Anita Sulimanovic

“The Tolerance Pit”

2011-08-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

“The Tolerance Pit”, community project

Artists: Anita Sulimanovic and Hrvoje Mitrov
Permanent site-specific installation, Suncokret Center for Community Development, Gvozd, Croatia

The work was created during “KIDSART BRIDGES: Tolerance and Understanding In Our World”, project held by a non-profit arts advocacy organization Artoconecto, from Miami, FL.

This collaborative project involved Croatian and Serbian kids engaged in the process of digging a hole and creating the land art piece on the grounds of Suncokret. The kids were than instructed to go one by one and express their feelings and thoughts of the things that made them either angry or frustrated. The feelings would be kept in the hole. It was a symbolic gesture of tolerance. Photo documentation about the work, alongside the artwork of the participating artists, will be exhibited in US in December, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011.
Participating kids:
Mateo Abramović, Ivan Posavec, Mateo Posavec, Stefan Vrga, Anamarija Petrović, Nicolina Komšić, Antonio Komšić, Kristina Šubić, Marko Džoja, Marin Blaževic, Goran Kulić.
Participating Volunteers:
Anja Blažević, Kristina Šubić, Branko Džakula
organization

“My peer artist Hrvoje and I didn’t know much about Gvozd except that the place was troubled during and after The Croatian War of Independence. From Suncokret organization we found out that “Gvozd Municipality is an extremely socially deprived municipality with very high unemployment rates. It was destroyed during the war (in physical, cultural and social terms) and is currently subject to the process of return of the population as well as resettling of refugees. Gvozd Municipality is separated and isolated from the wider community due to poor infrastructure. The lack of adequate interaction among individuals or various national/ethnic, religious, cultural and other groups was recognized. In addition to physical devastations, the community has been disintegrated, resulting in the separation of and tensions among young people”. Suncokret - Centre for Community Development, where the project took place is a non-governmental, non-profit organization founded as a response to the psychosocial needs of community in the after war period. “Suncokret aims to address negative psychological, social and cultural consequences of the social upheavals in the region, to improve the quality of life for all, but especially for deprived members of the society, to promote community rebuilding, and support development of a sustainable democratic civil society. Suncokret implements a broad range of programs and initiatives in the local community, a resettlement area, primarily for the youth and children."

On the day of our camp, we meet Alexandra Rangel, Executive Director of Artoconecto, in Zagreb and we drove together to Gvozd. We stopped to show Alexandra a few points of interest in Zagreb and later in Karlovac, town heavily destroyed by the war, a strategic point and front line where both sides exchanged fire for long periods of time. The town is still severely damaged by the war, and Alexandra stated that she ”was stunned to see houses, all over, still bearing the holes caused by the impact of shell fragments”.

From Karlovac we continued driving to more and more remote areas and finally came to Gvozd and Suncokret. We were greeted by volunteers and children eagerly waiting for the beginning of our camp.

Even though Hrvoje and I set all the details about our camp before, we took some quite time to find a spot for our work.

As we explained the children and volunteers what we were supposed to create it was a matter of minutes that they brought plenty of tools and started digging the pit.

They worked very hard and were so enthusiastic about the process, that it didn’t take more than two hours to finish the hole! On the other side, a group of volunteers were in charge of cutting pieces of wood that we later laid into the pit to keep the bottom dry during future rainfalls.

Watching children going to say their words of tolerance to the pit was moving, they all took it very seriously, their body language shown they all had some kind of relief and the experience was therapeutic.

I admire all the work that Maja Turniski, Co-founder and Project Manager at Suncokret and people from Suncokret are doing for Gvozd community and I felt very rewarding that Hrvoje and I made our contribution."

Anita Sulimanovic

“Out of the Comfort Zone”

2010-02-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

Cement cast, various suitcases, pillows, blanket, sheet, plastic wrap, 2 x 4 x 4 m, 2010, Exhibition view, "Cluster", Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

“Out of the Comfort Zone”

The work deals with travels and relocations, issues of my current interest. Airbed, object that is often providing the ultimate comfort during being away from home, is destroyed and perceived as it felt down and shattered on the floor of the gallery. This scene could be literary translated as disdain of the general idea of comfort in life but could go well beyond its primary meaning and reflects about the necessity of moving, phenomenon of “globe-trotter-ism” and insights that such lifestyle offers.

