Lala Raščić & VUNENY

Individual Utopias
2008
Performance

Lala Raščić develops her audio-drama inspired work through scriptwriting, video, performance, installation and drawing. While maintaining the elements of entertainment and aesthetic quality, the subverted message is no laughing matter. At a closer look, the seemingly humorous works are a satirical comment on contemporary society, its transformations and the environment she finds herself in.
The project Individual Utopias is based on a true event that took place in the centers for mental health in Mostar, during autumn 2007. Invited to participate in the workshop Art and Survival, organized by the Italian organization Connecting Cultures and SCCA, Sarajevo, the artist immediately realized the dramatic potential of the events she was witnessing and decided to write a script for an audio drama where one of the main characters will be a ceramic kiln. Individual Utopias is a tragicomic account of the frustrations and absurdities that make up the every day reality of contemporary postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, touching upon issues such as the international presence on the territory of this country, the specific atmosphere in Mostar, and the powerlessness of an artist confronted with mental health patients. As in her other works, the artist assumes the stage casting herself as a number of characters, while the sonic support is provided by the members of the Mostar band Vuneny.
“In Individual Utopias I wanted to make a documentary project without replicating the real events in verbatim; I inserted some elements of fiction. While I was working on the project I had a theory that I was working on an over-interpretation of reality. Working with Vuneny definitely added another layer and a different quality to my work and was also an extra step toward the development of this over-interpretation.’ (L.R.)

Written by: Lala Raščić
Performed by: Lala Raščić, Nedim Ćišić, Andrijan Zovko
The project Individual Utopias was supported by: Connecting Cultures, Milano; SCCA, Sarajevo; OKC Abrašević, Mostar; Ministry of Culture, Croatia; Studio Live, Istanbul and B.O.P Gallery, Zagreb

Lala Raščić (1977,Sarajevo, BIH) Lala Raščić was born in Sarajevo in 1977. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, after which she spent two years in residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldenden Kunsten in Amsterdam, during 2002-2003. Most recently, Raščić’s solo exhibition Individual Utopias was presented at B.O.P. Gallery, Zagreb and Gallery KC, Belgrade. Recent group exhibitions include ŠKUC gallery, Ljubljana, La Centrale Electique, Brussels, Contemporary Art Center, Graz; Edinburgh Art Festival; The Kitchen, New York; Overtones Gallery, Los Angeles; Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul and Art Radionica Lazareti, Dubrovnik. She lives and works between Sarajevo and Zagreb

Vuneny was founded in 2003 by the Mostar-based musicians Nedim Ćišić and Andrijan Zovko. Since then, Vuneny have played more than five hundred concerts in twenty five European countries, made three film soundtracks, two albums, collaborated on several multimedia projects, produced remixes, and became one of region’s most progressive creative collectives. Recently, Vuneny has signed for a new release with the French electro dub record label Jarring Effects and their third and most complex work until now is to be released in 2009. Vuneny make music that creates characteristic atmosphere with a sound that is both severe, expressionist and scenario-like.