Irena Knezevic: Here Comes the Darkness

October 29 - December 18, 2011

Irena Knezevic' artistic practice includes the creation of participatory situations that integrate objects, video, writing, and performance into installations and events. These works engage the public, making them active agents in the construction of meaning. Informed by histories of architecture and art, landscape, trauma, memory, lost economies, nationalism, feminism, and institutional authority, Knezevic densely layers references that range from conceptual artist Sol LeWitt to Soviet satirist Mikhail Bulgakov, and architect Mies van der Rohe to former Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito. She asks pertinent questions that not only draw parallels between contemporary global concerns and their historical precedents, but also allow one to imagine alternative histories. Knezevic's work explores the political implications of revolutionary thought.

Knezevic's exhibition at University Galleries will feature an architectural installation inspired by the labyrinth of Greek mythology, within which photographs, videos, sculptures, performance scores, and posters will be displayed. The artist will direct and take video of dancers from the School of Theatre's Dance Area as they perform her site-specific choreography; stage a video screening with a live intermission at the Normal Theater; present a short concert featuring dancers from the School of Theatre's Dance Area and musicians from ISU Bands; and coordinate a public performance with ISU's Debate Team.

Knezevic is a Serbian-born artist based in St. Louis. While living in Serbia, she was a student organizer protesting against the Slobodan Milosevic-led government. Knezevic moved to Chicago where she received her BA from Columbia College and her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has recently performed, lectured and/or exhibited her work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; Brown University, Providence, RI; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; the Moscow Youth Biennale, Moscow; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Knezevic is Assistant Professor at Washington University, St. Louis.

This program is co-sponsored by the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust and MECCPAC, a Dean of Students Office Diversity Initiative.