Grayness and coldness of cement casted airbed is giving to the object deferent meaning, contrary from its standard evocations. The concrete cast is made very precisely with all its elements: the texture of the surface, air valve and seams. The cracks are filled with transparent plastic wrap that shines from inside the cast and is giving pulsating vitality to the object, suggesting that something else can/will happen to it, that this is not the end of the story - speaking about "staying out of your comfort zone", when a person gets rid of any "easy/comfort way" ideas in life, the whole new world can be opened.

Various suitcases contribute to the subject matter. Suitcases are alluding airport scenes of extensive rows and towers of suitcases but being wrapped tightly with plastic wrap to be almost non readable, also has more personal meaning such as securing private belongings.

The work is autobiographical; it refers to frequent relocations in my life. Through the challenging feelings of dislocation I often encourage myself with one of my favorite quotes “Stay out of your comfort zone” hence it follows title of the work.

"City"

2009-12-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

Site-specific installation for 10th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture, 15 old dog houses, light, 2009
Glyptotheque Sculpture Museum of Croatian Academy of Science and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia.

"City"

2009-08-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

"City", Site specific installation, 15 old dog houses, electric light bulbs, 20 x 20 m, 2009
Solo Exhibition in Barrel Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia

“I.G.W.T.”

2009-06-23T13:24:00.001-07:00

“I.G.W.T.”, installation, coins (American Dollar, British Pound, Euro), glass test-tubes, rubber sheet, 3 x 110 x 900 cm, 2007, exhibition view, Le Konschthaus Beim Engel, Luxembourg, Exhibition “5 Portrait Positions”

2009-06-23T13:23:00.001-07:00

“I.G.W.T.”, coins (American Dollar, British Pound, Euro), glass test-tubes, 4 x 200 x 600 cm, 2004, detail

“Coathangers”

2009-06-23T13:21:00.001-07:00

“Coathangers”, site specific sound installation in tunnel space in the bridge over river Rhine, 500 metal coat hangers on wire construction, sound, 200 x 1700 x 300 cm, 2004, Deutzer Brucke, Cologne, Germany, Exhibition “Spaen”

2009-06-23T13:20:00.001-07:00

“Coathangers”, site specific sound installation, 500 metal coat hangers on wire construction, sound, 200 x 1700 x 300 cm, 2004, detail

“MFA Thesis Exhibition”

2009-06-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

“MFA Thesis Exhibition”, sound installation, mixed media, (broken rear mirror, test tube, broken mirror, bicycle red light, metal construction on wheels, leather sofa cushion with zip opening, strip lights, metal tray with oil spillage, light and sound in metal boxes) 2004, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

“Ashes To Ashes, Eye To Eye”

2009-06-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

“Ashes To Ashes, Eye To Eye”, collaborative project with architect Martin Fox for the exhibition “Showing space”, wood, photographs, burned paper and photographs of performance made before, 40 x 100 x 180 cm, 2003, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

“Narcissus”

2009-06-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

“Narcissus”, mixed media (glass, mixture of papier-mâché and concrete on chipboard construction painted black from inside), reflection of the ceiling, 35 x 95 x 175 cm, 2003, exhibition view

“Cloning and The Beauty Stealers”

2009-06-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

“Cloning and The Beauty Stealers”, performance with casting body parts in plaster, 2001,
“ARTillery”, Multimedia Project of “Punkt” association, Zagreb, Croatia

“Process 5”, detail

2009-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

“Process 5”

2009-06-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

“Process 5”, site-specific permanent installation, concrete tiles on the granite rock, replaced moss, Andres Institute of Art Collection,
Brookline, NH, USA, 2001

“Holes”

2009-06-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

“Holes”, combined technique (polyurethane, concrete, plastic) 40 x 47 x 38 cm (x2) 1999

“The Outflow of Brains”

2009-06-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

“The Outflow of Brains”, combined technique (concrete ,resin), 35 x 240 x 60 cm 1999

“A Sophisticated Muscle”

2009-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

“A Sophisticated Muscle”, concrete, 40 x 50 x 95 cm, 1997

“Drops”

2009-06-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

“Drops”, site specific environmental installation, hanging condoms filled with colored water, buried pots with water, 1997

“Doors”

2009-06-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

“Doors”, outdoor temporary installation, holes in the ground covered with glass, 240 x 130 cm, 1998

“Some World”

2009-06-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

“Some World”, combined technique, resin, 100 x 115 x 115 cm, 1996

“Process”

2009-06-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

“Process”, stone, 220 x 50 x 50 cm, public outdoor sculpture in Vrsar, Istria, Croatia, 1995