Goran Đorđević

Goran Đorđević (Goran Djordjevic; 1950, Yugoslavia) is a former artist.

He graduated in electrical engineering in Belgrade and visual studies from MIT. From 1972, when he joined the SKC Gallery in Belgrade, an artists/art historians run space, he had been appearing in public and exhibiting until 1985. From 1979 onwards Đorđević realized a series of works based on copying, such as Short History of Art (1979/81) and Harbingers of Apocalypse (1981). He later helped to organize "The Last Futurist Show" by Kasimir Malevich (1985), Walter Benjamin's lecture: "Mondrian 1963-1996" (1986), and The International Exhibition of Modern Art (Armory Show) (1986).

Since 1985 he has not been active as an artist, except for a brief period (1988-91) as a member of the Amateur Art Society Jedinstvo [Unity] in Belgrade under the pseudonym Adrian Kovacs when he participated at exhibitions of the Society with his black-and-white self-portraits, still lives, and copies of Cézanne [1], but also at the exhibitions like the Moscow Portraits (Moderna Galerija, Zagreb, 1990; Mestna Galerija, Ljubljana, 1991); Jugoslovenska dokumenta (Sarajevo, 1989); The New Langton Arts, San Francisco, 1991; Slovenske Atene, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, 1991) [2].

From 1992-2014, he was a doorman (using any name but "Doorman") of the Salon de Fleurus, New York, a live reenactment of Gertrude Stein's Paris salon from the early 20th century, housing copies of her collection of modern art. Đorđević also collaborated on the project International Exhibition of Modern Art Presents Alfred Barr's Museum of Modern Art in New York that was part of the official selection of Serbia and Montenegro on the Venice Biennale in 2003. Since the opening of the Museum of American Art in Berlin (2004), he became its technical assistant (using any name but "Technical Assistant") responsible for external activities (temporary exhibitions, lectures, etc).

Exhibitions

Solo

• October ‘74, SKC Gallery, Belgrade, 1974. [3]
• Protiv umetnosti [Against Art], SKC Gallery, Belgrade, 1980.
• Glasnici apokalipse, original i kopije / Harbingers of Apocalypse, Original & Copies, III bulevar 106/15, Belgrade, 1980; Museum für (-Sub)Kultur, Berlin, 1980; PM Gallery, Zagreb, 1981; Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, 1981. Exh. flyer. Review: Antun Maračić (Studentski list).
• Kopije / Copies, SKC Gallery, Belgrade, 1981; Studentski centar, Osijek, 1981; Museum für Kultur, Hamburg, 1982; GSC, Zagreb, 1982; PM Gallery, Zagreb, 1984; Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, 1984. Exh. invitation, Zagreb. Review: Željko Kipke (Studentski list).
• Bilder über Bilder, Kunstmuseum Hannover, Hanover, 1982; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, 1984.
• Kako kopirati Mondrijana [How to Copy Mondrian], National Museum, Belgrade, 1983.
• Prizori moderne umetnosti [Scenes of Modern Art], SKC Gallery, Belgrade, 1985; Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, 1985.

Retrospectives

• Proti umetnosti: Kopije 1979-1985 / Against Art: Copies 1979-1985, City Gallery, Ljubljana, 2012-13. Named after the 1980 exhibition in SKC Gallery. Curated by Branislav Dimitrijević, Dejan Sretenović and Jelena Vesić. [4] [5] [6] [7]
• Alles fake - Kunst über Kunst. Goran Đorđević. Aus der Sammlung des Osthaus Museums, Osthaus Museum, Hagen, 14 Jun-11 Sep 2016.

Publications

• "Umetnost kao oblik religiozne svesti”, Oktobar 75, Belgrade: SKC, 1975. (Serbian)
  • "On the Class Character of Art", The Fox, New York, 1976, pp 163-165; repr. in Prelom 8, Belgrade: Akademija, Fall 2006, pp 236-238. Repr. from The Fox, New York, 1976, pp 163-165. (English)

• Who is Goran Đorđević, section in Prelom 8 (Fall 2006), Belgrade: Akademija, pp 236-269.
  • Goran Djordjević, "On the Class Character of Art", pp 236-238. Repr. from The Fox, New York, 1976, pp 163-165.
  • Branislav Dimitrijević, "Altered Identities: Đorđević as an Artist, SKC as an Institution", pp 241-247.
  • "Story on Copy. An Interview with Goran Đorđević", trans. Jelena Maksimović, pp 249-268. Conducted by Branislav Dimitrijević, Svebor Midžić, Siniša Mitrović, Branimir Stojanović and Jelena Vesić on 26 December 2002 in the Centre for Contemporary Art, Belgrade. A version printed in Prelom 5 (Spring/Summer 2003).

• Umetnik kao publika, Belgrade: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2011, 12 pp. Booklet for the Kopije 1979-1985 exhibition; includes a 1984 interview with Đorđević by Slobodan Mijušković. [8] (Serbian)
• Against Art, Goran Đorđević – Copies [1979–1985], ed. Branislav Dimitrijević, Belgrade: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2014. Catalogue.

Literature

• Ješa Denegri, "Goran Đorđević", in Nova umjetnička praksa, 1966-1978, ed. Marijan Susovski, Zagreb: Galerija suvremene umjetnosti, 1978, p 63. (Serbo-Croatian)
  • "Goran Đorđević", in The New Art Practice in Yugoslavia, 1966-1978, ed. Marijan Susovski, Zagreb: Gallery of Contemporary Art, 1978, p 70. (English)

• Branislav Jakovljevic, "The Management of the Self", in Jakovljevic, Alienation Effects: Performance and Self-Management in Yugoslavia, 1945-91, University of Michigan Press, 2016, pp 278-286. (English)
• Branislav Dimitrijević, "Against Art by Other Means (Goran Đorđević: 1972-1985)", in The Anti-Museum, London: Koenig Books, and Fribourg: Fri Art, 2017, pp 280-291. (English)

Links

• Story on Copy, c2008.