Rasa Todosijevic has exhibited in some 40 one-man shows and about 200 group exhibitions, His work is intensely political, exploring the interrelations and tensions between authority and personal freedom, between Nation and the Individual. In so doing he advocates the role of the artist as social critic and political activist. Taking his formal cues from Duchamp, Rasa employs whatever means necessary to make his point, including installation, assemblage, video paintings and sculpture. Through performance pieces and audience participation, Rasa achieves unmediated dialogue and engagement between his work and its subject.
A prime mover in establishing the Serbian Avant Guard in the early seventies, Rasa has been exhibiting since 1967. He is a prolific writer on art theory, including For Art Against Art, Introduction to History, Who Makes Profit on Art and Who Gains from it Honestly. His essays and editorial pieces have been published in many Yugoslav and foreign literature and art journals. He also briefly collaborated with the music group known as Other New Music (M.Draskovic and M. Savic).
Edinburg Art Festival (1973), Spans 73 (Zagreb, 1973), April Encounters (Belgrade, 1973-1975), 10 European Artists (Hillyer Gallery, Northampton, Mass, U.S.A., 1975), Paris Youth Biennial (1977), New Art Practice 1966-1978 (Zagreb, 1978), European Dialogue, 3rd Sidney Biennial (Australia, 1979), Krakow Encounters (1981), 16th Biennale in Sao Paolo (1982), Photographs by Artists (Crown Point Gallery, Oakland, Cal. U.S.A., 1982), Private Symbols as a Social Metaphor (5th Sidney Biennial, 1984), Fra-Yu-Cult (Gallery 369, Edinburgh, 1990), Photography among the Serbs 1839-1989 (Belgrade,1991), Cetinje Biennial (1991), Slav Athens (Ljubljana, 1991), Private-Public (Podgorica, Belgrade, Novi Sad, 1992-1993), Europaer (Graz, 1993).Project for Europe- Europe Rediscovered (Copenhagen ,1994.) Edinburgh Arts Festival (Edinburgh 1994), II International Biennial Invitational (Los Angeles, 1994), Aeropagitica, 28 Freie Seiten, Museum G.A.M.E.S of Art (Monchengladbach 1997), Out of Action; Between performance and the Object, 1949 -1979: Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles 1997); Osterreichisches museum fur Angewandte Kunst (Wien 1998);Museum d Art Contemporani (Barcelona 1998 - 1999);Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo 1999), Body and the East, Museum of Modern Art (Ljubljana 1998) Focus Belgrade, Galeria IFA (Berlin 1998).
His major performances and actions include Marinela (Belgrade 1971), Decisions as Art (Edinburgh - Belgrade, 1973), Drinking Water (Belgrade, 1974), Was ist Kunst? (Paris, Biennale de Paris, 1977), Was ist Kunst? (Wien, Oesterreichicher Kunstverein, International Performance Festival, 1977), Was ist Kunst? (Lublin, International Festival of Performance and Body Art, 1978), Vive la France - Vive la Tyrannie (Amsterdam, International Meeting devoted to Work and Words 1979).
Works such as Forged Bread (1973), 200.000 Lines for the Paris Biennale (1977), Schlafflagge with Carp (1981), Invisible Sculpture - Endless Music (1981), Fountain of Death in Maribor (1988) and Gott liebt die Serben (1989) have been destroyed and exist only as photographs.
RASA TODOSIJEVIC
