Landscape Experience. Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska

After a successful presentation of the Landscape Experience exhibition by Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska at the Pavilion of North Macedonia at the 59th Art Biennale in Venice, in collaboration with the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia, the exhibition is being showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Sad. It is a multimedia project focusing on the exploration of spatial archaeology, the layers of abandoned and neglected landscapes within the collective culture of memory, and the revival of 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 addressed by the authors. The project Landscape Experience by Robert Jankuloski and Monika Moteska examines this theme and many other underlying layers. Directly addressing the interconnectedness of ecology with corporate imperialism, gender perspectives, collective identities, and the importance of decolonizing not only history but also nature, the questions raised consider power dynamics in society and the dangers of mutual struggles through senseless wars (whether explicit or implicit, real or psychological, physical or chemical) and the increasingly aggressive neoliberal exploitation and abuse of natural resources. They explore questions of human freedoms, responsibilities, risks of their actions, and the question of the survival of humanity as a value of contemporary society. Tackling accumulated problems, they emphasize the importance of establishing a new order that would provide an opportunity to overcome the anthropocentric view of the world. Can beauty simultaneously be insidiously ugly, and can aesthetically valuable become a servant of evil?