"The Political and economic turmoil of the early 1990s Yugoslavia rendered the society compliant enough for the concept of ‘turbo culture’ to gain momentum. With all its exaggerations, inordinateness and random amalgamations of both local and global ornamentation, turbo eventually became a prefix for social and media phenomena of the war and post-war period. As a result terms such as turbo politics, turbo television, turbo architecture and turbo urbanism developed…"
- Excerpt from Turbo Sculpture, 18:29 minutes @ [space] studios, London.
‘Turbo sculpture’ is an epiphenomenon of turbo culture. It refers to the depiction of popular non-national media celebrities in public sculpture projects across the former Yugoslavian nations. In recent years turbo sculpture monuments of Bruce Lee (Mostar, 2005), Rocky Balboa (Žitište, 2007), Johnny Weissmuller / Tarzan (Međa, 2007), Bob Marley (Banatski Sokolac, 2007) and Tupac Shakur (Belgrade, forthcoming) have been unveiled.
Aleksandra Domanović's recent work deals with a spate of monuments, built within former Yugoslavia, which betray a fascination with Western pop-culture both lurid and banal. It is exactly this blonde n' beige on hot pink aesthetic that frames Domanović's video work, which wittingly pairs cheap computer graphics with smooth, astute commentary on the dilemmas of choosing new role models, the historicisation of political tensions, and earnest kitsch.
Check it out at [space], 129-131 Mare street, Hackney. They are also showing a great retrospective of photographer Jo Spence, as well as a video of the Wim T. Schipper's fluxus style play, Going to the Dogs.
