LJUBLJANA

Alternativni vodiã Alternative City Guide

JUSTSEEDS, decentralistiãna mreÏa ‰estindvajsetih umetnikov, zavezanih druÏbenemu, ekolo‰kemu in politiãnemu radika-lizmu, je umetni‰ki kolektiv, katerega ãlani prihajajo iz ZDA, Kanade in Mehike. Poznan ni samo po delovanju na podroãju grafiãnih umetnosti in velikih galerijskih instalacij, temveã tudi po angaÏiranosti v lokalnih bojih za praviãnost in uliãnih inter-vencijah. Leta 2009 je na 28. grafiãnem bienalu v Ljubljani prejel veliko nagrado, leta 2011 pa se je z delom Zatoãi‰ãe predstavil v ljubljanski galeriji Alkatraz. Projekt, ki je iz‰el v knjiÏni obliki, sta uredila ãlana kolektiva Justseeds Dylan Miner in Roger Peet.

JUSTSEEDS is a decentralized network of twenty-six artists com-mitted to social, ecological, and political radicalism. With mem-bers working from the US, Canada and Mexico, Justseeds is known for their print portfolios and large-scale gallery instal-lations, as well as working with grassroots struggles for justice and creating work on the streets. In 2009, they were awarded the Grand Prix at the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana and installed Refuge at Galerija Alkatraz (Ljubljana, Slovenia) in 2011. This book project has been curated by Justseeds members Dylan Miner and Roger Peet.

8,00 EURISBN 978-961-92481-7-1

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Uvod v projekt Zatoãi‰ãeDylan Miner

·estindvajsetãlanski umetni‰ki kolektiv Justseeds, ustanov­ljen leta 1998 v Chicagu (ZDA) kot anarhistiãni in radikalni projekt Josha MacPheeja za distribucijo grafike, je leta 2007 svoj sedeÏ preselil v Portland, Oregon (ZDA), danes pa ima organizacija sedeÏ v Pittsburghu (ZDA). Njegovi ãlani pri­hajajo iz razliãnih krajev ZdruÏenih drÏav Amerike (Oakland, Portland, New York, Pittsburgh, Providence, East Lansing, Milwaukee in Chicago), Mehike (Mexico City in San Cristóbal de las Casas) in Kanade (Montreal). Lahko bi dejali, da na‰a anarhistiãna struktura, menjajoãa se sku­pina projektnih udeleÏencev, razliãne umetni‰ke prakse in nestalno sredi‰ãe delovanja nakazujejo na‰ selitveni znaãaj.

Leta 2009 smo na 28. grafiãnem bienalu v Ljubljani pre­jeli Veliko nagrado in bili pozneje povabljeni, da septembra 2011 v ljubljanski galeriji Alkatraz na Metelkovi, ki velja za pomemben skvot in neodvisni kulturni center tega mesta, postavimo razstavo. Tako je petnajst umetnikov, ãlanov Justseeds iz urbanih in ruralnih obmoãij Severne Amerike, tukaj preÏivelo intenziven delovni teden ob skupinskem pri­pravljanju razstave z naslovom Zatoãi‰ãe. V okviru projekta

Justseeds

Ljubljana

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Refuge, an IntroductionDylan Miner

An artists’ cooperative with twenty­six members, Justseeds was founded in 1998 as an anarchist and radical graphics distribution project of Josh MacPhee. Initially operating from Chicago (USA), Justseeds became an artists’ coopera­tive in 2007, moving its base to Portland, Oregon (USA). Currently headquartered in Pittsburgh (USA), Justseeds has members working throughout the United States (Oakland, Portland, New York, Pittsburgh, Providence, East Lansing, Milwaukee and Chicago), Mexico (Mexico City and San Cristóbal de las Casas), and Canada (Montreal). One could say that our anarchist structure, shifting body of project participants, varying artistic practices and shifting head­quarters respectively indicate our migratory nature.

