Post by uz on Jan 27, 2012 18:48:02 GMT -5
While foreigners are often caustic in their appreciation of Skopje’s controversial revamp, some comparing it to Disneyland, the local artistic community is keeping strangely quiet.
As the government-sponsored facelift of the Macedonian capital, dubbed Skopje 2014, gains new additions almost every month, it is drawing increasingly vocal criticism from the outside world.
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Back at home, however, artists, architects and city planners seem strangely reluctant to raise their voices.
One possible explanation for this critical silence is that many are engaged in projects connected to the costly makeover that pay their bills.
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Bozinovski adds that the revamp, which incorporates dozens of new buildings as well as statues, fountains, bridges, a triumphal arch and an obelisk, is “carrying out the long-term desires of Macedonians”, and that “the people are loving it”.
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“I’m an artist and have never been interested in politics. I create artworks and, as an artist, am totally incompetent to talk about politics,” she told Balkan Insight.
“This project gave us a chance to show our qualities and we’re happy that our works will leave their marks on time,” she added.
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Meanwhile artist Aleksandar Stankoski, who is well known for his criticisms of former Yugoslavia, and of Macedonia’s NATO and Europe aspirations, stands up for aspects of Skopje 2014.
“I’m not part of the project but those that are, are recognized by the government as the best in their fields,” he said.
“It’s unprofessional to say that politics and their employment [prospects] are affecting artists,” Stankoski added.
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Matej Bogdanovski is one of the few artists to have publicly opposed Skopje 2014. He blames apathy and a weak tradition of politically engaged art in Macedonia for the fact that, as he sees it, most artists have succumbed to the influence of the ruling centre-right VMRO DPMNE party.
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Architect and Professor Miroslav Grcev is another trenchant critic of Skopje 2014. His says most artists have kept quiet because the country is sliding into a kind of one-party dictatorship.
“The assumption that Macedonia is a democratic society is totally wrong. Our society is becoming a quiet and soft dictatorship,” he said. “Institutions are there only to execute one political will.”
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Grcev argues that not only artists but lawyers and judges, engineers, doctors, professors have also been silenced.
“They [the authorities] use the same techniques when they need to subdue people, corrupting those who have no moral problems and making them their servants.
“Then they destroy those that oppose them. They keep the majority in fear, with the threat: if you keep silent, you won’t be hurt,” he said.
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“Only a few who remain unstained raise their voice against this, while the majority is patient, and silently waits for better times,” he added. “This is natural behavior in a totalitarian social system!”
He fears that some foreign artists can see what is going on in Macedonia much more clearly than most people at home can do.
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www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-artists-keep-silent-over-skopje-2014
As the government-sponsored facelift of the Macedonian capital, dubbed Skopje 2014, gains new additions almost every month, it is drawing increasingly vocal criticism from the outside world.
-
Back at home, however, artists, architects and city planners seem strangely reluctant to raise their voices.
One possible explanation for this critical silence is that many are engaged in projects connected to the costly makeover that pay their bills.
-
Bozinovski adds that the revamp, which incorporates dozens of new buildings as well as statues, fountains, bridges, a triumphal arch and an obelisk, is “carrying out the long-term desires of Macedonians”, and that “the people are loving it”.
-
“I’m an artist and have never been interested in politics. I create artworks and, as an artist, am totally incompetent to talk about politics,” she told Balkan Insight.
“This project gave us a chance to show our qualities and we’re happy that our works will leave their marks on time,” she added.
-
Meanwhile artist Aleksandar Stankoski, who is well known for his criticisms of former Yugoslavia, and of Macedonia’s NATO and Europe aspirations, stands up for aspects of Skopje 2014.
“I’m not part of the project but those that are, are recognized by the government as the best in their fields,” he said.
“It’s unprofessional to say that politics and their employment [prospects] are affecting artists,” Stankoski added.
-
Matej Bogdanovski is one of the few artists to have publicly opposed Skopje 2014. He blames apathy and a weak tradition of politically engaged art in Macedonia for the fact that, as he sees it, most artists have succumbed to the influence of the ruling centre-right VMRO DPMNE party.
-
Architect and Professor Miroslav Grcev is another trenchant critic of Skopje 2014. His says most artists have kept quiet because the country is sliding into a kind of one-party dictatorship.
“The assumption that Macedonia is a democratic society is totally wrong. Our society is becoming a quiet and soft dictatorship,” he said. “Institutions are there only to execute one political will.”
-
Grcev argues that not only artists but lawyers and judges, engineers, doctors, professors have also been silenced.
“They [the authorities] use the same techniques when they need to subdue people, corrupting those who have no moral problems and making them their servants.
“Then they destroy those that oppose them. They keep the majority in fear, with the threat: if you keep silent, you won’t be hurt,” he said.
-
“Only a few who remain unstained raise their voice against this, while the majority is patient, and silently waits for better times,” he added. “This is natural behavior in a totalitarian social system!”
He fears that some foreign artists can see what is going on in Macedonia much more clearly than most people at home can do.
-
www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-artists-keep-silent-over-skopje-2014