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Die Galerie in der Peterstraße Curating, Design, Production

Lisa Pappon and I opened a gallery in Peterstraße in 2016. The goal was simple: younger artists, classical media, weird energy. We kept it going into 2017. Sold some work. Made some shows we were proud of. Then we moved on.

Here are a few of them.

— Jonas Hinnerkort SAVE

Jonas formed his works within self-asserted systems. Most of the pieces were essentially drawings, using lines as markers of direction or movement. The central work featured black boards with silkscreened circles, each filled with colored chalk lines. They were mounted with magnets on a wooden frame, allowing the end user to determine the layout. I really responded to the modularity of the piece.

The circle reappeared in a wall sculpture, positioned to draw focus as you entered the gallery. A high-gloss black disc, its shape seemed hand-drawn: all shine, soft curves, hand-made energy.

— Dominique Bernadet, Katharina Langer, Karl Heinz Maukel Von der Insel auf das Festland

Katharina Langer, Karl Heinz Maukel, and Dominique Bernadet came to us through Honigfabrik in Wilhelmsburg. We responded to the eclectic energy of their work. Dominique showed bronze pieces that questioned the formal history of the medium. Katharina pushed realist and romanticist painting into the twenty-first century (only later did I realise her work could basically be called neo-formalist).

Karl Heinz combined the language of constructivist sculpture with found objects, adding geometric abstractions layered with video projections. We lit the gallery in subdued spotlights, partly to create an intimate chamber-like atmosphere, but also because Karl Heinz needed darkness for the projections. The result worked.

— Chuang Yi-Jou WEG/STRECKE

Yi-Jou works in stage design, but her roots in painting run deep. One could call her works neo-impressionist, but they were so much more than that. She would take images seen while traveling, transpose them onto the surfaces of 3D cubes, then paint the cubes on canvas. The humour of moving from 3D to 2D, with a wink and so much character, still makes me chuckle.

She also performed twice at the gallery during the Drunter & Drüber – Neustadt Festival: WEG/STRECKE and 2.5D Cube. In WEG/STRECKE, she danced over a paper runner, with movement sensors hidden under her costume. The sensors were wired to a small robot, which responded to her movement by drawing lines across the paper. Sick.

Performed by: Chuang Yi-Jou Costume design: Isabel Wiethölter

In 2.5D Cube, she acted as the third dimension of a drawn cube spanning the gallery floor and two walls. Sick x 2(.5).

Performed by: Chuang Yi-Jou Costume design: Kai-Chiang Lin

— Ivan Šuletić Gebäude und Pflanzen

Ivan works at the intersection of classical landscape painting and contemporary visual language. He creates massive cityscapes and landscapes, often by repeating a single detail until the canvas is filled, across formats as large as 200 × 240 cm.

His smaller ink works follow a similar logic, producing pieces that feel almost inhuman (superhuman?) in their precision. Classical training meets glitch sensibility, with a nod to post-internet aesthetics. Viewers often assumed the works were digitally produced, but every line was made by hand.

When I grow up, I’ll treat myself to a Šuletić original.

—

Die Gallerie in der Peterstraße Hamburg, 2016–2017

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Daniella’s Capsule / Quick Set @ HAW Set Design

Daniella asked if I could throw something together for a capsule shoot at HAW. The vibe was floral cowboy, kind of. We shot in the auditorium at Armgartstraße. No budget. I painted some screens and pulled props that felt... Louisiana-ish?

Ricarda took the photos. It was really fun hanging out with her and Daniella. Art School Vibe is strong with this one.

HAW Hamburg Armgartstraße, 2017 Design: Daniella Meichelböck Photos: Ricarda Fallenbacher

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Ég gef þér Ísland Screen Print

The brief was to design wrapping paper. Mine ended up being a trip to Iceland (I clearly wasn’t over my own). Actually, not sure if it was a gift for someone else or a rerun for myself. Either way, it felt right.