In 2009, we were awarded the Grand Prix at the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts and were subsequently invited to travel to Ljubljana in September 2011 to install an exhibition at Galerija Alkatraz, located in Metelkova Mesto, an impor­tant squat and autonomous cultural center in Ljubljana. Arriving in Europe from urban and rural areas across North America, fifteen Justseeds artists spent an intense week work­

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smo vso galerijo in Metelkovo oblepili z veã kot tisoã roãno tiskanimi umetni‰kimi deli.

S to razstavo smo Ïeleli izpostaviti vpra‰anje migracij ljudi in Ïivali ter (pogosto) negativne uãinke globalnega kapitala na selitvene vzorce in poslediãno na razliãne ekolo­gije. Pred prihodom v Ljubljano smo veã kot eno leto delali na projektu in ga pustili toliko odprtega, da smo lahko glav­nino dela zakljuãili v Sloveniji. Podobno kot v na‰ih pred­hodnih politiãno angaÏiranih in preizpra‰ujoãih delih smo se tudi v projektu Zatoãi‰ãe posluÏili vizualne umetnosti in prek nje kritizirali temelje kapitalizma kot hegemonskega ekonomskega sistema. S tiskanim materialom smo tako raz­iskali globalni sistem, ki temelji na poceni virih, prekerni delovni sili in ekolo‰kem uniãevanju. Medtem ko je bila na eni strani za uspeh projekta kljuãna obravnava prav teh pereãih vpra‰anj, smo na drugi strani izzvali splo‰en odpor posameznikov, druÏbe in ekologije ter jih pozvali k obliko­vanju novih druÏbenih vzorcev, ki se odmikajo od ujetosti v primeÏu zdaj‰njega sistema.

Knjiga z istoimenskim naslovom Zatoãi‰ãe nudi globlji vpogled v ideje, predstavljene v Galeriji Alkatraz, saj raz‰irja povezave med kapitalizmom in preseljevanjem in hkrati prina‰a premislek o na‰i lastni umetni‰ki vlogi znotraj teh globaliziranih mreÏ. âeprav je bila razstava le kratek utri­nek v ljubljanskem kulturnem Ïivljenju, Ïeli ta knjiga biti most med tem posebnim trenutkom v ãasu in trenutnimi razpravami o globalnih migracijah(imigracijah), zlasti v Evropi in Severni, Srednji ter JuÏni Ameriki. Z zdruÏitvijo fotografij o na‰i instalaciji in nekaterih krajev v Ljubljani smo posku‰ali na‰o privilegirano prakso umetnikov, ki se

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ing collectively on an installation entitled Refuge. As part of this project, we wheatpasted over one thousand artworks, each handprinted, throughout the gallery and around Metelkova.

In creating the exhibition, we wanted to address issues of human and animal migrations and the (often) negative effects that global capital has on migration patterns and our respec­tive ecologies. Prior to arriving in Ljubljana, we spent over a year discussing the exhibition, leaving the project open­ended enough that much of the work could be completed in Slovenia. Similar to our previous politically­charged and con­frontational work, Refuge employed visual art to challenge the saliency of capitalism as the hegemonic economic system. In this fashion, we utilized printed multiples to investigate a global system built on cheap resources, precarious labor and ecological destruction. While addressing these significant cri­ses was crucial to the project’s success, we likewise evoked popular resistance by various individuals, societies and ecol­ogies to model new social forms that break from our present system’s destructive stranglehold.

This book, likewise titled Refuge, expands the ideas initi­ated in Galerija Alkatraz by extending those connections between capitalism and migration, to include self­reflection on our role as artists within these globalized networks. Although the exhibition was only a temporary moment in the cultural life of Ljubljana, this book serves as a link between that particular moment in time and the ongoing debates about global (im)migration, particularly in Europe and the Americas. Combining photographs of our installa­tion merged with particular sites throughout Ljubljana, we

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selijo, umestiti v sodobne diskurze o ekonomski neenakosti, v prostor, ki nekaterim omogoãa prosto prehajanje meja, druge pa surovo zavraãa kot »ilegalce«.

