The Association of Visual Artists of Užice (UVUU) has announced a competition for the fourth contemporary art festival - Videopark. The festival will take place in Užice, Serbia, from July 27 to 29, 2023. The topic of this year’s open call and the program is Identity Paradox
Keywords: body, identity, race, memory, presentation, self, past, future
The identity paradox is a philosophical concept that deals with the question of how to reconcile the seemingly conflicting ideas of personal identity over time. The basic problem is that, as we change and grow over the course of our lives, it seems difficult to say that we are the same person we were in the past.
Some philosophers have also proposed the idea of a "bundle theory" of personal identity, which suggests that there is no single, unchanging self, but rather a collection of experiences and memories that make up our sense of self. However, identities claim to be fluid, so we experience the loss of former identities and the acquisition of new ones, the process enabled by different events in our environments.
Importance will be given to those artworks that question the uniqueness of identity, the concept of body and movement, as well as criticism of contemporary views on identities through digital and mass media.
The goal of the Videopark festival is to acquaint the general public with contemporary artistic practices in the field of video, film and moving images, as well as to point out the insufficient affirmation of this type of artistic expression. Presenting experimental works that through a wide range of visual forms, processes and practices include questions and contribute to a creative and critical understanding of reality, as well as the application of forms of modern digital media, are just some of the things promoted by Videopark. Working with the local community, supporting decentralization in the arts and creating a platform for all young artists, UVUU aims to relocate the center from major cultural centers, festivals and art fairs to smaller places, and to create a place for all visual artists through mutual and mutual support. they mostly use video as the basic language of artistic expression.
Additionally to the movie screenings, the Videopark will once again host numerous artists on its residency program, which will last from July 21 to 30. The artists will try to combine and translate their experiences in communication with the locals into the medium of film, performance, dance, and other types of visual mediums.