NSK Members Reflect on Collective's Formation, Overidentification Strategy, and Post-Socialist Evolution
In a 2000 interview, members of Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK)—Miran Mohar, Borut Vogelnik, and Eda Zufer—reflected on the collective's beginnings in Slovenia during the early 1980s. NSK emerged from Laibach, established in 1980, along with Irwin, Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater, and New Collectivism, officially uniting in 1984. Laibach's manifesto advocated for the coexistence of art and totalitarianism. Their strategy of overidentification involved adopting totalitarian aesthetics, with members donning ambiguous uniforms. A controversy erupted in 1987 when New Collectivism's Nazi poster remake won a competition, resulting in the cessation of Tito's birthday celebrations. After 1990, NSK launched the "State in Time" project, creating embassies and issuing passports, including the NSK Embassy in Moscow in 1992. The 1996 Transnacionala journey aimed to foster unmediated networks, addressing gaps in Eastern Europe's critical theory.
Key facts
- Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) formed in early 1980s Slovenia, uniting groups Laibach, Irwin, Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater, and New Collectivism.
- Laibach, founded in 1980, pioneered the strategy of overidentification through fanatical mimicry of totalitarian rituals and uniforms.
- In 1987, New Collectivism caused a scandal by winning a national competition with a remake of a Nazi poster.
- NSK's first major collaborative project was the 1985/86 theater production "Retrogarde Event Baptism below Triglav" at Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana.
- Post-1990, NSK launched the "State in Time" project, creating embassies and issuing passports.
- The 1992 NSK Embassy Moscow was held in a private apartment, aiming for direct artist communication outside institutional mediation.
- The 1996 Transnacionala journey across America involved ten participants, including Irwin and Eda Zufer, seeking unmediated networks.
- Members discussed the lack of critical theory infrastructure in Eastern Europe, contrasting with Western art system dominance.
Entities
Artists
- Miran Mohar
- Borut Vogelnik
- Eda Zufer
- Joanne Richardson
- Peter Mlakar
- Jani Novak
- Victor Misiano
- Lena Kurljanceva
- Kostantin Zvezdochiotov
- Michael Benson
- Vadim Fishkin
- Yuri Leiderman
- Alexander Brener
- Charlie Krafft
- Larry Reed
- Cornelius Castoriadis
- Anatoly Osmalovsky
- Juergen Harten
- Lia Perjovschi
- Slavoj Žižek
Institutions
- Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK)
- Laibach
- Irwin
- Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater
- New Collectivism
- Department for Pure and Practical Philosophy
- Mladina
- Radio Student
- Problemi magazine
- Cankarjev Dom
- Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana
- APT-Art International
- ARTMargins Online
Locations
- Slovenia
- Ljubljana
- Yugoslavia
- Moscow
- Russia
- America
- USA
- Seattle
- Vienna
- Stockholm
- Zurich
- Switzerland
- Berlin
- Germany
- France
- New York
- Romania
- Bucharest
- Hungary
- Italy