Salon

SRBA TRAVANOV: MOBILECONSTRUCT

Opening of the exhibition: Friday, January 28, 2011 at 7PM
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WE CONSTRUCT A CONSTRUCTION ACCORDING TO PLAN
BY MOUNTING ELEMENTS
WE BUILD NEW CONSTRUCTIONS

– CONSTRUCTION OF A CONSTRUCTION
– MOBILE METAL CONSTRUCT
– CONSTRUCTION OF WHITE
– CONSTRUCTION OF MULTIPLICATION
– CONSTRUCTION OF SEAL
– CONSTRUCTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The artistic endeavors of Srba Travanov (1947, Belgrade) include practices in the framework of different media and contexts. In 1989, Srba Travanov starts working on a project that is now considered a recognizable personal trace of his efforts, called Mobile Construction. In the above statement, like in the form of manifest, we recognize the author’s concept of construct, building and breakup of media according to their own philosophy, theory, ideas… In the relation painting – photography – object, Travanov builds constructs of different character, exhibits, installations, mechanical instruments…

In the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art Srba Travanov presents the project Mobileconstruct (which has its forerunners in the earlier exhibitions called Mobile Construction) in now concretized and, according to his words, finalized form. The exhibition will feature about 11 exhibits called Mobile Metal Construct, 1 large installation (construction of a construction) comprised of 23 elements called Mobileconstruct, around 38 works called Multiplications that include constructs made out of newspapers, paper and oil on cardboard background, 14 monochrome white canvases called Construction of White and about 62 Installation Photographs.
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CONSTRUCTIVE INTERVIEW (led by Una Popovic, curator of the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, with artist Srba Travanov, January 2011)

U.P. How do you explain your art project Mobileconstruct?
S.T. Mobileconstruct = 0X² construction.

U.P. Where did you get the idea for the title Mobileconstruct?
S.T. The title is the idea.

U.P. For how many years have you been working on this project and what exactly does it include?
S.T. I have been working on this project since 1989.
One construction = 0X² construction
Construction of a construction
Mobile Metal Construction
Construction of White
Construction of Multiplication
Construction of Information
Construction of Seal
Construction of Photography

U.P. In your works, you often repeat the reference X in circle and square; what does it signify?
S.T. Mobileconstruct = 0X²
0 (zero) is the plan of a construction.
X² marks its movement.

U.P. Do you agree that the very title Mobileconstruct carries the meaning of personal art project as a way of recognition, as a personal sign or trace in the art scene?
S.T. The meaning of my art project is in the title of the exhibition.

U.P. In your works, you blend different media and materials. Should the changes and combinations (as you say in the statement Construction of a Construction, Construction of Multiplication) point to the ingredients of essential or metaphorical, like for example architecture, movement, junk, industry…
S.T. To the essential…

U.P. Could you make a concrete section between before and now in your previous work?
S.T. Before – experiments. Now – Mobileconstruct.

U.P. We are familiar with your practice from the 1980s in the media of photography, above all Polaroid, connected to the magazine Izgled, cult Belgrade magazine that was modeled on the philosophy of pop and the aesthetics of Andy Warhol and the Factory. Can you tell us something about this time and work?
S.T. One of the experiments.

U.P. What does the exhibition in the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art mean for you?
S.T. Synthesis of previous works.

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Important exhibitions:

1975: Belgrade, Art Pavilion Cvijeta Zuzoric: October Salon
1978: Belgrade, Magazine Izgled, gallery of the Student Cultural Center (SCC)
1979: Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art: Themes and Functions of the Medium of Photography
1980: Belgrade, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art: Contemporary Photography
Zagreb, Gallery of Contemporary Art: New Photography
Maribor, Salon Rotovoz
Belgrade, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Happy Gallery, SCC: Polaroid
1982. Warsaw, Poland: Polaroid
Belgrade, SCC: Polaroid; Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art: Post – Modern
1983: Belgrade, Gallery of the Cultural Center: Samples of Instant Art – Polaroid, Xerox, Video
1984: Belgrade, Art Pavilion Cvijeta Zuzoric: New Figuration
1986: Belgrade, Gallery Atrium: Kristo (independent exhibition); National Museum: Symbols in Contemporary Belgrade Art
1989: Belgrade, Gallery of the Cultural Center: Tarot
1991: Belgrade, Gallery Atrium: Instant Art (independent exhibition)
1992: Belgrade, Gallery ULUS: Gene (independent exhibition); Gallery Andricev venac: Seasons of Studio B
Paris, France, Le Centre Culturel Yugoslave: Tarot
New York, USA, Cultural Center: Tarot
1993: Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art: Tarot
1994: Belgrade, Gallery 12+: Map (independent exhibition)
1994: Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art: Nikola Tesla – Magician, Energy, Light
Belgrade, Gallery – Legacy of M. Zoric and R. Colakovic, MCA: Polit Art
Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art: Balkan Orientals
1997: Paris, La Centre Culturel Yugoslave: Nikola Tesla; Gallery Site de zar: Boxes (independent exhibition)
Amsterdam, Netherlands, Gallery Muster 2000: Multimedia atemtoonsteling
Belgrade, Pavilion Veljkovic: Euronoma gambit
1998: Belgrade, Happy Gallery SCC: Korbik & Gercz
2000: Belgrade, Gallery ULUS: Industry kunst (independent exhibition);
Rex: Serbia 2000 – Pavilion Veljkovic
2001: Belgrade, Gallery KU: Serbian Art Experiment (independent exhibition)
2002: Belgrade, Art Pavilion Cvijeta Zuzoric: October Salon
2005: Belgrade, Gallery Zvono: Mobileconstruct (independent exhibition)
2008: Novi Sad, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina: Shadow Museum
Belgrade, Gallery ULUS: Ready – made/re – made