Artists Statement

Date: 2010
Length: 07:27 min.
Format:  16:9
Specification: Colour, Sound

Adela Jusic presents herself in semi-profil, as in a baroque painting. Her face and address are directed towards the audience, especially towards creative people. By using a traditional painterly language – the lighting, the dark background, the harmony of colors – the painting and its meaning gain in seriousness and credibility. She has copied the sentence “Avoid comparing yourself to other artists” from a website that offers creative people help with self-promotion. Jusic regards this offer and its use as significant for today’s society, where even creative people are subjected to marketing concepts. Nevertheless, questions of marketing are also important to her and so she asks herself: “What kind of prospects do today’s artists have?”; “Who is the artist today?” Or, to be even more precise: “What kind of meaning does an artist have in our society?” The artist is reflected in a double projection and speaks alternately. She faces the spectator at a distinct remove, and thus has come a long way from earlier generations of artists. For example, Marina Abramović singled out the commercialization of art scene as a central theme for one of her video performance in 1975. She combed her hair for such a long time that the skin started to bleed, repeating over and over the same words: “Art must be beautiful, artist must be beautiful”.
EW

Interview:

► 1. Your video has been chosen among over 1700 festival entries to participate in Videonale 13. How central the video medium to your overall artistic production? Is it complimentary to other media you use or do you work exclusively with video?

I am educated in printmaking, but I've mostly worked in video art since 2007.

► 2. Is there a particular theme, concept or problem your art addresses the most?

Lately I've been working on the subject of the art market and self presentation as a part of its mechanism. I did a few works on the subjects of tradition and religion and I have been working on the subject of war and the postwar situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. My work is mostly drawn from my personal experience.

► 3. What artists do you relate to or find significant for your own art-making?

I can relate to any artist, in either a good or bad way. Every art work can teach you something if you think that way.

► 4. Do you think the video medium can address social or political issues better than other art media?

Maybe so, because of its transportability, ability to be in more places at the same time and
because video is quite close to the public (because of TV, movies, etc)

► 5. Art can be seen as a mirror that registers and reflects life or as a tool that transforms it. Which of the two positions is close to your own art-making philosophy?

Both are close.

► 6. How do you understand success in an art-making career?

I guess success is in being able to do what you like, being able to live out of it and have your work known to the wide audience. 

 
► 7. What is the most difficult and the most rewarding thing about making art / being an artist?

It depends, of course, on your place of living. In Bosnia it is very hard to find any kind of financial support for production and presentation. The most awarding thing is when you see that your work had a strong impact on the audience.

► 8. What are your upcoming projects?

At the moment I am working on several projects. With Lana Cmajcanin I am working on a project „Bedtime stories“ which is about the time that people spent in their basements during the war of 1992-95. We are collecting people stories connected to those spaces and planning sound installations, photographies, performances and texts around this subjects.

► 9. What do you do when you don't make art?

Everything that other people do when they are not at work.