Cultural cooperation between India and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 1970s : a case study of the International Biennial of Graphic Arts

Grafenauer, Petja (author)

The article explores the diversity of readings of artworks in different contexts. We discuss the case of the International Biennial of Graphic Arts (IBGA) and the cultural artistic links between India and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 1970s. Our interest is focused on the connections between Indian artists participating in the IBGA, the systemic arrangement of the SFRY cultural exchange with India and the biennial exhibition, which testifies to the various codes of visual literacy. Studying the case of participation by the Indian graphic artist Krishna Reddy in the IBGA—who almost certainly entered the Biennial via the Western art world, paving the way for many of his compatriots—and exploring other institutional routes established with India (e.g. Lalit Kala Academy), which were aimed at visual decolonisation, we investigate how Yugoslav cultural agreements and programmes influenced the processes of artistic exchange between India and the SFRY, and how, in the case of the IBGA, this was reflected in procedures for inviting Indian artists and at the level of exhibiting and reception of their works. This paper is based on the analysis of the archival material deposited in the Archives of Yugoslavia, the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia and the archives of the International Centre of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, as well as on the study of the literature to the present date. The most extensive portion of the studied material is held in the Archives of Yugoslavia, Belgrade; a substantial proportion of its fonds related to the Federal Council for Education and Culture (1967–1971, AJ 319) and the Federal Commission for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (1953–1971, AJ 559) were analysed for the purpose of this research. The thesis of the research is that the cultural policy of the SFRY at the level of visual arts and visual literacy—which could be conceived as completely individual, founded on anti-imperialism and decolonisation, non-interference and peaceful co-existence, as well as Yugoslav self-management—is in practice not identifiable in the activities of fine and visual arts organisations; that the readings of the visual codes were, therefore, Western-oriented or the influence of the Non-Aligned Movement was small, even in the case of the IBGA, which was valued primarily for bringing together art from all parts of the world, but in reality, as the Indian artist Krishna Reddy discussed here, mainly relied on Western modernism and its visual code.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Non-Aligned Movement, Ljubljana Graphic Biennial, graphic arts, visual art
• Work type: Other
• Typology: 1.16 - Independent Scientific Component Part or a Chapter in a Monograph
• Organization: ALUO - Academy of Fine Arts and Design
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 173-196, 256-257, 265-266
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-150076
• UDC: 304:76.036(540)
• DOI: 10.51938/9789612971427
• COBISS.SI-ID: 164302595
• Publication date in RUL: 13.09.2023

Record is a part of a monograph

• Title: The culture of the non-aligned : the clash of cultural and political narratives
• Editors: Barbara Predan, Daša Tepina
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: University of Ljubljana Press
• Year: 2023
• ISBN: 978-961-297-143-4
• COBISS.SI-ID: 160144899

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Kulturno sodelovanje Indije in SFR Jugoslavije v šestdesetih in sedemdesetih letih 20. stoletja : na primeru Mednarodnega grafičnega bienala

Abstract

V prispevku proučujemo raznolikost branj likovnih del v raznorodnih kontekstih. Obravnavamo primer Mednarodnega grafičnega bienala (MGB) ter kulturne likovne povezave Indije in Socialistične federativne republike Jugoslavije v šestdesetih in sedemdesetih letih 20. stoletja. Zanimajo nas vezi med indijskimi umetniki na MGB, pa tudi sistemska ureditev izmenjave kulturnih dogodkov SFRJ z Indijo in MGB, ki priča o raznolikih kodih vizualne pismenosti. Ob primeru sodelovanja indijskega grafika Krishne Reddyja na MGB, ki je na bienale skoraj gotovo prišel prek zahodnega sveta umetnosti in pri tem odprl pot mnogim sorojakom ter razkrivanju drugih, institucionalnih poti z Indijo (npr. Lalit Kala akademija), ki so težile k vizualni dekolonializaciji, skušamo ugotoviti, kako so jugoslovanski kulturni sporazumi in programi vplivali na postopke likovnih izmenjav med Indijo in SFRJ ter kako se je to odrazilo na danem primeru na ravni postopkov vabljenja, razstavljanja in recepcije del indijskih umetnikov. Prispevek temelji na preučevanju arhivskega gradiva Arhiva Jugoslavije, Arhiva Republike Slovenije in arhiva Mednarodnega grafičnega centra v Ljubljani ter dosedanje literature. Najobsežnejši del gradiv prihaja iz Arhiva Jugoslavije v Beogradu, kjer je obdelan večji del fonda Zveznega sveta za izobraževanje in kulturo 1967–1971 (AJ 319) in fonda Zvezne komisije za kulturne stike s tujino 1953–1971 (AJ 559). Teza raziskave je, da kulturne politike SFRJ na ravni likovne umetnosti, vizualne pismenosti, ki bi gradila povsem lastno kulturno politiko, temelječo na protiimperializmu in dekolonializaciji, politiki nevmešavanja in miroljubni koeksistenci ter jugoslovanskem samoupravljanju, v praksi ni moč zares zaslediti v dejavnostih organizacij likovne in vizualne umetnosti; da so bila torej branja vizualnih kodov zahodnocentrična oziroma je bil vpliv gibanja neuvrščenih majhen, celo v primeru MGB, ki je bil cenjen predvsem zaradi združevanja umetnosti vseh delov sveta, a se je v resnici, kot obravnavani indijski umetnik Krishna Reddy, napajal predvsem pri zahodnem modernizmu in njegovem vizualnem kodu.

• Keywords: Gibanje neuvrščenih, Ljubljanski grafični bienale, grafika, vizualna umetnost

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J7-2606
• Name: Modeli in prakse mednarodne kulturne izmenjave Gibanja neuvrščenih: raziskovanje prostorsko-časovnih kulturnih dinamik