The START Magazine Archive Project is an immersive installation that integrates videos, sound, objects, and reproductions of personal archival material. Beginning with research on Yugoslavia’s START magazine of the 70’s and 80’s, the project develops moving image works with the photographs, texts and illustrations found in the publication. Music is composed by the American/Slovenian composer and arranger Igor Lumpert using different styles and singing techniques where vocalists sing fragments and phrases in overlapping, rhythmic precision patterns. The work examines nostalgia for the past which is often mixed with the utopian memory of a socialist society, where the selling of this unique historical place becomes an allegory for the true and final end of Yugoslavia. On a deeper level it exposes the conflict in society of post Yugoslav republics confronted with huge questions of identity while still standing between two different ideologies.
About the artist(s)
Željka Blakšic AKA Gita Blak born in Zagreb, Croatia (ex- Yugoslavia) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York City. Her inspiration often stems from the sub-culture of the 1990s-era in Croatia, when punk, anarcho and eco movements were having a renewal. Her artistic career began in early adolescence in the field of music and performance. The current work reflects long-term collaborations with different subculture groups, collectives or choirs often placed in non- traditional architectural spaces. She works across multiple disciplines; the constants in her practice are performance, 16mm film, video and installation.