Offcity Collective: Tereza Dvořáková & Šárka Zahálková

The resonance of violence

Kaja Kraner

“A voyage inside a humans’ space.
Seeking the essence of hidden violence.
What is swept under the rug?
Memories, the thoughts of the past.
Any similarity to actual persons or events isn’t purely coincidental.”

Offcity Collective



The initial research subject of the GuestRoomMaribor residents and members of the Offcity collective, an independent platform from Pardubice in the Czech Republic focusing on the topic of “the city as a structure and living organism”, was the so-called hidden violence. The work methodology the artists used in their Maribor project was based on the distinctive “free” use of sociological research tools  a trend characteristic for the so-called art research, which began to gain momentum in the context of contemporary art in the 1990s. Despite this, the Maribor project was not so distinctly focused on gathering data and mapping the “terrain”. The process of gathering data through conversations with different experts in governmental and non-governmental institutions, which address the phenomenon of violence, hidden violence, domestic violence, etc., was only a working premise, a way to get acquainted with the local situation and context.

In this connection, the aim of the project by Offcity collective is, conditionally, somewhat modest. It focuses on the attempt to raise awareness and begin a dialogue about the phenomenon of hidden violence. The position of the artists is clear: The Resonance of Violence is an art project, Tereza Dvořáková and Šárka Zahálková are artists and not social workers. Accordingly, we can also understand the choice and use of the means they selected to achieve their “aim”: through a wide array of expressive means and media (location-specific sound installation titled And what would you do, an art installation in the gallery and the significantly titled web platform www.ratherhaveatea.org) they try to create in-explicit associations to the theme by sensual, intuitive empathization of the viewer/listener/reader.

Because of this the data they gathered through conversations, which served as the foundation of the project and basic insight into the local situation, never appear as merely pure, shown information. The expert data also aren’t “translated” from one medium (i.e., visualization, “audiation”, “poetisation” of speech) and discourse into another (e.g. from expert to artistic discourse), but are taken as a foundation, on the basis of which the residents create a relatively autonomous artistic language.

In this context, a key element for them is also that this issue is thematized, but not reproduced (through modes of speech) nor placed in a position of knowledge (i.e., setting definitions about what is violence, categorizing types of violence, etc.) or a position of judgement or, as is most common, of moralization. To not (re)produce and also to not (re)solve: it is not in the domain of artistic research projects to solve various societal concerns even if they take their thematization as a starting point. Contemporary art (research) projects can address various societal concerns  and are evidently inclined to do so, but these are clearly systematic problems and should be addressed as such (i.e., the appeal to call the police when we witness violence in the work And what would you do?).

Offcity Collective: Tereza Dvořáková & Šárka Zahálková

Resonanca nasilja

Kaja Kraner



“Potovanje v notranjost človekovega prostora.
Iščoč esenco skritega nasilja.
Kaj je pometeno pod preprogo?
Spomini, misel na preteklost.
Vsaka podobnost z resničnimi osebami in dogodki ni zgolj naključna.”

Offcity collective



Izhodiščna raziskovalna tematika rezidenk GuestRoomMaribor in članic kolektiva Offcity, neodvisne platforme iz Pardubic na Češkem, ki se ukvarja predvsem s temo »mesta kot strukture in živega organizma«, je bila tako poimenovana skrito nasilje. Kljub temu, da je »delovna metodologija« projekta, ki sta ga snovali v času rezidenčnega bivanja v Mariboru izhajala iz (za tako poimenovane umetniške raziskave, ki se začnejo v kontekstu sodobne umetnosti pogosteje pojavljati predvsem od devetdesetih) značilne precej »proste« rabe socioloških raziskovalnih orodij, pa ta ni bil toliko osredotočen na zbiranje podatkov in kartiranje »terena«. Zbiranje podatkov preko pogovorov z različnimi strokovnjaki iz vladnih in nevladnih organizacij, ki se ukvarjajo s fenomenom nasilja, skritega nasilja, nasilja v družini (domestic violence) ipd., je bil namreč zgolj delovno izhodišče, način seznanjanja z lokalno situacijo in kontekstom.

Pogojno rečeno – cilj projekta kolektiva Offcity je v tej navezavi nekako skromen. Osredotočen je na poskus (širjenja) ozaveščanja in sprožanja dialoga glede fenomena skritega nasilja. Pozicija umetnic je skratka jasna: Resonanca nasilja je umetniški projekt, Tereza Dvořáková in Šárka Zahálková umetnici, in ne socialni delavki. Temu ustrezno je mogoče razumeti tudi izbiro in rabo sredstev za dosego zastavljenega »cilja«: preko širokega nabora izraznih sredstev in medijev (lokacijsko-specifična zvočna instalacija In kaj bi storili vi?, prostorska instalacija v galeriji, pomenljivo poimenovana spletna platforma www.ratherhaveatea.org), se poskuša na različne načine in neeksplicitno asociirati na tematiko na način čutnega, intuitivnega vživljanja poslušalca/gledalca/bralca.

Iz tega razloga preko pogovorov pridobljeni podatki, na podlagi katerih sta v samem začetku izvajanja svojega projekta torej prečesali teren oziroma pridobili osnovni uvid v lokalno situacijo, v nobeni fazi projekta ne nastopajo na način golih, predočenih informacij. Podatki strokovnjakov hkrati niso »prevedeni« iz enega medija (vizualizacija, »ozvočenje«, »opesnjenje« govorice) in diskurza v drugi (iz strokovnega v umetniški), temveč vzeti za izhodišče, na podlagi katerega rezidentki vzpostavita relativno avtonomno govorico.

V tem kontekstu je zanju ključen tudi element, da se problematiko sicer tematizira, ne pa tudi reproducira (skozi načine govora), ne postavlja na pozicijo vednosti (postavljanje definicij o tem, kaj nasilje je, klasifikacije tipov nasilja ipd.) ali na pozicijo, iz katere bi bilo mogoče soditi, obsojati ali − kot je še najpogosteje  moralizirati. Ne (re)producirati, vendar tudi ne reševati: ni domena umetniških raziskovalnih projektov, da rešujejo raznolike družbene problematike, četudi si tematizacijo teh jemljejo za svoje izhodišče. Sodobnoumetniški (raziskovalni) projekti sicer lahko nagovarjajo raznolike družbene problematike, in to nasploh zelo radi počno, vendar so te sistemske, zaradi česar jih je tako tudi treba reševati (poziv, da v primeru, da smo priče nasilju, pokličemo policijo v delu In kaj bi storili vi?).