ENG

Nomen est omen has significantly influenced our way of working, but the “remont” which implies analog logic and the connection of various elements that, by interacting with each other, form a complete mechanism, in the digital age it is no longer functional.

After 25 years of constant work, we have decided to withdraw!

On October 1, 1999, Remont NUA was founded by artists and art historians with the intention of creating a dynamic and independent noninstitutional framework for professional exchange of knowledge and experience. Throughout its existence, by combining personal capacities and engagement, we addressed current issues, improved conditions, and methods of work in the contemporary visual and independent art scene. Through various exhibitions and other formats, experiments, formal and informal debates, and collaborations with like-minded individuals, we examined the role of the artist and art in the contemporary socio-political environment. We strived to keep up with changes and use modern tools, but we are aware that circumstances have shifted.

Contemporary artistic practice, based on questioning societal values, reflection, analysis, problem targeting, subverting hypocrisy, and conforming to politically proclaimed values, has been pushed aside in the public space by commercialization, mediocrity in the form of “beautiful decorative art,” production of one-off events, and short-term “projects” of questionable meaning on one hand, and banal activism on the other. This replacement of theses, supported by cultural policies and media, creates an image in the broader public that everything is fine.

The promotion and glorification of identities based on the trivialization and misuse of national values, insistence on party affiliation, marginalization of critical thought, budget financing of “suitable” individuals in the local context, and the rigid conditions and criteria of foreign donors have jeopardized our motivation and belief in the meaning of the struggle for a better understanding of the strength and significance of contemporary artistic practices. We have long given up on European and similar donor competitions that explicitly set themes and formats, insist on formal partnerships, burden with administration, and stifle the development of different (real) needs and capacities. The value of an organization’s recognition based on what and how it does things and which qualifies it for donor support is contingent upon coming up with NEWER AND NEWER ideas, to the detriment of establishing stability, development, and improvement of what has been achieved. This absurdity overloads, exhausts, not only leading to burnout but also rendering the essence meaningless.

In an environment burdened with hypocrisy at all levels, believing, as we do, in the significance and power of individual creativity and collective work, unburdened by the market and creative industries, predefined inputs, and political orientations, we cannot and do not want to conform to such trends and working conditions.

Remaining true to our beliefs and value system, we are stepping down and entering a period of reflection and reassessment.

We thank our friends, colleagues, and everyone who supported and truly understood us. To everyone else, we say: “So long and thanks for all the fish.“ *

* Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending destruction of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to alert mankind of the danger; but most of their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs or whistle for tidbits, so they eventually gave up and left the Earth by their own means shortly before the Vogons arrived.  The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double backwards somersault through  a hoop whilst whistling the “Star Spangled Banner”, but, in fact, the message was this: “So long and thanks for all the fish.”