The workshop was called The Art of Wrapping Paper, hosted by the Graphic Art Colony of Youth in Belgrade. We did most of the printing in the gallery: big windows, great daylight. Bojana was a dream. Supportive, calm... The whole thing had a very nice vibe. The prints were later shown at U10 as part of an exhibition called Žao mi da otvorim (I Feel Bad Opening It), with proceeds going to the Zvečanska home for children without parental care.

I decided to do the raster by hand (either as meditation or symptom, unclear). I could’ve picked better colors too, but honestly, I could’ve done a lot of things differently. I only properly understood how silkscreen actually worked halfway through the process.

Still, Stefan said he framed mine. I haven’t seen it, but I choose to believe him.

Art of Wrapping Paper, Graphic Art Colony of Youth Belgrade, 2014

Project by: Bojana Petković

Workshop leaders: Marija Grahovac, Isidora Nikolić, Mane Radmanović

Participants: Valentina Brković, Lidija Delić, Marija Grahovac, Davor Goromilović, Dragan Đorđević, Maja Josifović, Marija Knežević, Milica Kolarić, Tijana Knežević, Željko Lončar, Nino Maljević, Bratislav Milenković, Isidora Nikolić, Mina Piščević, Mane Radmanović, Duško Ruljević, Marija Simić Sarajčić, Stefan Starčević, Nina Živković

Photos: Milan Kralj

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How to Rip Up a Digital Picture Glitch Experiment

Scanned photos I shot with my Praktica BCA 📷. Opened the jpgs in WordPad (??), wrote lyrics into the code because… emo? Saved them. They shredded themselves ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can’t even remember which songs I used anymore.

Belgrade (and a bunch of other places, kinda), 2013

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Žena, peder, jevrejin Mixed Media

Made a gothic-looking altar from layered MDF using a laser cutter. Installed back-projection screens where icons would go. Played three birdseye videos from behind.

✂️ Žena, peder, jevrejin — rock-paper-scissors [remix] ⛪ Crkvica — Christian hopscotch 🔪 Krvave rukavice — pat-a-cake with butcher knives

The whole thing was about how marginalised groups are tolerated, yet ranked, inside a rigid system until the system starts to crack. And then they’re the first to bleed.

Veštice - istorija i učenje Belgrade, 2013

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Princ Žaba (2013) Theatre

A spoiled prince gets turned into a frog and learns the hard way that self-awareness isn't optional.​

Directed by: Isidora Goncić Written by: David Mamet Set Design: Duško Ruljević Costume Design: Olja Marković Music: Nikola Lukić Sound Design: Prvoslav Živanović Starring: Matija Živković, Iva Stefanović, Đorđe Stojković, Petra Dimitrijević Production: FDU / Pozorište Boško Buha

I was deep into Paranoid Park at the time. Decided the set needed a full skate rink, curves and all. Seemed fitting: start high, crash hard, climb back up. The premiere was at FDU. Afterwards, the whole rink was hauled to Buha, unloaded at the entrance. Getting it inside was… a situation. Got it done. My back still holds a grudge.

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In the Night (2013) Short

After a fight with her boyfriend, sleepless Danijela wanders through Belgrade on a hot summer night, searching for anything to distract her, cutting between dreams and reality, tracing the space where imagination blurs with memory.

Directed by: Ivana Bobić Written by: Vuk Ršumović & Ivana Bobić (concept), Nathan D'Arcy Roberts (additional dialogue) Starring: Ben Aldridge, Danijela Dimitrovska, Nikola Ljubičić, Isidora Tričković Cinematography: Rain Li Set Design: Duško Ruljević Costume Design: Milica Kolarić Editing: Sam Jones Music: Blood Music Producers: Ivana Bobić, Andy Brunskill, Rain Li, Nathan D'Arcy Roberts, Vuk Ršumović

Milica asked me to help out on this one. It shot mostly on locations (not much to build), but the crew was nice and the spots pretty photogenic.