Absurdno se nam zdi, da je petnajst anarhistiãnih umet­nikov iz Severne Amerike povabljenih, da na drugem koncu sveta postavijo instalacijo, medtem ko so prekerni migracij­ski delavci sistematiãno tarãe napadov tako v Evropi kot v Severni, Srednji in JuÏni Ameriki. Ker so mnogi ãlani Justseeds aktivni v severnoameri‰kih priseljenskih in migra­cijskih gibanjih, upamo, da se bo s tem besedilom vzposta­vila povezava med na‰o selitveno in beÏno izku‰njo v Sloveniji in vse ‰tevilãnej‰im gibanjem za pravice migrantov in priseljencev, ki si prizadeva za nove oblike solidarnosti. Skratka, s to knjigo smo Ïeleli zabeleÏiti protislovja global­nih delovnih sil in jih preizpra‰ati skupaj z na‰im lastnim privilegiranim poloÏajem znotraj sodobnega umetni‰kega sveta ter obenem odpreti pot k bolj praviãni in vzdrÏni pri­hodnosti za vse nas.

Da bi se osredotoãili na migracije v Ljubljani in njeni okolici, smo k sodelovanju povabili profesorici Veroniko Bajt in Mojco Pajnik z In‰tituta za sodobne druÏbene in politiãne ‰tudije, ki je neprofitna raziskovalna ustanova v Ljubljani. Njun esej o migracijskih delavcih v Sloveniji ume‰ãa na‰ projekt v kontekst zabeleÏenih in nezabeleÏenih preseljevanj, torej v diskurz, ki ga vsi dobro poznamo. Avtorici v svojem eseju razkrivata mnoge institucionalne strukture, tako vladne kot korporacijske, ki i‰ãejo migracij­sko delovno silo, hkrati pa tiste, ki bi to negotovo in podplaãano delo Ïeleli opravljati, pri‰teva med »ilegalce«. Tak diskurzivni precep severnoameri‰kim bralcem ni tuj,

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hope to position our own privileged practice as migratory artists within contemporary discourses on economic ineq­uity, a space where certain individuals are able to freely pass through borders, while others are crassly deemed “illegal.”

For us, there is a level of absurdity involved when fifteen anarchist artists from North America are invited to create an installation halfway around the world, while precarious migrant workers are being systematically attacked in both Europe and the Americas. Since many in Justseeds are active in North American immigrant and migrant struggles, we hope this text may begin to link our migratory and momen­tary experience in Slovenia with the growing (im)migrant rights movement to establish new lines of solidarity. In the end, we hope that this book documents the contradictions of global labor forces by calling them into question, challenging our own privilege within the contemporary art­world, and moving toward a more just and sustainable future for all of us.

As a way to focus on migrations in and around Ljubljana, we invited a contribution from Prof. Veronika Bajt and Prof. Mojca Pajnik, both of the Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies, a Ljubljana­based non­profit research institution. Their co­authored essay on migrant labor in Slovenia positions our project in the context of both docu­mented and undocumented migration, discourses of which we are well aware. Bajt and Pajnik’s essay identifies many of the institutional structures, both governmental and corpo­rate, that require migrant labor, while subsequently deeming those willing to work these precarious and underpaid posi­tions “illegal”. North American readers will find this discur­

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ãeprav so tukaj‰nje zgodbe priseljencev nekoliko drugaãne od tistih, ki jih poznamo v ZDA, Kanadi in Mehiki.

Knjiga poleg tega eseja, napisanega z evropskega gledi‰ãa, vsebuje tudi moj osebni prispevek, zapisan v pun­kovskem slogu, ki beleÏi delovanje kolektiva Justseeds med kratkim obiskom v Ljubljani septembra 2011, ter esej Rogerja Peeta. Rogerjev zapis raziskuje avtohtona in neav-tohtona drevesa v Ljubljani in jih ume‰ãa v kontekst migra­cij rastlinja.

Z umestitvijo na‰ega umetni‰kega dela in skupnih izku‰enj v perspektivo prekernega migrantskega dela, ki ga kot umetniki opravljamo tudi sami, kolektiv Justseeds raz‰irja in kontekstualizira naãin predstavitve na‰e razstave na grafiãnem bienalu. S tem »vodnikom« po Ljubljani, ki je nastal po omenjeni razstavi, postavljamo na‰e ideje v dialog z idejami drugih migracijskih in prekernih delavcev v Sloveniji in Evropski uniji (EU). Želimo si, da bodo te inova­tivne smernice ponudile neomadeÏevane in sveÏe poglede, tako v Evropi kot v Severni Ameriki.

