Public Rendition of Authorship: Commemorative Ceremonies in Neo-Avant-Garde Projects by Zabludovsky-Zorica

Abstract

Artistic intermedial and interdiscursive projects and performance art events on the artistic stage written by Željko Zorica and his imaginary co-initiator “paleoanthropologist, demonologist, card player and wine drinker, Hans Christian Zabludovsky, PhD” are based on commemorative practices established by historical science and culturology. They refer to mechanisms of history production, question creative processes and evaluate the elusive and complex relationship between collective memory, the political sphere, literature and history. Zorica-Zabludovsky’s books and artistic performances (the erection of memorial plaques in Paris, Zagreb and Oporovec) challenge the “social imaginary” as a fundamental reference of historiographical and critical work, demonstrating that theoretically and politically conscious art does not necessarily interfere with aesthetic experience. This paper analyses them as expression of the transgressive character of post-avant-garde artistic practices—as undertakings that reveal the basic relationship between art, literature, history and public space.