Article
Captured Lives
Media artist, Zoran Todorovic was born in Belgrade in 1965 where he lives and works as Teaching Assistant in the Faculty of Fine Arts. He studied painting but is now best known for his new media and video works. His work has been shown in many leading media art institutions and events in Europe and beyond. He explores issues of surveillance and control, confronting the viewer with uncomfortable truths and concealed motivations.
Media artist, Zoran Todorovic lives and works in Belgrade where he was born in 1965. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Belgrade in the painting department and then moved into video and new media. Since 1998 has been a Teaching Assistant in the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Todorovic has a solid track record of group and solo exhibitions in Yugoslavia, starting in 1992 and since 2000 he has exhibited extensively in many other European countries. In recent years his work in video and new media has been shown in many leading international institutions and exhibitions. In 2001 he was part of the ‘CTRL \SPACE : Rhetorics of Surveillance’ event at ZKM in Karlsruhe where he won an International Media Art Award. He also showed work at the Pandemonium Festival at the Lux Centre in London and in the Video Marathon 12 to 12 at Art in General, New York. In 2000 he was part of the ‘Media Art in Serbia’ exhibition at ZKM Karlsruhe, IFA Galerie Berlin and Montevideo/Time-Based Arts in Amsterdam. Work was also shown in France in ‘Instants Video’ at Manosque and in ‘Le mois du film documentaire’ in Lille in 2000.
Zoran Todorovic explores issues of surveillance, control and censorship, mapping social positions and representation through use of interactive cameras and other responsive devices. His work often shocks and confronts the viewer with its transgressive subject matter and uncompromising gaze.
The video work ‘Noise’ (‘Sum’), made in 1998, was recorded with a specially designed recording device left at three different locations in Belgrade – a central square, psychiatric hospital and prison. The special security camera allowed 15 seconds recording time which passers-by used to create stories about themselves and their lives. Todorovic says, ´in a specific media of its own, this work treats the problem of the inadvertent or incidental which is a topic I am in general dealing with in my work and which is also an issue of the society of control, the society in which we are all living. ‘Noise’ does not pretend to represent, rather to let out a murmur into the coded system of social representation, by offering each voice, including the lowest one, the opportunity to be heard …´
Another work, ‘Untouchable’ was a modular work incorporating metal plates electrified to a high voltage allowing erratic appearance of sparks between the plates. ´The work exists as a dynamic spectacle, perceived both as energy phenomenon and a specific techno performance in which the visitor’s body, although not directly involved, is tacitly understood as possibly affected (electrocuted).´ ‘Assimilation’ in 1998 focused on idealised feminine beauty, cosmetic surgery and its by-products, creating a gastronomic menu out of the waste products of a face lift operation.
Jasmina Cubrilo of the Theory Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Novi Sad University comments on his work, ´Todorovic makes the body a theme, the body perceived as the specific field of social, political, economic, cultural and scientific recordings. The body is the instrument to apprehend reality, whose functioning is set through a permanent cultural impact. Disrupting, intervening and hindering such culturally set mechanisms of perception, art makes possible its own emergence in reality, its inscription into everyday life.´
Zoran Todorovic was shortlisted for the Visiting Arts/Spike Island International Fellowship in 2001, nominated by Jasmina Cubrilo of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Novi Sad University.
Todorovic has a solid track record of group and solo exhibitions in Yugoslavia, starting in 1992 and since 2000 he has exhibited extensively in many other European countries. In recent years his work in video and new media has been shown in many leading international institutions and exhibitions. In 2001 he was part of the ‘CTRL \SPACE : Rhetorics of Surveillance’ event at ZKM in Karlsruhe where he won an International Media Art Award. He also showed work at the Pandemonium Festival at the Lux Centre in London and in the Video Marathon 12 to 12 at Art in General, New York. In 2000 he was part of the ‘Media Art in Serbia’ exhibition at ZKM Karlsruhe, IFA Galerie Berlin and Montevideo/Time-Based Arts in Amsterdam. Work was also shown in France in ‘Instants Video’ at Manosque and in ‘Le mois du film documentaire’ in Lille in 2000.
Zoran Todorovic explores issues of surveillance, control and censorship, mapping social positions and representation through use of interactive cameras and other responsive devices. His work often shocks and confronts the viewer with its transgressive subject matter and uncompromising gaze.