Ljubljano so obiskali naslednji ãlani kolektiva Justseeds: Santiago Armengod, Kevin Caplicki, Molly Fair, Thea Gahr, Josh MacPhee, Colin Matthes, Dylan Miner, Roger Peet, Jesse Purcell, Erik Ruin, Shaun Slifer, Meredith Stern, Mary Tremonte in Bec Young.

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sive dilemma familiar, even if the stories of the immigrants are slightly different than those we see in the US, Canada and Mexico.

In addition to this essay written from a European per­spective, we have also included my own punk­influenced entry highlighting Justseeds’ migratory activities in and across Ljubljana during our brief stay in September 2011, as well as an additional essay by Roger Peet. Roger’s writing investigates indigenous and immigrant trees throughout Ljubljana, placing these within the context of non­human migration. Another entry by Melanie Cervantes discusses her experience on the US­Mexico border.

By situating our artwork and shared experiences within the perspective of precarious migrant labor, which as artists we are, Justseeds expands and contextualizes the modalities of our recent exhibition at the Biennial of Graphic Arts. As a post­exhibition “guide” to Ljubljana, we bring our ideas into dialogue with those of other migrant and precarious workers across Slovenia and the European Union (EU). It is our hope that these innovative directions will offer unsullied and fresh perspectives, both in Europe and in North America.

The following members of Justseeds spent time in Ljubljana: Santiago Armengod, Kevin Caplicki, Molly Fair, Thea Gahr, Josh MacPhee, Colin Matthes, Dylan Miner, Roger Peet, Jesse Purcell, Erik Ruin, Shaun Slifer, Meredith Stern, Mary Tremonte and Bec Young.

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Metelkova in MGLCDylan Miner

Vodniki so obiãajno namenjeni turistom in drugim popotni­kom, ki v njih najdejo informacije o doloãeni destinaciji. V moderni dobi je prvi vodnik po Severni Ameriki izdal Gideon Minor Davison leta 1822, nekaj let pozneje pa so sledile knjige Theodora Dwighta in Henryija Gilpina. Mariana Stark je napisala prvi vodnik po Evropi za turiste iz Britanije, ki so potovali v Italijo in Francijo. Po drugi sve­tovni vojni sta avtorja znane serije vodnikov Eugene Foder in Arthur Frommer le­te zaãela publicirati v angle‰ãini za Ameriãane iz ZDA, ki so potovali po Evropi.

Namenjeni so bili premoÏnim popotnikom, zlasti inte­lektualcem srednjega in vi‰jega sloja, ki so imeli ãas in denar. Kot otrok se spominjam, da so moji star‰i brezplaãne vodnike prejeli od ameri‰kega in kanadskega avtomobil­skega zdruÏenja (AAA in CAA), preden so se udeleÏili druÏinskega sreãanja ali od‰li na kratke poãitnice. Toda ti me niso nikoli zanimali, saj so se moji kulturni in politiãni interesi redko ujemali z avtorjevimi hegemonistiãnimi pogledi.

Nasprotno, na vodnik sem gledal s povsem drugaãnega gledi‰ãa, ki izhaja bolj iz realnosti, temeljeãe na punk­rock­ovskem Ïivljenjskem slogu »naredi sam«. Zame kot otroka z deÏele, ki je odra‰ãal v tej kulturi, se je razumevanje lite­rarnega Ïanra, kakr‰en je vodnik, zaãelo z letno periodiãno izdajo Book Your Own Fucking Life (BYOFL), ki izhaja v okviru ustvarjalnega ljubiteljskega ãasopisa Maximum Rocknroll.

