Imaginarium: contemporary video art from Macedonia.

Abstract

Video art in the Republic of Macedonia began to be made in second half of the 1980s. In this late period of the former Yugoslavia, video was experimental in nature and came about largely through collaboration with state television. In these years, video equipment was very expensive and not easily accessible to everyone. Video art became quite commonplace in the first years of independence, from 1991 onward. At this time, cheap and easily-available video technology - and an art world much better funded by both government and NGOs - meant that many artists were able to at least experiment with the medium. The videos that you see in this exhibition date from 2006 onward. This is a significant date, as it was the year in which the government of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski came to power. Gruevski's conservative political party, VMRO-DPMNE, have dominated Macedonian politics ever since.