Slobodan Bojović's exhibition in the "Belgrade" Sales Gallery attracts attention already with its title. It's called The Russians are coming, or in Serbian – The Russians are coming.
In the Gallery's text about the exhibition, it is written that the title is a trigger and a metaphor for collective fear.
"The collective fear that I explore through the exhibition is not related to one specific nation or event, but to the feeling that stability and peace have become fragile," Slobodan Bojović tells "Vreme".
A feeling that an enemy is nearby
"We live in an era of permanent crisis - from health, to environmental, to geopolitical. We are afraid of uncertainty and loss of control over our own lives in a world that is changing faster than we can understand what is really happening. What fundamentally scares us is this constant tension, the feeling that the 'enemy' or danger is always there, around the corner, even when it is invisible. The exhibition visualizes the pressure under which modern man functions on a daily basis."
Photo: Promo"The Russians are coming"
If the Russians in the title are a metaphor for the internal and external unrest of modern man, as it says in the catalog, could they not be the same for Americans, Chinese, Aliens...
Americans are not from that metaphor
Bojović says that "the phrase 'the Russians are coming' has deep-rooted historical, pop-cultural and psychological meaning", reminding that it originates from the time of the Cold War, and that "it has become a universal metaphor for paranoia, anticipation of danger and external pressure".
"I chose it because in our collective unconscious, but also in the global narrative, that sentence automatically evokes a specific kind of tension and drama. If I had put Americans or Chinese, I would have changed the historical and cultural context of that specific metaphor. The Russians here are a symbol of the Other, an archetype of threat from history textbooks and movies, which perfectly serves as a mirror for our own inner turmoil."
He explains that in the context of this exhibition, "those Russians are not real people, nor a concrete people - they are a projection. They are everything that we project as a source of our insecurity. These can be economic crises, alienation, fear of old age, illness or failure. They are the personification of everything that we feel is coming to disrupt our everyday life and comfort zone. Of course, we live in Belgrade where the arrival of real people from Russia and Ukraine in recent years is a reality, so this title is on the border between that literal, real-life reality and this mine, metaphorical and artistic".
There is a risk.
It is precisely in the context of that reality that he mentions that one must think about the possible risk that the title of the exhibition can cause among Russophiles and Putinophiles.
"I was aware that the title could be misinterpreted at first glance, especially in a society that is politically and emotionally polarized when it comes to global events. The goal of this title is not a political alignment, but a questioning of our own reactions to the word itself," says Bojović.
Photo: Promo"The Russians are coming"
Of course there are comments regarding the title, he says. "From those who come with prejudices before even looking at the works, to those who immediately recognize the irony and the wider context. But, art that does not provoke anyone and does not raise questions, mostly remains unnoticed."
The exhibition has an ironic departure from the current moment because irony is his "defense mechanism and survival tool. It allows us to distance ourselves from the horrors and absurdities of everyday life," he says.
And yet, he is far from thinking that "we should not be afraid of the future."
"Fear is a natural human reaction, but it must not paralyze us. The world has always changed through crises and disasters, and every generation thought it was witnessing the end of the world. As for the future, it will come regardless of whether we fear it or not," says Slobodan Bojović, a painter and graphic artist whose works are in the collection of the National Museum in Kragujevac, as well as in private collections in the country and abroad.
The exhibition lasts until September 21.
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