Davor Džalto
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Davor Džalto (Давор Џалто) is an artist and art historian born in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 17, 1980.
Today, he is one of the most important figures in Serbian and regional culture, representing a younger generation of intellectuals. He graduated from the High School of Art in Niš. His academic career started in Belgrade where he received a B.A. from the Faculty of Philosophy in History of Art. In 2003 he started M.A. studies in Belgrade. In 2004 he began writing his PhD thesis at the Albert-Ludwigs Universitaet in Freiburg, Germany, where he defended it successfully in 2006.
His work is based on examination of the relations between personhood and authorship, especially in the postmodern and globalization context. He has formulated a theory according to which art represents an expression of the personal identity of the human being, having an existential importance. That way he contributed to the revision of the postmodernism, actualizing the question of possibility and meaning of the art creation. He continued to further develop theological concepts of John Zizioulas and philosophical statements given by Nikolai Berdyaev, implementing them on the contemporary historical and cultural context.
He works in different media including video art, art history and theory, performance, painting, and sculpture.
His work has been presented at numerous exhibitions in different countries. He has taken part in many conferences and seminars, as well as having peace and inter-religious backgrounds. It is also held that he played an important role in Serbia and the whole region in promoting peace and cooperation between different religious communities, primarily because he has contacts among all important religions and religious leaders in the Balkans. He was directly involved in many initiatives during his engagement in the Pax Christi office in Belgrade. He has written a number of articles and theoretical texts. As an 18-year old student he published his first book, On Writings as an Artistic, Historical, Social and Cultural Phenomenon. He is a founding member and the Art Director of the Flexible Art Network. He lives and works in Freiburg and Belgrade. Based on the Aesthetik der Absenz, formulated in German speaking art circles, he recognized and explained the phenomenon of "absence of body" in twentieth century art.
[edit] Artwork
- Verbal and Visual Marking of Space - Performance-installation (2000)
- Funeral of an Author - Video-performance (2002)
- Creating... - Video (2003)
- The Red Army - Video (2003)
- Icons in Black Forest - Action (2004)
- Meditation with Icons and Serbian Coffee in Japanese Garden (in Freiburg) - Performance (2005)
- Absent Body of the Artist - Actions (2006)
- The Body of the Artist- Photographs (2006)
[edit] Selected articles
- Who is an Author (Artist)? (2003)
- Totalitarianism and Totalitarianisms on Serbian Way to European Union (2004)
- Significance and Meaning of the Process of Global Integrations (2004)
- On the Meaning of Church Art (2004)
- Human Face between Mask and Person (2005)
- A Comparative Research of the Space Issue on the Examples of the "Lamentation" Composition from Nerezi and Giotto's "Lamentation" from the Arena Chapel (2006)
