'Antiwall''Antiwall' by Mirko Ilić
Edition 2001
The Antiwall project is about freedom – about erasing the boundaries in art and also about superseding the borders in human society.
IN THIS SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL EDITION, THE WORKS OF 12 TOP ARTISTS WITH DIFFERENT SENSIBILITIES AND GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGINS WERE PUBLISHED: WIM WENDERS, NATASHA MERITT, BYORK, VIK MUNIZ, OLIVIERO TOSCANI, BARBARA KRUGER, DAVID BYRNE, MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ, TADANORI YOKO, CHRISTO & JEANNE CLAUDE, AES GROUP, DRAGAN ŽIVADINOV. DESIGN: MIRKO ILIĆ.
MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ, PERFORMANCE “FREEING THE VOICE”, 1975
OLIVIERO TOSCANI, AD+ PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BENETTON ADVERT, 1989
12 X12 “ CALENDAR ANTIWALL IS PACKAGED INSIDE THE COVER OF THE ACCOMPANYING BOOK
HandwrittenHandwritten Text for 'Antiwall'
Inspired with medieval manuscripts
THE ANTIWALL FORM AND CRAFTING WAS INSPIRED BY THE APPEARANCE AND THE TEDIOUS WORK OF MAKING A PRECIOUS MEDIEVAL BOOKS IN SERBIAN MONASTERIES. IN ANTIWALL DESIGN PROCESS MIRKO ILIĆ COMBINED FAST, MASS PRODUCTION PROPERTY OF MODERN OFFSET PRINT WITH SLOW AND VERY PERSONAL APPROACH OF HANDWRITING. AS A RESULT, THE ENTIRE TEXT OF THE CALENDAR AND AN ACCOMPANYING BOOK WAS PUT TOGETHER THE WAY IT USED TO BE DONE BEFORE GUTENBERG – BY HAND, STRAT FROM ONE’S SOUL.
“This is a limited edition project, many aspects of which are handmade, so the handwritten manuscript is there to emphasize the precious nature of each copy.” –Mirko Ilić
INTRODUCTION BY STEVEN HELLER
MIRKO ILIĆ IN HIS MANHATTAN STUDIO HANDWRITING ANTIWALL TEXTS.
'Cifrilica''Cifrilica' and 'Inglik''Inglik'
Custom fonts by Mirko Ilić
FOLLOWING THE THEME OF THE ANTIWALL EDITION, MIRKO ILIĆ CREATED CUSTOM FONTS ESPECIALLY FOR THIS PROJECT,
“When choosing fonts, we decided to create something new, based on something old. For Cyrillic, we introduced numbers wherever possible, calling the result Cifrilica.
FOR ENGLISH, WE COMBINED TRADITIONAL ROMAN CHARACTERS WITH EASTERN EUROPEAN SPICES AND SPIRIT, REPLACING LATIN CHARACTERS WITH VISUALLY EQUIVALENT, CYRILLIC ONES. WE CALLED THE RESULT INGLIK,” –MIRKO ILIĆ
From Darkness intointo LightLight
Project mission by Art Group FIA
“THE CONCEPT OF THE ANTIWALL CALENDAR, CONCEIVED IN THE SPRING OF 2000, AROSE FROM A DEEP AND SINCERE DESIRE TO COMMUNICATE. THE IDEA OF OVERCOMING BORDERS AND A SENSE OF NECESSITY ARE AT ITS CORE. AS THE WORLD OF IDEAS IN SERBIA AND YUGOSLAVIA IN THE ‘90s, WAS ALMOST COMPLETELY ISOLATED, THE HUNGER FOR EXTERNAL INFORMATION COMES AS A NATURAL NEED.
Antiwall represents a step out of darkness into light, into an abundance of choices and diverse approaches to the visual art materialized in photography.
THE ANTIWALL CALENDAR IS ABOUT COMBINING DIFFERENT ART FORMS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM AND FREE MOVEMENT FROM ONE MEDIUM TO ANOTHER, BUT ALSO ABOUT OVERCOMING BORDERS IN HUMAN SOCIETY … ” ART GROUP FIA, EXCERPT FROM THE PROJECT MISSION
ANTIWALL FEATURES WORKS BY WIM WENDERS, NATASHA MERITT, BJORK, VIK MUNIZ, OLIVIERO TOSCANI, BARBARA KRUGER, DAVID BYRNE, MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ, TADANORI YOKO, CHRISTO & JEANNE CLAUDE, AES GROUP, DRAGAN ŽIVADINOV.
SerbianSerbian PictogramsPictograms
Can we describe the Serbian nation using icons?