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Metelkova and MGLCDylan Miner

Generally guidebooks are intended to inform tourists and other travelers about a particular destination. In the modern era, the first North American guide was published in 1822 by Gideon Minor Davison, followed a few years later with books by Theodore Dwight and Henry Gilpin. In Europe, Mariana Stark published a guide for British tourists traveling to Italy and France. Following World War II, Eugene Foder and Arthur Frommer, both of whom devel­oped well­known guidebook series, began publishing English­language guides for US Americans’ travel to Europe.

These guides were intended for well­to­do travelers, mainly middle­ and upper­class professionals with available time and an expendable income. As a child, I remember my parent’s getting free guidebooks from AAA and CAA (American Automobile Association and Canadian Automobile Association, respectively) before attending fam­ily reunions or heading on a brief vacation. Even so, I was never very interested in these types of guides, as my cultural and political interests were rarely the same as the hegemonic perspectives of the author.

Instead, I came to understand the guidebook from a very disparate perspective, one based in the realities of the DIY (do­it­yourself) lifestyle of punk rock. For me, as a country­born child raised in this culture, my understanding of the literary genre known as the guidebook began with Book Your Own Fucking Life (BYOFL), an annual periodical pub­lished by the seminal punk zine Maximum Rocknroll.

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Pred internetno dobo je BYOFL tiskal naslove, telefon­ske ‰tevilke in informacije, pomembne za potujoãega pun­kovca, in vseboval sezname lokalnih glasbenih skupin, ljubi­teljskih ãasopisov v doloãeni regiji, skvotov in drugih lokacij za brezplaãno bivanje, glasbenih trgovin ali knjigarn z alter­nativno literaturo, socialnih centrov in aktivistiãnih prosto­rov, veganskih in vegetarijanskih restavracij ter druge infor­macije, ki so olaj‰ale komunikacijo med punkovci in njihovo potovanje nasploh. Danes BYOFL ‰e vedno obstaja v elek­tronski obliki, le da vsebuje komaj kak‰no informacijo, ki bi bila smiselna za punkovca (ali prekernega kulturnega delavca, kot v mojem primeru) na poti v Ljubljano. Tako smo brez radikalnega vodnika po tem mestu vzpostavili svojo lastno mreÏo.

Pred prihodom v Ljubljano so razliãni ãlani kolektiva Justseeds stopili v stik s prijatelji in znanci iz Slovenije in Evrope. Povezave znotraj mesta smo vzpostavili s pomoãjo tehnologije, in prek obstojeãih zdruÏenj zaãeli spoznavati Ljubljano, ‰e preden smo sploh prileteli v kontinentalno Evropo. Ko smo prispeli v Slovenijo, smo zaãeli te vezi ‰iriti, da bi ‰e temeljiteje spoznali mesto, v katerem ni bil pred tem ‰e nihãe od nas.

V Ljubljano smo bili povabljeni, da bi postavili instala­cijo v okviru mednarodne umetni‰ke razstave. Skoraj ves ãas smo preÏiveli v Mednarodnem grafiãnem likovnem cen­tru (MGLC) in na Metelkovi, v skvotanih nekdanjih voja‰kih barakah, ki so danes neodvisni socialni center. Prek obstojeãih povezav smo pri‰li v stik s Sandijem Ejbiarejem in njegovimi sodelavci iz A­Infoshopa na Metelkovi. Ta ãudovita povezava z lokalnimi aktivisti se je

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Before the age of the internet, BYOFL printed addresses, phone numbers, and information relevant to a traveling punk. This included lists of local bands, zines based in a par­ticular region, squats and other places to stay for free, record stores or places to purchase alternative literatures, infoshops and activist spaces, vegan and vegetarian restaurants, and any other information that facilitated punk­to­punk commu­nication and travel. Today, BYOFL still exists as a website, but offers little for a punk traveler (or precarious cultural workers, as was the case) coming to Ljubljana. Without any radical guide to the city, we created our own network.

Before heading to Ljubljana, various members of Justseeds began contacting friends and acquaintances in Slovenia and throughout Europe. We employed available technologies to establish connections in the city. Through these existing associations, we began to understand the city before even setting foot on continental Europe. Once in Slovenia, we began to expand these relations to understand a city in which none of us had previously traveled.

