Goran Trbuljak: Monographs

“Authorial management of a personal or universal context and a critical view of the institutionalisation of art are parts of Goran Trbuljak’s long-standing strategy or concept. The starting point of his exhibition was the notion of a monograph, which avoided him even though he is one of the pioneers of the new art practice…”

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Trbuljak approaches the institution of ‘monograph’ from several starting points: as a general visual art context centre, approaching this general locus entirely ironically, reminding at the same time of the fact that no one (as far as I know) has dared, to put it this way, to attack this ‘sacred cow’ which, in fact, represents the peak of anyone’s entire creative career. The exhibition consists of six large tables/plinths/boxes containing hundreds of ‘monographs’. The exhibits are covered with a transparent lid which, in a way, points to the significance and value of content and again ironically comments on such a protective context as their number and making initially exclude their individual material value. They are makeshifts of different papers or used paper packaging. Therefore, the dignity of a monograph is not only jeopardised in every way, but also completely eliminated.
When Trbuljak in an authorially considerate and serious way mocks serious issues even when they concern him, I interpret this message in the following way: to point out what they would want to hide, or eliminate pretension by highlighting it.
This does not mean that Trbuljak makes revolutionary moves against the production of monographs or that he mocks those who already have one, but instead he pinpoints the space of individual ownership and its capability of putting the ball back to the starting point, regardless of the time spent playing and particularly regardless of the current result.”
Boris Greiner