The video work ‘Noise’ (‘Sum’), made in 1998, was recorded with a specially designed recording device left at three different locations in Belgrade – a central square, psychiatric hospital and prison. The special security camera allowed 15 seconds recording time which passers-by used to create stories about themselves and their lives. Todorovic says, ´in a specific media of its own, this work treats the problem of the inadvertent or incidental which is a topic I am in general dealing with in my work and which is also an issue of the society of control, the society in which we are all living. ‘Noise’ does not pretend to represent, rather to let out a murmur into the coded system of social representation, by offering each voice, including the lowest one, the opportunity to be heard …´
Another work, ‘Untouchable’ was a modular work incorporating metal plates electrified to a high voltage allowing erratic appearance of sparks between the plates. ´The work exists as a dynamic spectacle, perceived both as energy phenomenon and a specific techno performance in which the visitor’s body, although not directly involved, is tacitly understood as possibly affected (electrocuted).´ ‘Assimilation’ in 1998 focused on idealised feminine beauty, cosmetic surgery and its by-products, creating a gastronomic menu out of the waste products of a face lift operation.
Jasmina Cubrilo of the Theory Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Novi Sad University comments on his work, ´Todorovic makes the body a theme, the body perceived as the specific field of social, political, economic, cultural and scientific recordings. The body is the instrument to apprehend reality, whose functioning is set through a permanent cultural impact. Disrupting, intervening and hindering such culturally set mechanisms of perception, art makes possible its own emergence in reality, its inscription into everyday life.´
Zoran Todorovic was shortlisted for the Visiting Arts/Spike Island International Fellowship in 2001, nominated by Jasmina Cubrilo of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Novi Sad University.
Author: Judith Staines
Bio
Zoran Todorovic was born in 1965 in Belgrade where he lives and works. He graduated in 1992 with a BA in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Belgrade and completed his MA at the Faculty in 1995. Since 1998 he has been a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty and also worked as contributing editor of Free B92 radio and film productions. Todorovic works in video and new media. His work has been shown in many European countries, Canada and the USA and been selected for a number of leading international media art events. In 2001 he won an International Media Art Award at ZKM, Karlsruhe.
Works
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation,
2005
2005 Antologie der Kunst, Z.K.M. Karlsruhe.
2005 L ‘ART VIDEO DE SERBIE, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2005 Infant, Intenational Festival of Alternative and New Theatre, Novi Sad
2005 Xfilm festival za eksperimentalni filmi video i novi medii, Sofia, Bulgaria
2005 The national review of live art Midland, Perth, Australia
2004 V.A.I.A International Video Art Show of ALCOI ,Valencia, Spain
2004 Die anthologie der Kunst, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany
2004 New territories, Scotland´s international festival of live arts, Glasgow UK
2004 Eat it. Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany
2004 Cultural and pollitical strategy. Museum for Contemporary Arts, Belgrade
2003 RE DISCOVER, Muzej istorije Jugoslavije, Belgrade
2003 FONA,Muzeum for Contemporary Arts, Rijeka, Croatia
2003 International Festival of the Digital Image, IN OUT, Prague, Czech Republic
2003 7th international video festival Video Medeja, CC Novi Sad
2003 Blood and Honey, Essl Collection, Vienna, Austria
2003 Context Europa – Les Subsistances, Lyon, France
2003 World – Information, Novi Sad – M.S.U. Belgrade
2003 ´Context Europa´, Les Subsistances, Lyon, France; Theater des Augenblicks, Bec, Austria (2002)
2003 ´Last East Europa Show´, Museum for Contemporary Arts, Belgrade
2003 ´Soho in ottakring´, Vienna
2003 ´Blood and Honey´, Essl Collection, Vienna
2003 7th International Video Festival, Novi Sad
2002 ´Transmediale 02´, International Media Art Festival, Berlin
2002 Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos, Fundacion Ludwig de Cuba
2001 Video Marathon 12 to 12, Art in General, New York
2001 Pademonium Festival, Lux Centre, London
2001 ´CTRL \SPACE´, ZKM, Karlsruhe
2000 ´Dossier Serbien´, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin
2000 13th Instant Video, Manosque, France
2000 ´Media Art in Serbia´, ZKM, Karlsruhe; IFA Galerie, Berlin; Montevideo Time Based Arts, Amsterdam.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation,
2005
2005 Artspace, Sydney, Australia
2004 Museum for Contemporary Arts Zagreb, Croatia
2000 Kinoteka,Ljubljana, Slovenia
2000 Pekarna, Maribor, Slovenia
1998 BELEF, Barutana, Belgrade
1998 Galerija FLU, Belgrade
1997 Galerija Meander, Apatin
1997 Galerija Studentskog kulturnog centra, Belgrade
Merits
2001 International Media Art Award, Karlsruhe, ZKM
2000 41 Okobarkski Salon
2000 41 Okobarkski Salon
Projects
This artist took part in the following project(s) organized/funded by the culturebase.net partner institutions.
Spike Island International Fellowship 2001
(01 April 01 - 31 August 01)
Www
CTRL \SPACE
ZKM media art project - Rhetorics of Surveillance, 2001. Image and biography for Zoran Todorovic.
