Artist
Filip Bojović
Filip Bojović (b.1984) is a Yugoslav-born graphic designer and photographer who lives and works in Novi Sad, Serbia. He studied at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, New Visual Media department. In 2003 Filip founded A3.Format, a Serbian-based self-publishing collective, particularly focused on zines and photo books. He was awarded European Design and Grifon awards for his work in the field of graphic design. Filip published his first photo book “Osijek Snapshots” in 2018, and his second book "We will walk" documenting Belgrade's Euro Pride will be published in February 2023. He's been working on an ongoing collaborative project “Turbo Dioxide” with Mirko Žarković (mirkozarkovic.com) since 2019.
Turbo Dioxide
I've been working on the multimedia project Turbo Dioxide with Mirko Zarkovic since 2019. The name of the project illustrates the hybridisation of regional turbo folk subculture that emerged in the late 80s, flourishing in the 90s during the Yugoslav wars. Turbo Dioxide documents the aftermath of this subculture, understanding it as some sort of turbo folk on steroids, similar to the ‘Squatting Slav’/gopnik aesthetic. For me, the project is a reinvestigation of male identity – and its roles in patriarchal Balkan society 'on steroids', especially in the Serbian context. From the position of a voyeur, I try to demystify this turbo-male image so as to get to know my own alter ego – one that could potentially fulfil social norms and expectations. The project started through posting images and videos on Instagram; it spontaneously became participatory, as people started to notice these codes and send in similar photographs. It gradually evolved into an extensive archive, which can be divided into four series: Turbo Dioxide aesthetics in public life; the most frequently worn New Yorker brand jacket in Novi Sad; public pissing; and screenshots of porn. Ironically, Turbo Dioxide later absorbed and implemented some elements of the aesthetic it questions – through the streetwear that Mirko and I now design and wear.
This year, we selected a group of artists working in the broader regional context whose artistic practices cover a variety of visual approaches we’d like to support through Organ Vida programs. Sanja Bistričić Srića experiments with different techniques of deconstruction and decontextualisation of archived images. The work of Filip Bojović and Pavo Marinović reflects on the visual language and heritage found in the context of the Balkans. Dea Botica revisits family maritime tradition through a speculative documentary depiction of everyday life on a cargo ship. And Fred Mungo captures the mundane experience of serving and eating food as means of understanding social, economical and cultural implications of food consumption.