Impossible Histories: Historic Avant-gardes, Neo-avant-gardes, and Post-avant-gardes in Yugoslavia, 1918–1991

by Dubravka Djuric (editor)

The first critical survey of the largely unknown avant-garde movements of the former Yugoslavia. Impossible Histories is the first critical survey of the extraordinary experiments in the arts that took place in the former Yugoslavia from the country's founding in 1918 to its breakup in 1991. The combination of Austro-Hungarian, French, German, Italian, and Turkish influences gave Yugoslavia's avant-gardes a distinct character unlike those of other Eastern and Central European avant-gardes. Censorship and suppression kept much of the work far from the eyes and ears of the Yugoslav people, while language barriers and the inaccessibility of archives caused it to remain largely unknown to Western scholars. Even at this late stage in the scholarly investigation of the avant-garde, few Westerners have heard of the movements Belgrade surrealism, signalism, Yugo-Dada, and zenitism; the groups Alfa, Exat 51, Gorgona, OHO, and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater; or the magazines Danas, Red Pilot, Tank, Vecnost, and Zvrk.The pieces in this collection offer comparative and interpretive accounts of the avant-gardes in the former Yugoslavian countries of Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. The book is divided into four Art and Politics; Literature; Visual Art and Architecture; and Art in Motion (covering theater, dance, music, film, and video). All of the contributors live in the region and many of them participated in the movements discussed. The book also reprints a selection of the most important manifestos generated by all phases of Yugoslav avant-garde activity.

Genres: Art History

605 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Dubravka Djurić [Dubravka Đurić / Дубравка Ђурић] (1961, Dubrovnik) completed her master’s degree at the Department of Literature and Literary Theory at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, and her PhD at the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. She has been active in the field of art since the beginning of the 1980s, primarily working on the borderline between poetry and visual arts. Her focus includes theoretical work and writing, mostly in the field of feminist visual art and female performance. (2022)

A poet, critic and Professor at the Faculty for Media and Communication in Belgrade, she received her Ph.D. in Literary Theory from the Faculty of Philosophy, Novi Sad. Since 2015 she has acted as President of the Serbian Association for Anglo-American Studies. She has published numerous books of criticism and studies of poetry and art. Her poetry has been translated into English, Polish, Italian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Albanian and Hungarian. She lives in Belgrade with her husband, Miško Šuvaković. (2023)

Reviews

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful compilation of texts which provides everything the reader needs to fully grasp this very specific and complex topic, including a clearly explained political and ideological background of the specified period in Yugoslavia. In fact, I have yet to find such a concise explanation of these issues in any history/politics book. As for the art-related aspects of the work, they are also reliable sources which provide numerous useful resources. An especially precious gem can be found at the end of the book - a collection of practically all the artistic manifestos mentioned throughout the book in easy-to-read, typed-out form.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art history. Informative on the topic.