Mandala and Cross / blackness, refugees and economic gamble Favorite 

Artist Zoran Naskovski continued his project "Mandala and Cross / farewell to arms” with analysis of media representations of social processes in 2015, that resulted with a new installation: “Mandala and Cross / blackness, refugees and economic gamble”.

The research was based primarily on archiving of daily papers and weeklies and a
comparative analysis of crucial events depicted and presented. The archived printed media were: The Economist, The Financial Times, New York Times, Time, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Politika, etc.

The artist selected three front pages of Der Spiegel weekly magazine that adequately map out the key events that characterised this year in Europe (as part of the installation): the financial crisis in Greece and the negative response to it by the Eurozone, the refugee crisis that is still under way, and the terrorist attack in Paris that resulted in more strict control and surveillance over citizens that are forced to swap “a little bit of freedom” for more security.

The publication of the photo that was selected to draw attention to the refugee crisis was the one of the tragically deceased three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi on 3rd September on a numerous front pages of daily papers. Its publication has triggered contradictory discussions on the importance of image in the media, as well as parallel analyses comparing other similar images from the past. Das Bild, German tabloid, printed on the 8th September an issue without photos – albeit the ones used in the ads – as a kind of a retort to the public discourse on Aylan Kurdi’s photo, thereby opening the issue of the meaning of an image and its absence in the media.

Since this project is concerned with the meaning of the image and its absence, the
process of periodic phasing out the lights in the exhibition area is important for the process of changing the common perception, because in this way we are being introduced with the different situation, which undermines the scope of routine observation, which is important for deeper reflection and active participation.

During 2016, the project „Mandala and Cross / blackness, refugees and economic
gamble” has continued to develop through archiving of the new documents and the artefacts.

Target groups: Local communities and wider population

Project goal: the analysis of the media representation of social processes in 2015 which has opened new fields of anticipation, of circular movement of violence, refugee crises and manipulations in economy.

Main partners and funders: Center for Cultural Decontamination, Belgrade, Ministry of Culture and Information, press distribution service: the Global Press and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade