D.Rad Exhibition

As part of this exciting project, D.Rad utilises the universal language of art as a means of exploring the concept of ‘Complicating the narrative’, while also engaging with findings from project reports. This is an exhibition to cultivate artistic forms of expression using diverse media and to interpret the research concepts essential to a multi-national and multi-method research project by using art as a medium of interpretation and expression. And we have great artists to deliver that! The collected works culminate in this exciting exhibition of works in Belgrade and Paris. The core concepts of the exhibition are that of complicating violent extremist binary narratives of the other: to disrupt toxic narratives and shine a light on commonalities between, and the complexities of, perceived them-and-us characters, including highlighting shared grievances. Complicating the narrative means finding and including the details that don’t fit a coherent narrative – on purpose – and exploring how stories and narratives of the other can unite or divide us. It means exploring common spaces where tensions and harmonies exist simultaneously. This exhibition is our chance to take stock of research and to see what we have achieved thus far with D.Rad from the point of view of some excellent works of art and very diligent interpretations of our project to this point by 6 artists.

Among these works, you will see a satirical and cynical interpretation of the life of Steve White – a character who can be real insomuch as he is fictional and who profits from spreading bigotry and discrimination against minorities and vulnerable people – in five episodes with animations by Emily Brooks-Millar and Lew-C singing as their artistic medium of expression.

Putting the body and activism to the front, Stefan Lukić runs a bridge. Yet, this is not an ordinary bridge but the bridge between Kosovo and Serbia to show that bridges should not separate but unite people.

To deliberate on how enforced identities can traumatise people, make them melancholic or even violent, Frances Ryan and Veljko Vučković engage with depicting polarising political and social expectations. We come across and even partake in them our everyday, but art becomes a means for us torealise their resonance on their targets.

Finally, to question the self and the other dichotomy in expressions of beauty, the Glasgow-based painter Alan Stanners juxtaposes human and animal worlds as he builds his ‘umwelt’ by painting a diptych.

Finally, we are thrilled to include a visual interpretation of poems by Serbian poet, Stevan Tatalovic and film maker, Alejandro Scott.

This exhibition has been a journey of collaboration between academics, artists and some community members – whose voices and experiences are narrated and shared within some of these works. The presentation of these varied but connected narratives, portrayed in different formats shines a spotlight on the process of academic and creative engagement with the public, and the results it can deliver inside and outside academia.

Event program >