Interview: Danica Dakic

Danica Dakic (b. 1962 in Sarajevo, lives in Duesseldorf) investigates in her work the interfaces of political, cultural and personal identity. Using a variety of media (photography, film, video and sound installations), she interrogates the construction of identity and belonging that results from the impacts of social change, globalization, and war, on the basis of her own experience of emigration.
The exhibition presents film and photographic works from the artist’s project El Dorado (2006–2007) realized for the Documenta 12 in Kassel.

El Dorado – utopian dream and undiscovered paradise – is the legendary gilded destination of many a fateful expedition in pursuit of unbounded wealth. An eponymous panoramic wallpaper from 1848, exhibited in Kassel's German Museum of Wallpaper, provides the backdrop for stories recounted by teenagers. They project themselves into its deserted landscape: they dance, they sing, they fight, they run, they speak of escape and expulsion, of trust and the will to live, of hopes and fears. Their enthusiasm resembles a prospector's speculative fever in the face of the wall-paper's pristine gardens of the world, populating its surfaces with narratives of the search for self, of courage and beauty.

Recordings for El Dorado were produced in collaboration with young people from the Hephata home for unaccompanied minor refugees, the Schlachthof youth centre, and the Carl-Schomburg-Schule's dance class in Kassel.

Interview:David Grimberg

Foto:Galleri Michael Andersen og Egbert Trogemann.

Danica Dakic (BA)

El Dorado

08. februar - 22. marts 2008

Galerie Mikael Andersen

Bredgade 63, 1260 København K

web site:www.mikaelandersen.com

Tirsdag-fredag 12-18, lørdag 11-15

El Dorado hos Mikael Andersen

How did you get started with this project, El Dorado?

The starting point of this project for the Documenta 12 is the historic panoramic wallpaper El Dorado (1849) which is on show at the Wallpaper Museum in Kassel. The motif of an imagined paradise provides the backdrop for stories recounted by teenagers with immigrant backgrounds. The ancient dream of El Dorado, an utopia which stands for searching for a place that is never found, has correspondences with the attempt to create one`s own life vision.

Danica Dakic: El Dorado #1, 2006-07. 60cm x 80cm C-print on aluminium

What were the reactions at Documenta 12 when it was shown there?

I was pleasantly surprised by the huge and positive response from visitors and art critics. But what made me really happy were the reactions of all the young people who actively participated in the work.

Danica Dakic: El Dorado #2, 2006-07. 60cm x 80cm C-print on aluminium

How is it to work in different media within the same show, what is

the interaction like?

The different media used for the different parts and locations (video, audio, photography, performance) refer to each other and to the meaning of artistic praxis within the exhibition context outlined here.

Danica Dakic: El Dorado #3, 2006-07. 60cm x 80cm C-print on aluminium

How has your own background influenced this project?

I was born in Sarajevo and live in Germany. The war in Bosnia brought about a change in my thinking in art, and questioning of art's significance and function. My own experience of immigration was very important for working with young people with immigrant background from Kassel who participated in the project. El Dorado deals in a very specific way with the complexity of the city of Kassel today. Do not forget, the city was very destroyed during the war.

Danica Dakic: El Dorado #4, 2006-07. 60cm x 80cm C-print on aluminium

Do you see the chase for "El Dorado" as something good or bad for the young people involved? Is this "hope" good or bad?

If we understand the "chase for El Dorado" as the opportunity to create one`s own vision of life, then there is nothing wrong with hope.

Danica Dakic: El Dorado #5, 2006-07. 60cm x 80cm C-print on aluminium

What are you working with at the moment?

I am working on a film production entitled "Isola Bella", inspired once again by a historic wallpaper. It is a collaboration with Sarajevo based media institute SCCA/pro.ba.


Danica Dakic: Stills from EL DORADO. Giessbergstrasse, 2006-2007. Single channel videoprojektion (HDV), farve, lyd, 13:39 min, loop.		Danica Dakic: Stills from EL DORADO. Giessbergstrasse, 2006-2007. Single channel videoprojektion (HDV), farve, lyd, 13:39 min, loop.

Danica Dakic: El Dorado, 2006-2007. 100cm x 139 cm C-print on aluminum

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Interview: Danica Dakic

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