INDIVIDUAL UTOPIAS
Lala Rascic with Marija Kolobaric

Art book project

Introduction

“Individual Utopias” is a an art book project based upon the experience of the “Art and Survival” workshop held in Mostar in October 2007, organized by Connecting Cultures, Milan and regional partners SCCA, pro.ba, Sarajevo and OKC Abrasevic, Mostar under the patronage of Ministry of Health, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

From 08.10 – 12.10.2007 “Art and Survival” brought together artists from the region: Arman Kulasic, Sandra Dukic and Lala Rascic led by Cesare Pietrousti in an experimental attempt to raise the quality of life of the patients of the Mental Health Centers in Mostar, while a more broader aim was trying to lift the stigma on mental health (a very present problem in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina where a large number of people suffer from a range of disorders from PTSD to psychosis). By bringing contemporary artists into contact with the patients and the staff, the intention was to challenge the conventional ways of dealing with the occupational therapy practiced daily at the Centers. The artists worked for 4 days in the two Centers in Mostar East and Mostar West, divided into 2 groups.

Concept

“Individual Utopias” is a phrase that came up during the first “Art and Survival” meeting. Worded by Cesare Pietrousti while describing the situation we encountered in the two Centers for Mental Health in Mostar East and West, the phrase struck as a precise definition of the issue the workshop was dealing with.

During the course of the 4 days of the workshop these “individual utopias” (individual expectations, tendencies, psychosis and states) of the involved parties and persons (patients, staff, organizers, artists, collaborators) were confronted in the spaces of the Centre for Mental Health, Mostar West. The result was the surfacing of tensions, before unpredicted, that by and large had affected AND contributed to the workflow.

These tensions are emblematic of the Mostar environment and analogous with the tensions that still exist more than 10 years after the war.

The situation that developed had significant dramatic potential; hence the idea that the final form of the project is a theatrical script. Distance that fiction provides enables the dramatic narrative to disguise the documentary aspect of the story being told.

Project description

The project “Individual Utopias” takes form as an artist book that is at the same time a document of the events that took place during the workshop. All the events and characters will be portrayed thru a fictional form of a theatre screenplay or script for an audio-drama. Only a letter and a descriptive function define all the featured characters, concealing the real identities. The narrative is a subjective account of the series of events packed into a style of a light social satire.

The book will include drawings by Lala Rascic - portraits of all the characters - participants of the series of events connected to the “Art and Survival” workshop. Other image material will be used as needed; these materials can be photographs from the workshops and other materials that were generated during the workshop. The “Individual Utopias” book will be in English and Bosnian language, all together cca. 100 pages. The book will be printed in black and white, set in font Courier (font most often used for scriptwriting). The book will have a black cover with the letters of title “Individual Utopias” perforated on it.

The concept for the cover design is derived from a technique of working in clay (a material used throughout the workshop) and a reminiscence of Mostar’s cityscape: numerous buildings, still gaping, deserted, facades still perforated from the shelling.

All the participants are invited to contribute to “Individual Utopias” project by sharing their experience, a/v footage and gathered materials. These materials are going to be used solely for research and reference.

The content of the “Individual Utopias” will be licensed under a Creative Commons license meaning that anybody can for example, use the given script to stage a theatre play, audio drama or make a film freely and free of charge.

Aims

While functioning as a compact document of the whole “Art and Survival” process “Individual Utopias” act as a sovereign art book project subject to be distributed and promoted on the international art scene.
Apart form serving as an art project, the book form contributes to Connecting Culture’s diverse activities.
As “Individual Utopias” will be published under a CC license, it can feed back into the local community by encouraging the use of the script by Centers for Mental Health, schools, and centers for the disabled or anyone else for staging their own plays, or in any other way they see fit, and if possible, generate profit from these activities.

Credits

Project concept: Lala Rascic
Project assistant: Marija Kolobaric
Project advisors: Cesare Pietrousti, Dunja Blazevic, Anna Detheridge

Script by: Lala Rascic
Book design: Lala Rascic
Drawings by: Lala Rascic
Photography: Lala Rascic, Arman Kulasic, Sara Micol Viscardi, Marija Kolobaric, Anna Detheridge, Cesare Pietrousti
Collaborators: Arman Kulasic, Sara Micol Viscardi, Marija Kolobaric, Anna Detheridge, Cesare Pietrousti, Sandra Dukic

Publisher: Connecting Cultures, Milan