Logo of Neue Slowenische Kunst

Neue Slowenische Kunst (a German phrase meaning "New Slovenian Art"), a.k.a. NSK, is a controversial political art collective that formed in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans. The name of NSK's music wing, Laibach, is also the German name of the Slovene capital Ljubljana. The name created controversy because some felt it evoked memories of the Nazi annexation of Slovenia during the Second World War. It also refers to Slovenia's previous seven centuries as part of the Habsburg Monarchy.^[1]

Composition[edit]

NSK's best-known member is also its founder, the musical group Laibach. Other NSK members include groups such as IRWIN (visual art), Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre (also known as Red Pilot and Cosmokinetic Theatre Noordung), New Collective Studio (graphics; also known as New Collectivism), Retrovision (film and video), and the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy (theory).^[2][3][4] The founding groups of the NSK were Laibach, IRWIN, and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater. Membership has traditionally been open to all artistic groups who show an interest in challenging the norms and taboos of Slovene national identity.^[5]

Characteristics[edit]

NSK art often draws on symbols drawn from totalitarian or extreme nationalist movements, often reappropriating totalitarian kitsch in a visual style reminiscent of Dada. NSK artists often juxtapose symbols from different (and often incompatible) political ideologies. For example, a 1987 NSK-designed poster caused a scandal by winning a competition for the Yugoslavian Youth Day Celebration. The poster appropriated a painting by Nazi artist Richard Klein, replacing the flag of Nazi Germany with the Yugoslav flag and the German eagle with a dove.^[3] Intended as an ironic joke, the painting soon fell foul of the authorities, who interpreted it as equating Marshal Josip Broz Tito with Adolf Hitler. It was later reproduced on the cover of Mladina magazine, and that particular issue was subsequently banned.^[6]

Both IRWIN and Laibach are emphatic about their work being collective rather than individual. Laibach's original songs and arrangements are always credited to the group itself, and individual musicians are not listed on their album covers. At one point, there were even two separate groups touring under the name Laibach at the same time. Both had members of the original group. Similarly, the IRWIN artists never sign their work individually; instead, they are "signed" with a stamp or certificate indicating approval as a work from the IRWIN collective.

The NSK was the subject of a 1996 documentary film entitled Predictions of Fire (Prerokbe Ognja),^[7] which was written and directed by Michael Benson. Among those interviewed is Slovenian intellectual Slavoj Žižek.

NSK State[edit]

Since 1991, the NSK has claimed to be a sovereign state of sorts,^[8] a claim similar to that of micronations. As such, displays of its members' work are performed under the guise of an embassy, or a territory of the supposed "state". Since 1994, the NSK has maintained consulates in several cities, including Umag, Croatia.^[9] It has also gone so far as to issue passports ^[10] and postage stamps. In 2006, Laibach recorded the NSK National Anthem for their LP Volk. The anthem adopts its melody from another Laibach song, "The Great Seal." It includes a recitation of an excerpt from Winston Churchill's famous "We shall fight them on the beaches/We shall never surrender" speech.

NSK passports are considered an art project. As such, they are not valid for travel. However, many desperate people have fallen for a scam in which they are issued a NSK passport. Most of these scams originate in Nigeria and Egypt.^[11]

In 2010, the first NSK Citizens Congress was held in Berlin. It was followed by a "NSK Rendez-Vous" in Lyon, France, where Alexei Monroe revealed NSK's aim : to make people "aware that totalitarianism isn't a discrete historical phenomenon which went on from 1933 to 1989 and then it's over so let's have a nice triumph of liberal democracy".^[12] On February 26, 2011, another "NSK Rendez-Vous" took place in London. In 2012, yet another "NSK Rendez-Vous" was set to take place in New York City's Museum of Modern Art.^[13]

2017 saw NSK set up a pavilion at the Venice Biennale where Slavoj Žižek stated that "the uniqueness of NSK is this idea of the 'stateless state'.^[14]

NSK Folk Art Exhibitions[edit]

A diverse collection of intriguing artefacts created by the citizens of the NSK State in Time. This virtual state, formed in 1992, today contains over fourteen thousand citizens from Dublin and Taipei to Sarajevo and New York. As it has evolved over the last 20 years, members have developed a strong sense of collective identity, which has manifested itself in the creation of a unique Folk Art, expressing citizens' devotion to the state and ideologies of NSK.