I had to make a string of lights. Milica asked if she could keep it. I said sure, but forgot to mention the bulbs weren’t LED. A few days later she told me they burned a mark into her hardwood floor.

Ben was really cute.

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Roter Schnee (2013) Short

Serbia, 1941. After the death of a German soldier, Lieutenant Berg must force a prisoner to betray his comrades — or face the execution of one hundred civilians. Based on true events.

Directed by: Luka Popadić Written by: Luka Popadić, co-written by Tamara Barackov & Beka Savić Starring: Jörg Koslowsky, Vuk Jovanović, Gottfried Breitfuss, Radoslav Milenković Cinematography: Vladan Obradović Art Direction: Bojana Nikolić, Kristina Radosavljević Set Dressing: Duško Ruljević, Tamara Tricković, Janja Veselinović Costume Design: Irena Belojica Editing: Petra Beck, Feđa Hadžić Makeup: Lana Rakanović, Sendy Kumalakanta (special effects) Producers: Luka Popadić, Julia Tal, Nenad Veličković (with associate producers Radoslav Brkić, Silvia Loinjak)

Zeka asked me to help. We needed a village that could pass for WWII Serbia, so we headed into the hinterlands. Found a house. Next thing, the whole village showed up. The kids were Children of the Corn scary.

The run-down prop houses in Belgrade made prop hunting a breeze.

There was an animal-related incident I really wish I could forget.

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Poziv (2012) Theatre

Boys, girls, and nothing ever lining up right.

Directed by: Isidora Goncić Written by: Darko Marjanović Set Design: Duško Ruljević Costume Design: Olja Marković Sound Design: Nikola Lukić Starring: Čarna Vučinić, Stefan Milivojević, Ana Jovanović, Milena Božić, Milja Mladenović, Aleksandra Ajduković, Marina Kecman, Miona Marković, Marko Veličković, Andrija Ražnatović, Gligorije Marinković, Nemanja Stojković, Luka Lončarević, Alek Surtov Production: Omladinsko Pozorište Dadov

The grown-up crew kept the place running. The rest of us went full teenage mode. Started with the source material, ended up somewhere between Grease and Physical. A very fun one to work on.

I ❤ Olivia Newton-John. That’s it. That’s the post.

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Art Exit Landscape Installation

Igor brought us on for a project that sounded pretty wild: massive metal hoops, elastic fabric, and a live video distortion setup that skewed visitors’ bodies and projected them back in real time.

Eight hoops were grounded, eight suspended from the fortress walls by steel rope. Elastic fabric was stretched across them, forming glowing volumes lit from beneath. Above the wall, we installed a row of fabric sails using the same materials, catching wind just enough to move but not take off 🤞. We also attached smaller hoop pieces to lamp posts. cute. help.

No one knew if the fabric would hold the stretch. It held.

Rock climbers rigged the suspension ropes. Watching them hang there — pure stress. Also, it was insanely hot! We melted under shade tents between builds.

Left the site to meet some friends. Forgot my crew pass. Tried to get back in through the main entrance, but forgot there was weed in my wallet.

Security found it.

Lost half my fee to a security fine.

YOLO

EXIT Festival, with Igor Vasiljev, Isidora Spasić, Nikola Nikolić; video by Ivan Vuksanov Novi Sad, 2012

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Radnici umiru pevajući (2011) Theatre

When a factory closes, the workers are left to mourn their lost futures. A musical of survival and grief.

Directed by: Anđelka Nikolić Written by: Olga Dimitrijević Production Design: Maja Mirković Set Design: Duško Ruljević Starring: Milan Kovačević, Igor Borojević, Marija Bergam, Marija Milenković, Aleksandar Đinđić, Marko Gvero, Đorđe Branković, Milan Marić, Nina Lazarević Production: Hartefakt Fund / Bitef Teatar

The stage ended up bare; props were lined up like exhibition pieces. Honestly, pretty good idea. I used the paycheck to go to Copenhagen. Now, that was something.

