EcoTechnology — Dedication to Cargo Cults
2022-03-19
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”— Arthur C. Clarke
From the beginning of time, people have been interpreting and treating the worldaround them using different rituals and practices such as magic, religion andscience, and the boundaries among such phenomena have often been very fluid.Whether cultures are primitive or advanced, whether they are in contact witheach other or not, some patterns of behavior have always been strikingly similar.For example, each culture has had the need to leave a visual mark or trace.Consequently, art has become something that bridges space and time, from thebeginnings of human existence to the present day. In the past, art was most oftenin the service of magical, religious and even scientific dogmas, but occasionally itused the same language, symbols and methods to talk out about something else.Ivan Midžić’s works “EcoTechnology — Dedication to Cargo Cults” are a referenceto real human practices and sociological cultural phenomena that appearedback in the late 19th century. These were religious movements that emerged asa form of resistance to the colonial rule, with the aim of restoring the societyand obtaining material goods by ceremonial means. They were based on a beliefin ancestral spirits who would return one day and bring to the disempowerednatives ships loaded with luxury Western goods and thus end the colonial rule.In practice, this meant making replicas of objects used by their more advancedWestern visitors, such as wood radios, straw planes or sand runways. The tribesdidn’t understand how the technology actually worked, so they tried to recreate itbased only on their outside appearance. These objects had neither aesthetic norfunctional value, but served exclusively as ritual objects. Although the objects didnot bring about the expected change, the natives fell into the trap of commodityfetishization, on which they built a whole new belief system.Before we think how primitive and naïve they were in these beliefs of theirs,let us remember that the whole marketing machine of today is actually based onpredominantly erroneous assumptions that by owning certain objects we bringwealth and happiness into our lives. Moreover, the Christianity itself is based onwaiting for the return of the savior who would end the sufferings of this worldand restore the paradise harmony on Earth — and this belief lasts much longerthan the ‘cargo cults’.In reinterpreting the actions of the tribes, Ivan Midžić does not depart fromthe idea that this is a misconception of the world resulting from simplistic beliefs,nor is he trying to summon the spirits of the ancestors or gods to end ourtorment. On the contrary, drawing from the absurdity of the electrical appliancesand gadgets carved in wood, which are unusable and dysfunctional, the artistinvites us to actively reflect on the role technology plays in our lives. In thiswork, as well as in many of his previous works, Ivan examines the role of art and artists in this brave new world of ours, adding or renouncing the magical powerof transforming objects, space and, consequently, man.For example, one of his ideas is that “EcoMotor” works on the artistic energytransformed by “EcoTransformer” or created by the “EcoGenerator”. The artisticenergy defined in this way is either a perpetuum mobile that moves itselfinfinitely, or an imaginary energy that produces a placebo effect — some peoplerespond to it, and some do not. I believe this ambiguity and thought-provokingidea is also part of Ivan’s artistic reflection.Ivan uses the prefix “eco” in the following series of works as well — “EcoCable”,“EcoDrill”, “EcoLamp” — alluding again to the ubiquity of the environmentalcrisis in public discourse. Yet, the approach itself is somewhat different here.“Dedication to Cargo Cults” is entirely the result of Ivan’s artistic work, grindingand carving of wood (with the exception of the embroideries), while eco-objectsare actually ready-made objects (i.e. real objects). Ivan alters the meaning of theseready-made objects by replacing the electrical cables with ropes, thus deprivingthem of their meaning and functionality and transforming them into metaphorsof art — “because the greatest metaphors of art are those in which the spectatoridentifies himself with the attributes of the represented character: and sees hisor her life in terms of the life depicted” (Arthur Danto).So, into what does John transform life? He transforms it into an “eco-friendly”utopia, where there is no consumption of natural resources, where technologyworks using only the renewable energy sources. Or perhaps he dreads such exclusivities,seeing them as a form of the 21st century “fascism”? He doesn’t offerus an unequivocal answer here either. Questions and answers are somewherein the rift between reality and imagination, life and art, utopia and dystopia...In light of the plausible sequence of events according to which “the ecologicalcrisis in the 21st century will be analogous to the two world wars in the 20th centuryin serving to accelerate technological progress” (Yuval Noah Harari), Ivan’recontextualization of the primitive rituals into a high-tech surrounding is anattempt of finding artistic solutions to such complex issues. With his “EcoTechnology”,the artist tries to contribute to solving the problem of the ecologicalcrisis on a more subtle, intuitive level, believing in the transformative potentialof art, while at the same time refusing to take both life and art too seriously.
