O.P.A.: Alexander is not dead, long live Alexander!
19 September
The beginning of the 21st century could be marked by the new wave of nationalistic authoritarian governments on part of the European continent, as the present stage of
neoliberalism has brought about a new type of European periphery. One of them, a particular populist xenophobic authoritarian government, through well-established propaganda machinery has succeeded in successively degrading its citizens and all aspects of human existence. Focusing on the Macedonian context, this talk will present examples of tactical media works or artworks spreading/using fake information as basis. Though selected works disseminated false information in a parodic way, a number of people believed in them. From the examples of artists using tactical media methodologies we will move on to the aestheticization of politics and the political propaganda images produced by the party that was on power during the period 2006-2016. The images we will focus on were true (the promotional images of Skopje 2014 project), but ironically, at first, nobody believed in them as they seemed too parodic and unrealistic. Great extent of appropriating art methodologies by the political happened in this period. In such atmosphere where the unbelievable is possible, a group of teenagers from the small town called Veles, earned a bunch of money creating fake pro-Trump news that were disseminated during the US election campaign by websites targeting American readers.
Starting from the standpoint that art should belong, and be accessible to everyone, OPA’s practices are context based, non-collectible and either ephemeral or distributed in multiple copies. In its earlier phase (2001-2010) OPA’s focus was the art system, the art institutions and art as an institution. Thus, OPA’s works were often fused with its members’ personal lives and their body of work consists of created situations, durational performances, mockumentaries, etc. Later on, witnessing the rise of an authoritarian government OPA’s work became much more political. In the period of 2012 to 2015, OPA participated in the establishing and the intensive work of the Kooperacija Initiative, an art collective whose work was openly critical and an alternative to the controlled and decaying cultural institutions in the Republic of Macedonia. As the questions: Why art?, To whom does it serve?, Should art be useful in any way?, became much more present in OPA’s work, two new, multiple personalities/ identities parallel to OPA were created. Intrigued to analyse the logic of the market related art practice, in 2014 the “OPA Professional” entity was born. OPA Professional’s goal is producing visually appealing images and objects (sellable, collectible and visually attractive) while developing several kinds of prototypes and strategies of art production. As a result, OPA Professional’s work oscillates between the real and the mockery. The second entity founded in 2016 was named “OPA Fondacija”. It focuses on developing practical utilitarian solutions and constructive art practices as an alternative to the critical ones. It arose from the necessity for a direct contribution to the community and with a strong belief that solidarity and education are crucial for today’s world.