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from Nikola Gelevski review
The borders of my territory are the borders of my own
language
What I admire in the works of Igor Toshevski is the union of the
simplicity of his artistic expression and the complexity of the
associative meanings that derive from his seemingly effortless
approach.
Because of the reason that “art always knows what cannot be taught
elsewhere”, its structural position is thus unreachable, indefinable
and ever-changeable, precisely like some temporary free territory
outlined in yellow, spread across the streets and alleys of Skopje,
its sidewalks and parks, in which one steps in unaware of its
presence. So, it is for this reason that in this foreword, using my
words as hooks, I shall attempt to expose fragments of what I have
lured out from the volcanoes while probing beneath (or even from
within me) the Free Territories of Igor Toshevski.
Incidentally, to avoid becoming illustrative as well as to follow my
urge to mark out and form free territories within the Free
Territory, I too declare, by tradition, this very text as a free
territory in its own right.
The first associations that came to my mind regarding the
Territories were our heroic ancestors, the partisans and the
revolutionaries from the turn of the century who created small,
liberated zones within the occupied land.
Actually, what I really first thought of was Wittgenstein and Hakim
Bey’s concept of TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zones). Yet, what Bey
really refers to are the zones of information whereas he does insist
on unforeseen combinations, such as “Tao surrealism – a bicycle made
of hearts and lightning”, which can transform into poetics and the
discovery of new ways of enlightenment and action. But then again,
the chain of associations lead me to yet a different place (which is
why I speak of fragments and probing) and this is why I now call for
attention and understanding in order to present my fundamental
intention:
With the project Territories, taking one of the thousand
plateaus which we choose as a model, Toshevski wrestles with what
could be one of the hottest issues on the Balkans today as well as
its history: the demarcation of borders i.e. the mapping of (“my”)
territory. Of course, this question is not specific only to these
regions of the world (which incidentally, by many, is declared as
the border between Orient and Occident) but what concerns the most
here is its constantly unsettled status even today, in spite of the
recent European tendencies to transcend its (inner) borders to a
more symbolical level.
Although aware of the dangerous affair of playing with borders,
Toshevski approaches this issue from a ludic aspect; yet, in this
case, the game does not diminish in complexity nor do the rules
reduce its meanings. On the contrary – Toshevski’s Free
Territories open up new, unbounded frontiers of interpretation
and observation. Through the powerfully underlined aspect of humor
and the skillful use of conceptual (activist) art, Toshevski appeals
to us through the language of play, which has somehow always been
the very border of language itself, always partly meta-referential
and mostly self-referential. He tells the story of our own local
obsessions with territories and borders, but he also speaks of the
constant reshaping of the European borders and of global
geopolitical post-colonial chaos, meanwhile continually playing his
version of hopscotch across the city alleys, his faithful camera in
hand, fervently documenting each step of his journey.
In a way, if we choose to read his work as political, it seems as
though Toshevski mocks at the Balkan cartographers of today who are
obsessed with the borders of the blood and earth. He even goes
further: we get the impression that the artist is calling us out to
actually draw a line or open at least a comical frontline within our
very own lives, on our own pavements.
It’s interesting to mention that the Italian word for border,
frontiera, the Spanish - frontera, the French –
frontiere, as well as the English - frontier, all contain the
word front. The line that the sovereign draws out with a
ruler (regula, Latin) not only signifies the physical body of
space but also represents the regula – the rule that one must
obey in order to remain rightful. Rightfulness, be it of an
aesthetic, moral or political nature, is now suggested to us in the
form of both fun and art which, even in its most comical role (maybe
especially then!) is highly charged with political meaning and
carries a strong subversive potential.
Beside his recognizable and subtle signature, Toshevski shows in
this work his rather refined political awareness that grows like
magma from within the volcanic abyss of meanings, as every grand and
deep artistic practice should. With his attempt to contribute toward
a unique approach to the mapping of the environment surrounding him,
or in fact – towards its re-conceptualization, Toshevski also
succeeds in mapping out himself in a most precise manner. He maps
out his own work across that huge postcolonial, Borhesian,
free-to-draw-out-for-everyone map for which Clifford Geertz almost
strategically writes: “What we are witnessing isn’t just a new
demarcation of the cultural map – shifting some problematic borders
or depicting picturesque mountain lakes, but an alteration in the
very process of mapping. Something is happening with the way we
think about the way we think”
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