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September 12th – 28th
Space opera, a term coined along the lines of “soap opera” is a subgenre of science fiction. The narratives of space opera emphasize the romantic and melodramatic conflict displaced from the real world. The heroes of SPaCe OPERA by Milica Kolarić are contemporary queer bodies brought into melodramatic relation, who come into play by moving from conflict to identification with old rituals and demands of the modern world.
The SPaCe OPERA primarily uses video and photography, but at the same time the installation steps out of the boundaries of these media. Through the artist’s unique approach, video and photography become a space for performing and defining subjectivity. This piece suggests a certain criticism of ritual, and it is unequivocally embedded in the work, although this may be only one interpretation of many. The seriousness of the approach, the willing consent of the bodies to undergo the ritual, the repetitive performance of the ritual – they all extend the boundaries of interpreting the work. Milica Kolarić places herself as the subject of SPaCe OPERA, a research subject that is searching for the contemporary in ritual and for the ritual in the contemporary world. The world she builds is one in which queer bodies are recognized, queer bodies which according to general opinion have no place in ritual. She questions their boundaries, gives them shape and ultimately reconstitutes them.
The piece becomes a science fiction script and the photos make an associative fantastic narrative with infinite possibilities of meanings that go beyond the established boundaries and dichotomies such as conservative/progressive, traditional/modern, real/fictitious. Dichotomies inevitably give priority to one of the two sides, in this piece however, they are broken down and the conflict is expanded. Rather than offering a clear answer, Milica Kolarić’s exhibition raises questions. The motives/themes/symbols of science fiction, the religious, ritual and bodily elements in her installation are intertwined into a vortex of meaning. It is up to each spectator to recognize his/hers own position: ideological, emotional, political.
Text: Olga Dimitrijević
Translation: Isidora Krstić
Curator: Jelena Vojvodić
Photo: Deana Petrović