Imagine 2020

Time is so full of absurdity and paradox that the end of history is trampled by history itself. To ask yourself what is history, especially from the so-called perspective of a so-called small nation, is as illusory as waiting its particular or universal end. Not even walking naked and barefoot helps any more, or at least Božidar Jurjević doesn’t think so. It does not help, but nor does it hinder, rather represents a simple way of life, as in old stories, when people were growing their own vegetables, or, proverbially, sweeping in front of their own door. Connecting unconnected phrases and their specific consequences, Jurjević goes from one extreme to another; the barefoot performer becomes the consumer and the client of a global hotel chain. Big hotels are no longer for little people, just as great history is no longer for – anyone. In fact, when describing his work, this artist from Dubrovnik says that there is no history any more, there are only towels. The small revenge of stealing them might be an act of helplessness, but also the seed of a rebellion. One of those rare local performing and visual artists who has chosen performance as his primary and almost sole artistic expression, Božidar Jurjević, from Dubrovnik, is like the remnant of some past matrix. However, in transition, with its resistance and accompanying pain, which most of his works deal with, he is extremely active. He is also present, whenever that presence is not measured with parameters that have nothing to do with art.