ANTIWALL WAS PUBLISHED AFTER THE ALMOST TEN-YEAR ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL BLOCKADE OF SERBIA, THE CIVIL WAR, AND THE THREE-MONTH LONG NATO BOMBING. THE PROJECT AUTHORS WANTED TO ESTABLISH EXCHANGE OF CREATIVE IDEAS BETWEEN SERBIA AND THE WORLD. ON THE ONE SIDE, THEY PRESENTED EXCEPTIONAL WORKS BY SOME OF THE FAMOUS WORLD AUTHORS, AND ON THE OTHER SIDE, THEY WANTED TO REVEAL A LESS KNOWN FACTS ABOUT SERBIA AND ITS HISTORY TO THE WORLD. WITH THIS INTENT, SLAVIMIR STOJANOVĆ DESIGNED PICTOGRAMS, WHICH WITH SHORT CAPTIONS BY MILETA PRODANOVIĆ REPRESENTED SOME OF THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS, HABITS, AND INTERESTING FACTS OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE: COMMUNISM, CYRILLIC, SLIVOVITZ, CHEVAPCICI, AND MANY OTHERS. TO SEE THE ARTICLE IN FULL, CLICK HERE.
TheThe FallFall of the Wall – live!
The 'Antiwall' Launch
THE LAUNCH OF THE ANTIWALL CALENDAR WAS HELD IN THE RECORDING STUDIO OF RADIO TELEVISION OF SERBIA AND PRESENTED NATIONWIDE IN A TWO-HOUR LIVE PROGRAM BROADCAST. EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE ONLY 300 VIP GUESTS PRESENT IN THE STUDIO, THE AUDIENCE RAN INTO MILLIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Up until the profound political changes which took place only a few months before the publishing of the Antiwall project in December 2000, the Serbian National Television (RTS) served as a mere propaganda instrument for Milosevic’s regime and the socialistic establishment, whose goal was to erect walls and divide people.
THE MISSION OF THE ANTIWALL PROJECT – THE OVERCOMING BORDERS AND BARRIERS BY MEANS OF ART – WAS SYMBOLICALLY EXPRESSED THAT EVENING THROUGH THE BROADCAST OF PICTURES AND MESSAGES OF ART, AS WELL AS THROUGH A WALL MADE FROM THE ANTIWALL CALENDARS, WHICH, AS THE CULMINATION TO THE PROMOTION, DISAPPEARED AS THEY WERE GIVEN TO THE GUESTS.
THE ORIGINAL IDEA FOR THE LAUNCH VENUE WAS THE NEWS TV STUDIO IN THE MAIN BUILDING OF RADIO TELEVISION SERBIA (RTS) LOCATED IN THE DOWNTOWN OF BELGRADE. THE STUDIO AND THE BUILDING ITSELF HAD BEEN SERIOUSLY DAMAGED DURING THE NATO BOMBING IN MARCH 1999, AND IT PROVIDED A MEANINGFUL BACKDROP TO DEPICT THE ANTIWALL MISSION. HOWEVER, OUT OF RESPECT TO VICTIMS OF THE BOMBING THE LAUNCH EVENT WAS MOVED TO ONE OF RADIO TELEVISION SERBIA’S SURVIVING TV STUDIOS.
A SynergeticSynergetic TVTV Day
A TV Marathon
THE ANTIWALL LAUNCH ON WAS PRECEDED BY A TEN-HOUR TV MARATHON, A PROGRAM NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN BELGRADE, SHOWCASING THE HISTORY AND ALL PUBLIKUM CALENDARS PROJECT. FOR THIS EXCLUSIVELY BROADCAST A SPECIAL TV PROGRAM WAS PRODUCED, WHICH FEATURED ORIGINAL VIDEO STORIES AND, ARCHIVAL MATERIAL FROM THE PROJECT. A GROUP OF MORE THAN 50 GUESTS COMPRISED OF ARTISTS PUBLISHED IN CALENDAR PROJECT, ACCLAIMED ART CRITICS, JOURNALISTS, WRITERS, ART HISTORIAN AND MANY FAMOUS AND ‘INFAMOUS PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN DISCUSSIONS ON ART AND COMMUNICATIONS IN THE TIMES OF TURMOIL. A DISTINGUISHED GUEST WHO CAME FROM NEW YORK CITY TO BELGRADE ESPECIALLY FOR THE CALENDAR LAUNCH WAS THE DESIGNER OF 2001 EDITION ANTIWALL, MIRKO ILIĆ.
Talk by Mirko Ilić
Academy of Applied Arts, Belgrade
POSTER ANNOUNCING LECTURE AT THE ACADEMY OF APPLIED ARTS IN BELGRADE (ILLUSTRATION BY MIRKO ILIĆ).
IN THE CROWDED AMPHITHEATER OF THE ACADEMY, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST TEN YEARS, STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, JOURNALISTS, AND GUESTS WERE ABLE TO FOLLOW A LECTURE BY ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING DESIGNERS. DURING TWO HOURS, ILIĆ PRESENTED A SELECTION OF WORKS FROM HIS LARGE PRODUCTION.
