Geography of Looking
Milica Tomić (artist) with Ana Bezić (archaeologist)
Opening: 1 December 2023 at 7PM

Arbeitsgemeinschaft (working group): Milica Tomić (artist) with Ana
Bezić (archaeologist)

Produced by: Stefano Riba (project manager)
Research painting in collaboration with: Philipp Sattler (researcher, artist, writer)

Ar/Ge Kunst is honoured to commission
a new work by the artist Milica Tomić, a
major artistic voice of the last 30 years.
Milica Tomić positions the site, specifically
soil (both what it contains and what it
sustains), as the crucial and active agent
in the process of knowledge formation.
Looking at the soil as an archive, Tomić
with the archaeologist Ana Bezić—
both members of Grupa Spomenik (or
Monument Group)—consider what
appears as material evidence to reveal
how weather, forest, agriculture, property
regulations, everyday life, labour, class, and
ethnicity are continuously superimposed
onto each other.
The mud itself is on view, what is yet
to be filtered and what has already been
processed. A mechanical filtration system
of tanks, pipes, and sieves—resembling
the Ankara flotation tank system devised
at the Can Hasan archaeological site in
Turkey—containing emulsions of soil
and water, in which the same water keeps
circulating in a closed system, occupies
the whole exhibition space. The soil,
taken from specifically chosen locations in
South Tyrol, will pass through the tank at
repeating intervals over the months of the
exhibition.
The exhibitionary act is condensed to
a see-through cut or cross-section through
the main filtration tank. It makes us privy
to the section between the sieves catching
flot: the floating particles less than 4 mm
in size, and the residue at the base of the
filtration cylinder where heavier matter will
sink. Here, exhibiting means letting appear
the thick opacity of matter, an emulsion
of complexity, the fourth wall of the
theatre onto a haze of spiralling soil—non-
performing matter.
Exhibiting the un-sievable realm,
this newly opened in-between space looks
at matter that is not seen, potentially
non-existent, possibly existent or even
yet-to-be-imagined. It is a remainder
that indicates what is left after a process
or event. The non-identifiable reminder
of what was hidden, overlooked or
unconsidered. It is a surplus of debased
matter, a material reminder that opens up a
real space for the unknown.
The artistic act is in looking for an
appearance of a Political Subject—the
viewer—in the soil-as-archive. In this way,
the work that will be presented at Ar/Ge
Kunst comes to speak of the continuities
and discontinuities of any political truth.

Milica Tomić (1960) explores different
genres and methods that centre on
investigating, unearthing and bringing to
public debate issues related to territories,
political violence, resistance and social
amnesia. Her projects often explore a
multitude of unorthodox ways in which art
can be created, performed, transformed
and pondered. Tomić is a founding member
of a New Yugoslav art/theory group, Grupa
Spomenik [Monument Group, 2002];
in 2010, Tomic conceived and initiated
an educational platform, Four Faces of
Omarska.

Ana Bezić (1974) is an archaeological
scholar with a background in anthropology
and critical studies. Her research explores
the intersection, transposition and ethical
implications of material culture in art,
cultural heritage, science and archaeology.
She is a member of a New Yugoslav
art/theory group, Grupa Spomenik
[Monument Group, 2002].

The activities of Ar/Ge Kunst are made possible
by the support of our institutional partners,
public entities, and members, who support the
Kunstverein for the long run.

With the support of:

Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, Öffentlicher Dienst und Sport, Vienna

Provincia Autonoma Bolzano, Rip. Cultura

Regione Autonoma Trentino Alto Adige

Comune Bolzano, Rip. Cultura

Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio

Parkhotel Laurin, Bolzano

Thank you to:
Hannes Obermair (EURAC Research)
Jasmine Rizzi (Archeological Research, Rizzi
Giovanni & Co. Brixen/Bressanone)
Catrin Marzoli (Ufficio Beni archeologici,
Autonomous Province of Alto Adige)
Roland Messner (Office for Archaeological
Heritage, Autonomous Province of Bozen-
Bolzano)
Umberto Tecchiati (Associate Professor -
Prehistory and Protohistory, Dept. of Cultural
Heritage and Environment - Archaeology,
Università degli Studi di Milano)
Dragana Filipović (archaeologist/
archaeobotanist, CAU Kiel, DE)
Annemarie Augschöll (Research and
Documentation Center of South Tyrol’s
Educational History. Faculty of Education. Free
University of Bozen-Bolzano)
Heidi Hintner (Maria-Hueber High School,
Bozen-Bolzano)
Manuela Trocker (Volunteer for the Museum
Associatioon Comune of Castelrotto, Museum
of Tagusa School)
Linda Durighello (intern)
Matthias Pötz (carpenter)
Cecilia Bautista (assistant)
Delilah Friedman (assistant)
Athesia Druck
Atelier Museion, Bozen-Bolzano