A collaborative brainstorm of artist Julia Bavyka and curator/writer Ira Ferris.

With LOST REST, artist Julia Bavyka brings her Mladen Stilinović Study Centre (2016–ongoing) to Zagreb for its first presentation outside Australia, in collaboration with curator and writer Ira Ferris.

A research and discussion platform, LOST REST looks for alternatives to the neoliberal culture industry and its celebrated ritual of overwork by turning the gallery into a space for study, conversation and rest.

From 11 - 29 June Galerija VN will become an informal repository of Mladen Stilinović’s ideas and work, and a day motel developed together with local sewing collective Udruga Kamensko. Considering the contemporary conditions of the (art and non-art) worker, LOST REST actively embraces a politics of horizontality and the work of dreams.

With Stilinović, we consider laziness as a practice to be practised, and open the space for unpredictable modes of participation and co-production, triggered by provocations and methodologies of the artist as well as histories of self-organised art practices – past, present and future.

PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES:

Tue 11 June, 19:00-22:00
Opening Night: initial activation

Wed 12 June, 19:30-21:30
Conversation with Ivana Bago and Sylvie Fortin: Mapping out a principle of hospitality

Thu 13 June, 12:00-13:00
Breathing: practical skills sharing

Sat 15 June, 11:30-13:30
Morning tea with Udruga Kamensko

Tue 18 June, 19:30-21:30
Common un/learning seminar with Katja Kobolt from feminist curatorial group Red Mined:
Curating (from) the margins ⎯ possible and imaginary templates of production, interaction and (re-)presentation of knowledge. Facebook event.

Fri 28 June, 18:00-20:00
Building yet another bed: experImental bed making workshop; imagining beds of the future

Sat 29 June, 12:00-14:00
Final gathering

This project is assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government. The NSW Artists’ Grant is administered by the National Association of the Visual Arts. #CreateNSW #NAVAgrants

PROJECT IMAGES (scroll to view)

In the past

In April 2018, while on residency at Frontyard Projects, I had a lovely opportunity to participate in and contribute to the third iteration of Julia Bavyka's Mladen Stilinović Study Centre, an ongoing research project that uses the themes of the late Croatian conceptual artist Mladen Stilinović to spark conversations around art, economy, labour, language, ideology, originality, and value systems. We spoke about language and translation as labour, inspired by Stilinovic's proposition 'An artist who cannot speak English is not an artist".

The third iteration of the project was presented at Sister gallery in Adelaide, Australia (May - June 2018) where Julia displayed conversations she arranged with a number of Sydney-based artists and curators including Connie Anthens, Sarah Rodigari, Tessa Zettel, Malcolm Whittaker, Salote Tawale and Sally Chessell. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/2054002228252792