Invited to Ljubljana as artists, we were asked to create an installation as part of an international art exhibition. Because of these parameters, the bulk of our time was spent creating art in the International Centre for Graphic Arts (MGLC), as well as within Metelkova, a squatted former military bar­racks that now serves as an autonomous social center. Through existing connections, we were hooked up with Sandi Ejbiarejem and his collaborators at [A] Infoshop, located in Metelkova. This wonderful connection with local activists proved crucial in connecting us with the radical political and cultural life in the city.

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izkazala za kljuãno pri vzpostavitvi stika z radikalnim politiãnim in kulturnim Ïivljenjem v mestu.

Poleg prostorov MGLC in Metelkove smo za bivanje imeli na voljo umetni‰ko rezidenco v KUD France Pre‰eren, kjer so spali mnogi na‰i ãlani, nekateri pa so bivali v skvotu na Metelkovi, v hostlu Celica in v odliãnem stanovanju v juÏnem delu mesta. Mesto smo preteÏno spoznali prek na‰ih izku‰enj teh prostorov ter glavnih pe‰poti, ki jih povezujejo.

Kot kolektiv (prvotno) anarhistiãnih umetnikov in akti­vistov je bil na‰ ãas v Ljubljani razdeljen med skvotom in uglednim centrom grafiãne umetnosti. Umestitev tega vodnika med ta dva mednarodna (internacionalistiãna) pola postavlja na‰ pogled na Ljubljano na preseãi‰ãe med umet­nostjo in radikalno politiko – poloÏaj, ki nam ni tuj. Na eni strani smo bili pod okriljem mednarodnega bienalnega umetni‰kega sveta, zavoÏenega sistema, ki je sestavni del glo­balnega kapitalizma, na drugi strani pa smo si kot anarhisti prizadevali pod vpra‰aj postaviti na‰ privilegirani poloÏaj, zato smo iskali drobne kotiãke neodvisnosti in radikalizma v Ljubljani. Kljub temu da zaradi ãasovne omejenosti nismo mogli do potankosti spoznati mesta v celoti, pa smo teme­ljito spoznali prostore, kjer smo delali, in poti med njimi.

Umetniki smo pogosto slabo plaãani migracijski delavci (ãeprav uÏivamo privilegij, da smo legalno zabeleÏeni) in preÏivljamo kratek ãas v krajih, ki jih ne poznamo najbolje. S projektom Zatoãi‰ãe v obliki razstave in knjige smo na‰ kolektivni glas pustili, da odmeva v solidarnosti z global­nimi boji razliãnih ãlove‰kih in Ïivalskih vrst, ki Ïivijo v dia­spori ali so razseljeni ter i‰ãejo svoj prostor znotraj te distopiãne in neobvladljive realnosti.

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In addition to our time spent in MGLC and Metelkova, many of us slept in the artists’ residency at KUD France Pre‰eren Cultural Centre, while others stayed in the squat at Metelkova. Still others stayed at the Celica hostel, while the remaining members crashed in a posh apartment in the south end of the city. Our understanding of the city is mostly based on our experiences within these spaces, as well as the chief pedestrian routes between them.

As a collective of (primarily) anarchist artists and activ­ists, our time in Ljubljana was split between a squat and an esteemed centre for the graphic arts. By situating our guide­book between these two international(ist) poles, we have located our collective understanding of the city at the inter­section of art and radical politics, a position which we are comfortable to be situated in. At one extremity, we were ensconced in the workings of the international biennial art world, a fucked­up system that is part of the heart of global capitalism. On the other, as anarchists we sought to chal­lenge our own privilege, finding small pockets of autonomy and radicalism within Ljubljana. While our time did not per­mit us to intimately know the city, we do thoroughly know these spaces and the migratory paths between them.

Finally, as artists we are often poorly paid migrant labor­ers (although privileged in our being legally documented) who spend brief periods of time in locations we do not fully understand. With Refuge, both the exhibition and the book, we let our collective voices echo in solidarity with the global struggles of various diasporic and relocated species, humans and non­human alike, who search to find a place within this dystopian and uncontrollable reality.