The Heritage of 1989 / Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents presents a re-enactment of the last big art exhibition in Yugoslavia. Titled Yugoslav Documents ’89, it was curated by the artists Jusuf Hadžifejzović and Rade Tadić and realized under the auspices of the ZOI ’84 Olimpijski centar Skenderija in the 8,000-square-meter Skenderija Center in Sarajevo in 1989.

“In our case, the term re-enactment in no way implies a reconstruction; on the contrary, we are mainly interested in highlighting what was absent in the 1989 exhibition, particularly in relation to the exhibition as a whole, its overall concept, and not so much to the individual works. /…/

The Heritage of 1989 focuses on the largest of the exhibitions that include the adjective “Yugoslav” in their titles, i.e. exhibitions that contributed to building a common Yugoslav cultural space. It attempts to reconsider the idea of the commons from the vantage point of it being something inherently conflicted that in the time of socialist Yugoslavia, in an atmosphere of multiculturalism and collectivity, nonetheless stimulated the ability of social connectivity and solidarity. We see this idea of the commons as immaterial heritage with a universal dimension, rather than a heritage that belongs exclusively to the nations of former Yugoslavia. The heritage of the commons is reproduced through our historical experience today – at a time of societal fragmentation and deconstruction, degradation of the natural environment, and the crisis of mass migration and refugees – and presented to the general public through art and exhibitions.”

The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents Exhibition
The 1980s through the Prism of Events, Exhibitions, and Discourses – Part 3.
26 April – 17 September 2017.
Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Cankarjeva 15.
Curated by: Zdenka Badovinac and Bojana Piškur.

This exhibition forms part of an extensive project entitled THE EIGHTIES, which constitutes part of the five-year program The Uses of Art – the Legacy of 1848 and 1989, organized by the museum confederation L’Internationale. It is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Culture Programme of the European Union.