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Narednik (2011) Short

One night in Belgrade, two men meet. By morning, everything will have changed.

Written & directed by: Nikola Ljuca Starring: Jasmina Avramović, Milan Marić, Miloš Timotijević Cinematography: Maja Radošević Set & Costume design: Duško Ruljević Editing: Nataša Damnjanović Producers: Nataša Damnjanović, Andrej Nosov, Vladimir Vidić

I didn’t have much experience with costumes yet, so Milan ended up with a T-shirt one size too small. I bluffed my way out, said it was intentional (the tightness implying he was closeted).

We needed kitchen tiles for a scene, so I decided to tile the wall myself. Bad idea.

Butter was used on the windows to haze the light from outside.

Finding the right car for the sergeant took forever. I still think it should've been an Alfa Romeo 156.

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Ja već jesam sve ono što želim da imam (2010) Short

A boy new to the city drifts between his sister’s apartment, friends, and his own restless head. The city feels empty, loud, and cracked. Somewhere along the way, he starts hearing things: how do you say no to yourself?

Directed by: Dane Komljen Written by: Dane Komljen Starring: Ivan Đorđević, Bojana Zečević, Dragana Milošević, Predrag Damnjanović Cinematography: Relja Ilić Set Design: Ivana Karišik & Duško Ruljević Costume Design: Jelena Antanasijević Editing: Jelena Maksimović Produced by: Ksenija Đorđević

Shot part of it in Blok 62 (or 64? Memory’s a little blurry).

Ivana blasted Who Will Take My Dreams Away on repeat while we were pasting posters in an underpass (no permit). She cosplayed Vanessa Paradis from Girl on the Bridge, dodging invisible knives.

We set off fireworks (also no permit). It was so windy it took forever to aim where Relja could actually catch them on camera. Someone was posted as lookout for the cops.

Dane had really good taste in music.

The costume designer is still to return my hoodie.

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Četvrtak (2010) Short

An 18-year-old Filip runs out of the house, leaving his mother behind. Something happened that morning, something big enough to change everything.

Directed by: Nikola Ljuca Written by: Staša Bajac & Nikola Ljuca Starring: Milan Marić, Milica Gojković, Filip Žarković, Marija Opsenica Cinematography: Maja Radošević Set Design: Ivana Karišik & Duško Ruljević Costume Design: Magdalena Klašnja Editing: Nataša Damnjanović Producers: Nataša Damnjanović, Vladimir Vidić, Petar Daković

The fake walls we built were wobbly enough to fall over if you sneezed. Ivana and I graffitied the locations and called it an artistic intervention. I took a portrait of my mentor, used it as a stand-in for the dead father. Pretty sure that was a key moment in our.... future relationship (coughexpulsioncough) Good times.

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ISPOD (could've workshopped the title a bit more) Mixed Media

True story: "Aliens are currently all around us, and are watching us all the time," said Lachezar Filipov of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. "Extraterrestrials are critical of humans' interference with nature’s processes. Contact will happen through the power of thought, not radio waves." (Telegraph, 2009)

Wait — is he talking about aliens, or god?

[video excerpts, sped up and looped]

Shot on a Sony CCD-TRV228 Handycam, night vision mode. A body is moving slowly through darkness — underwater, elsewhere 👻👽😱

Art Is Art, Everything Else is Everything Else Belgrade, 2009

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[not]EU Performance

Look, I don’t really know what was going on here, something-something about fear of borders and Stockholm syndrome.

Yes, I was very earnest. Yes, there is footage. No, you may not see it.

Bitef teatar Belgrade, 2009

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Skin/Thread/Olympus Photography

Wrapped thread around her body, shot it on an Olympus FE-190 📷 Might have been exhibited? Not sure anymore… 💊 (Gotta ask Zeka)

Belgrade, 2007 (why is the 📂 called “Telo kao režim”?)