Slapping Censorship
By Rebecca Ironside
Igor Stevanovic, Slap
Igor Stevanovic, has been banned. Again. Not a single art gallery in Sao Paulo, the city in which Stevanovic has been based recently, was willing to accommodate the controversial Serbian-born artist and his newest live performance entitled Slap. This is not the first time authorities have attempted to silence Stevanovich’s. In 1995 the police broke off his live performance O, My Bare Feet in Belgrade, Serbia). Not only renowned galleries but also those devoted to the promotion of young artists such as the Vermelho Art Gallery have refused to house Stevanovic’s work. His artwork was not rejected for aesthetic considerations but because it was supposedly "politically incorrect." Curators at the Vermehlo claimed that "the owners of the gallery who are Jews would find a live performance offensive, especially since the artist is of Serbian descent."
Outraged by the artistic establishment in Sao Paulo, Stevanovic privately staged the Slap, a performance which directly references Marcel Duchamp’s La Tonsure, in his own apartment on October 2, 2004. Significantly enough, in 1968 Marcel Duchamp died on the same day. Several artists, including Bill Gaglione with Buster Cleveland, Ray Johnson, Tanja Ostojic, Shozo Shimamato with Ryosuke Cohen and John Held Jr. have already referenced Tonsure in their works. However, in all these instances Duchamp’s gesture was merely repeated using the same symbol–the five-pointed star. Stevanovic took this gestural echo a step further. He changes the shape of the tonsure from star to swastika, essentially reversing the original idea of Duchamp’s piece. The intriguing title of the performance plays on a typically Duchampean ambiguity: who is slapping and who is being slapped? Perhaps the slap is directed at Duchamp himself (whose work was also met with disapproval and censorship) and, by extension, at Stevanovic (compare the two photographs). Or, is it the establishment of gallerists, curators and art dealers that is being slapped because of its reluctance to spotlight young artists and controversial ideas.
Nevertheless, Stevanovic’s performancedid not go unnoticed. Several galleries in New York City announced that they are interested in supporting the young artist whose work possesses the energy of Marina Abramovic’s early performances and the creative explosiveness of H�lio Oticica.