Anita Kojundžić Smolči
From the beginning of time, people have been interpreting and treating the worldaround them using different rituals and practices such as magic, religion andscience, and the boundaries among such phenomena have often been very fluid.Whether cultures are primitive or advanced, whether they are in contact witheach other or not, some patterns of behavior have always been strikingly similar.For example, each culture has had the need to leave a visual mark or trace.Consequently, art has become something that bridges space and time, from thebeginnings of human existence to the present day. In the past, art was most oftenin the service of magical, religious and even scientific dogmas, but occasionally itused the same language, symbols and methods to talk out about something else.Ivan Midžić’s works “EcoTechnology — Dedication to Cargo Cults” are a referenceto real human practices and sociological cultural phenomena that appearedback in the late 19th century. These were religious movements that emerged asa form of resistance to the colonial rule, with the aim of restoring the societyand obtaining material goods by ceremonial means. They were based on a beliefin ancestral spirits who would return one day and bring to the disempowerednatives ships loaded with luxury Western goods and thus end the colonial rule.In practice, this meant making replicas of objects used by their more advancedWestern visitors, such as wood radios, straw planes or sand runways. The tribesdidn’t understand how the technology actually worked, so they tried to recreate itbased only on their outside appearance. These objects had neither aesthetic norfunctional value, but served exclusively as ritual objects. Although the objects didnot bring about the expected change, the natives fell into the trap of commodityfetishization, on which they built a whole new belief system.Before we think how primitive and naïve they were in these beliefs of theirs,let us remember that the whole marketing machine of today is actually based onpredominantly erroneous assumptions that by owning certain objects we bringwealth and happiness into our lives. Moreover, the Christianity itself is based onwaiting for the return of the savior who would end the sufferings of this worldand restore the paradise harmony on Earth — and this belief lasts much longerthan the ‘cargo cults’.In reinterpreting the actions of the tribes, Ivan Midžić does not depart fromthe idea that this is a misconception of the world resulting from simplistic beliefs,nor is he trying to summon the spirits of the ancestors or gods to end ourtorment. On the contrary, drawing from the absurdity of the electrical appliancesand gadgets carved in wood, which are unusable and dysfunctional, the artistinvites us to actively reflect on the role technology plays in our lives. In thiswork, as well as in many of his previous works, Ivan examines the role of art and artists in this brave new world of ours, adding or renouncing the magical powerof transforming objects, space and, consequently, man.For example, one of his ideas is that “EcoMotor” works on the artistic energytransformed by “EcoTransformer” or created by the “EcoGenerator”. The artisticenergy defined in this way is either a perpetuum mobile that moves itselfinfinitely, or an imaginary energy that produces a placebo effect — some peoplerespond to it, and some do not. I believe this ambiguity and thought-provokingidea is also part of Ivan’s artistic reflection.Ivan uses the prefix “eco” in the following series of works as well — “EcoCable”,“EcoDrill”, “EcoLamp” — alluding again to the ubiquity of the environmentalcrisis in public discourse. Yet, the approach itself is somewhat different here.“Dedication to Cargo Cults” is entirely the result of Ivan’s artistic work, grindingand carving of wood (with the exception of the embroideries), while eco-objectsare actually ready-made objects (i.e. real objects). Ivan alters the meaning of theseready-made objects by replacing the electrical cables with ropes, thus deprivingthem of their meaning and functionality and transforming them into metaphorsof art — “because the greatest metaphors of art are those in which the spectatoridentifies himself with the attributes of the represented character: and sees hisor her life in terms of the life depicted” (Arthur Danto).So, into what does John transform life? He transforms it into an “eco-friendly”utopia, where there is no consumption of natural resources, where technologyworks using only the renewable energy sources. Or perhaps he dreads such exclusivities,seeing them as a form of the 21st century “fascism”? He doesn’t offerus an unequivocal answer here either. Questions and answers are somewherein the rift between reality and imagination, life and art, utopia and dystopia...In light of the plausible sequence of events according to which “the ecologicalcrisis in the 21st century will be analogous to the two world wars in the 20th centuryin serving to accelerate technological progress” (Yuval Noah Harari), Ivan’recontextualization of the primitive rituals into a high-tech surrounding is anattempt of finding artistic solutions to such complex issues. With his “EcoTechnology”,the artist tries to contribute to solving the problem of the ecologicalcrisis on a more subtle, intuitive level, believing in the transformative potentialof art, while at the same time refusing to take both life and art too seriously.
Anita Kojundžić Smolči
