Les nouvelles de Zagreb /
Zagreb Prose and News

Kristina Leko, 1999/2000
56' Hi8/VHS/ DV/beta SP
Single channel video (unlimited edition) / Four-channel video and object installation (edition 3 + 2)
Croatian with French subtitles

The video work was commissioned by Biennale d’art in situ, Quebec, Rencontres international en arts visuels in 1999.




Artist's Statement

This video project was developed for the Biennial of Art in Situ in Quebec as an installation for the Gabrielle Rois Public Library. In the form of a video diary, I tried to gather all the relevant information about my country and myself. I wanted to create an artwork through which one could learn almost everything about the politics, economy, culture and public life of my city and my country, but also about my private issues, my life and the life of my family.

Synopsis

The video work is a juxtaposition of found footage material from the Croatian Public Television News and the artist's personal video reports, her personal "news" recorded in her kitchen. The diary gives an insight into a period of 8 months in which Leko recorded her news once a month. The video covers the period from August 1999 to March 2000 and documents the changes in the political power structures in the country. It also reflects these changes as they affected the artist's personal situation and the lives of those around her; her mother, grandmother and friends. It was a time of important political changes in Croatia, when the Social Democrats came to power after 10 years in opposition and the Croatian president Tuđman, whose authoritarian rule characterized the 1990s, the period of war and its aftermath, died. It is the period when Leko accidentally went to Gdansk and discovered the place where the Second World War had begun; it was also the first time she spent an extended period of time in another Eastern European country. It was also the time when she underwent an intense emotional shift and decided to quit her job. The video consists of eight short pieces, each of which focuses on a different theme.



Note on the original installation: The installation consisted of a set of four monitors, each showing a quarter of the video diary. Between the monitors three museum vitrines were installed, displaying a selection of personal and significant objects that also appear in the video.



 

 

 

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