SITUATION / 2012

"DIMENSIONS OF HUMOR", SUBSTRUCTURES OF THE DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE, Split, Croatia

seedling fair, banner

the Dimensions of Humour (Dimenzije humora) exhibition was to be held in the cellars of Diocletian's Palace, Split; I was co-organizer of the exhibition and one of the artists whose works were to be presented

Diocletian's cellars are a public space; apart from exhibitions, many different events take place there

although the dates for the exhibition were set far in advance, there was on overlap with the Seedling Fair; this happened because Split was struck by a snow storm; since the city was totally unprepared, there was a complete collapse of all public services; school was cancelled, city was blocked for days and it took several days for the cleaning to start

despite the alarming situation and the fact that over 900 people were injured (broken arms and legs), the mayor said that he finds the situation funny

the Seedling Fair, which was taking place in the Cellars before the Dimensions of Humour exhibition started, was closed for two weeks due to the abovementioned reasons

organizers of the Fair asked for prolongation and were granted permission

one part of the exhibition space was occupied by the Seedling Fair, thus splitting the exhibition in two; two events were to share the "living space" for two weeks

I decided to turn the situation to our advantage; I appropriated the Seedling Fair, i.e. I declared it my work; the only thing I added was a banner: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE or SAVE YOUR OWN ASS IF YOU CAN (SPAŠAVAJ SE KO MOŽE)

by doing this I managed to connect two "sections" of the exhibition into one whole

I could never have imagined this quantity of absurd, irony and parody; appropriation was an imposed solution

I especially liked the idea of work having two stages: before and after, with and without the Fair; the seedlings would be taken away and the only thing remaining would be the banner

this works refers to another work of mine, SIMULATION, in which I used same materials, i.e. plants and banners; in that work I simulated a specific image / scene, now I was given the materials and the situation

it is interesting to note that SIMULATION was set in Osijek, where the whole series of Dimensions of Humour exhibitions started