MULTIPLICATION OF TEXT IS A SOCIAL ACT

To look back at the appearance(s) of Arkzin today means to assume that the so-called exterior [VISUAL PRESENTATION OF THE CONTENT] was a good chance for activist activity – equally important, and perhaps more important than some kind of opening up of important, even traumatic socio-political topics [KRŠIĆ].

Arkzin’s design, i.e. his alleged illegibility, was able to seriously damage the mental health of many: from “public health guards”, through professional journalists, to the correct and critical intelligentsia who, on their foray into the mainstream, considered Arkzin’s design experiment as nothing more than a negligible extravagance.

HOW CAN’T IT BE, LOOK AT THE ARKZIN!

The deconstructivist presentation at work in Arkzin as a different politicization took place at a time of profound change. Locally, it is a  transition from self-governing socialism to realist capitalism. Globally, it is the emergence of digital technologies and desktop publishing. Design practices in Arkzin are a symptom of new working regimes conditioned by it and at the same time a constant questioning of these dispositifs; beyond the spectacle of the state and the market. The politicization of design – between the end of print and the primitive Internet – is an operative metaphor for new forms of intellectual work, all the more crucial because it directly assumes the communicative and communitarian dimension of social action. Refusing to join the ranks of misunderstood (national) prophets with elitist pretensions, the Arkzin people, in this environment nevertheless, albeit reluctantly, anticipated the appearance of possible democratic media, and even an antagonistic democratic culture.
FOR, I’M CONVINCED, THE GUTENBERG GALAXY OVERLOOKING OUR SKY IS SLOWLY FADING, IT IS ALMOST VISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE IN THE STARRY SKY, YET TODAY ITS LIGHT HAS NOT YET REACHED US. 
[DANILO KIŠ, 1973]

Prospects of Arkzina is the first of two exhibitions dedicated to Arkzin. In the fall of 2013, we are preparing the exhibition Installing the Public at the Galženica Gallery.

Organized by the Multimedia Institute as part of the Extended Aesthetic Education project [www.mi2.hr///www.aestheticeducation.net]

Support:
European Cultural Foundation
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia
European Union Culture Program 2007-2013
Office for Education, Culture and Sports of the City of Zagreb

All events in the Gallery Nova are co-organized by WHW and AGM.