NSK State Art: New York, The Impossible Return

Artists: Marina Abramović / Ulay, Yael Bartana,Danica Dakić, Pablo Helguera, Ištvan Išt Huzjan, Alban Muja, Nebojša Šerić-Shoba,Mladen Stilinović

In 1992, under different historical circumstances but with political resonance to the contemporary moment, the Slovenian art collective NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) transformed into a national apparatus called the State in Time. Although it does not hold any permanent territory, the State in Time is the virtual home to over 15,000 citizens worldwide, many of them artists. The State issues passports and offers citizens rights of participation, provoking open-ended actions of the citizens as they work out self-constitution, currency, education systems, and other state functions.

Offering an alternative approach to the timely discourse on nationalism, "NSK: State Art: New York, The Impossible Return" presents a case study for a community in which bonds of friendship and combined agency create innovative formations within and across the vision and reality of the nation state. It will be the first United States presentation of the long-term NSK State Art Project, which was originally initiated by the group IRWIN. The project will also present the Retrogarde Reading Room for the first time in New York. Compiled by Christian Matzke, it will include books, magazines, CD's, and DVD's related to the phenomenon of Neue Slowenische Kunst.