NSK Folk Art at Calvert 22

This is presented in parallel with IRWIN - Time for A New State Calvert 22 exhibits a selection of 'NSK Folk Art'. Works on display include NSK passports, stamps, plates and films made by NSK state members. Exhibited works are from IRWIN and NSKSTATE.COM collection NSK Folk Art. NSK Folk Art is part of a London wide presentation in cooperation with Tate, who will be hosting a Symposium and which will also include a music performance at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, an exhibition of archival material at Chelsea Space (Chelsea College of Art) and a seminar at UCL.
Artists: Peter Blase, Christian Chrobok, Charles Krafft, Danaja, Christian Matzke, Public Movement, Astrid Thingplatz, Valnoir ^[15]

1st NSK Folk Art Biennale - NSK: Past – Present – Future

The exhibition NSK: Past – Present – Future marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of NSK by depicting the development of the Slovenian artist collective "Neue Slowenische Kunst" from its birth within the context of Yugoslavian alternative culture in the 80s through the founding of the NSK State in Time in 1991, and offers a glimpse into the future.
Selected artists that participated in the '1st NSK Folk Art Biennale' : Annelise Bully (France), Julio Canto Chollet (Brasil), Jacques Gassmann (Germany), Kurt Grüng (Great Britain) Martin Höfer (Germany), KavecS (Greece), Kenji Konishi (Japan), Avi Pitchon (Israel), Detlef Schweiger (Germany)
^[16]

The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale

Burren College of Art is pleased to announce 'The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale' as this year's Burren Annual exhibition. The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale will bring together over 30 international artists and collectives including special guests and NSK founding members, IRWIN. The NSK State was created in 1992 as a project of the Neue Slowenische Kunst artists' collective (founded in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1984). In response to the break up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the NSK collective created a virtual state in time and without territory, to examine and question nationalism, national boundaries and the utopian desires underpinning social formations. The NSK State produces passports, opens temporary consulates, and currently has over 14,000 citizens. The 1st NSK Folk Art Biennale took place in Leipzig in 2014, and featured a wide range of works generated by NSK citizens and artists who critically examined the contemporary nation state and questions of power, history and identity, as well as the artistic legacy created by NSK. The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale will be the second major NSK related event in Ireland, following the NSK State Dublin week of events held in Dublin in 2004, in which all the NSK groups participated and at which an NSK passport office was opened.
Artists: Athanasios Anagnostopoulos (GR), Caul Audiac (IE), Zbigniew Bogusławski (PL), Vera Bremerton (IT), Carsten Busse (DE), Christian Chrobok (DE), Patrick Corcoran (IE), Dominic Corrigan (IE), Shane Cullen (IE), Haris Hararis (GR), IRWIN (SL), Marilyn Lennon (IE), Llewyn Maire (US), Russell MacEwan (UK), Emily McMehen & Geoffrey Sautner (CA & UK/IE), Valnoir (FR), Nikkita Morgan (IE), Lili Anamarija No (SL), Kevin Noble (US), NSK Lipsk (DE), NSKNY (US), Noël O'Callaghan (IE), Maurice O'Connell (IE), Alan Phelan (IE), Avi Pitchon (IS), David K. Thompson (US), Darn Thorn (IE), Tanja Ravlić (HR), Florian Schaurer (DE), Berthold Schymura (DE), Andre Stitt (UK), Sz.Berlin (UK), Enemy Tone (US), TLO (Three Letter Organisation) (IE), Rose Vidal (FR)
^[17]

See also[edit]

• Culture of Slovenia


• New wave music in Yugoslavia

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• 
  Arns, Inke (2002). Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) - eine Analyse ihrer künstlerischen Strategien im Kontext der 1980er Jahre in Jugoslawien. Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg. ISBN 961-90851-1-6. 
  


• 
  Arns (ed.), Inke (2003). Irwin: Retroprincip 1983-2003. Frankfurt/Main: Revolver - Archiv für aktuelle Kunst. ISBN 3-936919-56-9. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
  


• 
  Monroe, Alexei (2005). Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-63315-9. 
  

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neue Slowenische Kunst.

• Official website of NSK


• 
  Predictions of Fire on IMDb