions in public space. In their collaborative practice Rena & Vladan explore the relation between art and politics, unveiling the contradictions of today’s societies and developing transformative potentials of art in the context of social struggles. They use techniques that are easy to reproduce and distribute such as drawing and prints and simple materials such as textile, cardboard and wood, insisting on the use value and social and ecological awareness of their artistic production. They engage with current debates and struggles in collaboration with social movements and disseminate their art works through reproduction in various media.
For more information visit http://raedle-jeremic.net/
