pw 503683d / Lost Ideas

‘Zone 2’ is the fourth solo, polymedia exhibition by Alen Ilijic, conceived with paintings, prints, ready-mades, video projection and spectral composition which is created for the gallery space. During the closing of the exhibition Alen Ilijic  performed three works: two compositions for piano, voice and electronics named ‘Red Faces’ and ‘Ongevarfen’ (Disordered)’, as well as a piece for guitar, voice and electronics named ‘Zealot’s time’.

The project ‘Zone 2’ has multiple meanings: it refers to the smaller part of the city where the artist lives, experiencing it in a function of narrow, isolated space, or a detention facility. Such alienation is caused by the ingrained societal rejection of liberal visions and innovative ideas expressed in music and art. Thus, ‘Zone 2’ indicates parts of any country in which, de facto through the centuries, geniuses have carried the burden of radical movements. The focus is on the mental process of creating, a constant need for documenting new ideas, emphasizing the importance of the phenomenon of creativity. The project is also in the context of marking a ‘liberated’ space for understanding the opposed ideas and places for the realization of innovative approaches. 

You haven't forgotten this lesson / Left 

The peculiarity of artwork by Alen Ilijic is the link between the different visibility of drawings, hidden codes and commitment to details. For example, the triptych ‘Destruction’ contains written statements of the individuals, which, in the form of graphite, bring an echo of the artist's environment, while the background shows the worn walls, so it is  difficult to read. Addressed to people who are eager to pursue knowledge, artworks require careful observation and engagement from the audience.

Making visual art and composing are comparable disciplines for Ilijic, where certain elements of expression often intertwine or are related in a specific manner. On the painting ‘Lost Ideas’ the main structural element is the musical score, while blue color defines the static harmonic background and structure of the composition. Such notations are not written at random, rather are aleatoric or strictly defined parts of the artist's compositions.

Performance of Zealot's time

The innovation of Ilijic’s music is in the creation of its own integral parameters: harmony, melody, rhythm and, in general, forms. Also, in Ilijic’s performances there is a moment of improvisation, based on the written materials. His musical work is characterized by elements of noise, avant-garde, ethno-music of the Balkans and Israel. 

‘Zone 2’ shows the attitude of the artist in relation to the wrong perception of the viewer, as a result of the increasing commercialization of art with surface qualities of form. The project brings an atypical model of the artist’s behavior: negative reactions are not in the service  of questioning the ideas’ initiatives; on the contrary, they are in a function of additional incentives, as well as an ‘evidence’ of shifting borders of contemporary standards.

The exhibition was held at the Gallery ŠTAB, Belgrade, Serbia, from 14th until 19th of January,  2017. Video link: ZONE 2 

Milica Ilijic, art historian and curator of the exhibition