Landscape Experience. Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska

After the successful presentation of the Landscape Experience exhibition by Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska at the North Macedonia Pavilion at the 59th Venice Art Biennale, in collaboration with the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia, the exhibition is being presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Sad. It is a multimedia project focused on exploring the archaeology of space, the layers of abandoned and neglected landscapes within the collective culture of memory and reviving the "presence of absence", positioning them in a new context. The relationships between life and death, beauty and ugliness, health and toxicity form the basis of a critical approach to the themes previously explored by the authors.

"Man is the only being aware of its existence," in the context of existential philosophy — if we continue with Sartre's reflections on human freedom in terms of personal choice, choosing possibilities, and taking responsibility for events and risks of human existence, a conclusion or contradiction is drawn about the meaninglessness or absurdity of human existence, which is often confirmed in numerous examples throughout human history. The Landscape Experience project by Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska explores this theme, along with many other sublayers.

The questions they directly raise are aimed at the connection between ecology and corporate imperialism, gender perspectives, collective identities, and the importance of decolonizing not only history but also nature. They consider power relations in society and the dangers posed by mutual struggles through senseless wars (whether explicit or implicit, real or psychological, physical or chemical) and the increasingly aggressive neoliberal exploitation and misuse of natural resources. They explore questions of human freedom, responsibility, and risks for one's own actions, as well as the question of the survival of humanity as a value in modern society. They address accumulated problems, pointing out the importance of establishing a new order that would provide the opportunity to overcome the anthropocentric view of the world. Can beauty simultaneously be insidiously ugly, and can aesthetically worthy become a servant of evil?