Exhibition "A WHOLE NEW WORLD" by the young artist, Vuk Ćuk, includes art objects, drawings and installations. With this exhibition, Ćuk makes a step outside of the expected, by stressing the experience, artistic spectacle, but also communication of artwork with its audience.
Ćuk, even though already well known to Belgrade audience, by presenting his new ideas and views on art, but also by continuing his previous work, now creates autonomous pieces of art which together function as a homogenous but also luxurious unity in the art gallery.
The title of the exhibition - A whole new world - opens a discussion on the future of interaction of humans and robots, on new, contemporary aesthetic canons, as well as on the freedom of artistic creativity. Confrontation of archetypal human creative activities - drawing, painting and carving (engraving) - with the possibilities provided by new technologies, is in the middle of Ćuk's research. He experiments by connecting art and technology, thus creating his own modern artistic objects and aesthetic systems. Vuk poses the following questions: Is the artist free? Is the world of art free of social boundaries and patterns? To what extent is the artists' occupation different from other professions? Do we give an existential hope to the utopian world of art by purchasing pieces of artwork, or do we mold them? The main initiator of Ćuk's creativity is freedom. By giving the robotic properties and the power of movement to his pieces of art, he liberates his artwork from a static state, thus bestowing freedom of its own kind on it. The exhibition titled A whole new world represents a metaphor of freedom in the modern artistic life, since the author wants to create and live freely through his art. A whole new world is an artistic product of Ćuk's reflections on the utopian world of art, but concurrently, it is a realisation of new, modernised artistic practices and the eclectic artistic expression.
A whole new world simultaneously symbolises the contemporary world we live in, or anthropocene. The new era is characterised by globalisation, technological development but also by global warming, etc. The concept of anthropocene suggests that the human kind is the new (geological) force which is changing the planet to its unrecognizability. The new world where the artificial intelligence also thrives is changing the aspects of human functioning, including the artistic practice. A question arises: is it facilitating it or making it more difficult? Regardless, the theory of evolution is engrained both in the living and the artificial world. This way, Ćuk's exhibition concept displays the development with an innocent opening, sketching, as if presented by a child's hand, until finally construing a robot whose mechanism is intentionally open to its viewer, as a system of organs of its own kind. One of the robots is enriched with its own digital life, mobile and virtual projection and/or by Ćuk's animation. The "Aquariums" of the transparent but confined space, are filled with small objects with remote control. Spatial limitation gives them the possibility of discrete front and back movement, without the possibility of free motion. Is the new artificial world full of limitations and threats to us? Is the world of art isolated from such boundaries? Be that as it may, A whole new world indicates the unquestionable new world order, but also Ćuk's personal breakthrough into the new world of art.
By following his own recognisable expressive style, aesthetic principles and artistic systems, Vuk Ćuk successfully manages to incorporate them into the new artistic set up, thus making a clear analogy. Ćuk creates a small artistic spectacle which encourages a dialogue with his audience by using various art media, from the traditional to the unconventional ones, diverse materials and mechanisms, plywood, textile and acrylic paint but also aluminium, plexiglass, LCD screens, over to computer animation and servomotors. Through simultaneous sensory, visual and auditory experience, the artist attracts attention of viewers, thus enabling everyone to activate and open their minds to the new perceptions and contemplation on art.
Art historian, Anđela Rokvić
Nova izložba mladog umetnika Vuka Ćuka, pod nazivom A whole new world obuhvata umetničke objekte, crteže i instalacije. Ovom postavkom, Ćuk pravi iskorak od očekivanog, stavljajući akcenat na iskustvo, doživljaj, umetnički spektakl, ali i na komunikaciju umetničkih dela sa publikom. Ćuk, iako već dobro poznat beogradskoj publici, sada, prezentujući nove ideje i poglede na umetnost, ali ujedno se nadovezujući na svoje pređašnje radove, stvara autonomna dela koja zajedno u galerijskom prostoru funkcionišu kao homogena, ali raskošna celina.
Nazivom izložbe A whole new world pokreće se diskusija o budućnosti interakcije čoveka i robota, o novim, savremenim estetskim kanonima, kao i o pitanju slobode umetničkog stvaralaštva. Sučeljavanje arhetipske ljudske stvaralačke delatnosti – crtanje, slikanje i rezbarenje (graviranje) – sa mogućnostima koje pružaju nove tehnologije, u središtu je Ćukovih istraživanja. On eksperimentiše spajajući umetnost i tehnologiju, stvarajući na taj način sopstvene, savremene umetničke objekte i estetske sisteme. Vuk postavlja pitanje: Da li je umetnik slobodan? Da li je svet umetnosti oslobođen društvenih stega i obrazaca? Koliko je zanimanje umetnika drugačije od svih ostalih? Da li kupovinom umetničkih dela dajemo egzistencijalnu nadu utopijskom svetu umetnosti ili ga, pak, stavljamo u drušveni kalup? Glavni pokretač Ćukovog stvaralaštva jeste sloboda. Dajući karakteristike robota i moć pokreta svom umetničkom delu, on oslobađa umetnički rad statičnosti, pružajući mu svojevrsnu slobodu. Izložba A whole new world predstavlja metaforu slobode u savremenom umetničkom životu, jer autor želi da stvara i živi slobodno kroz svoju umetnost. A whole new world jeste umetnički produkt Ćukovih refleksija o utopijskom svetu umetnosti, ali i realizacija novih, osavremenjenih umetničkih praksi i eklektičnog likovnog izraza.
A whole new world ujedno označava savremeno doba u kojem živimo, antropocen. Ovo novo doba karakterišu globalizacija, razvoj tehnologije, ali i globalno zagrevanje… Koncept antropocena sugeriše da je ljudska vrsta nova (geološka) sila koja menja planetu do neprepoznatljivosti. Taj novi svet, u kom se razvija i veštačka inteligencija menja sve aspekte ljudskog funkcionisanja, pa i umetničke prakse. Postavlja se pitanje: da li ga olakšava ili otežava? Svakako, teorija evolucije ukorenjena je kako u živom, tako i u artificijelnom svetu. Tako, Ćukov izložbeni koncept prikazuje taj razvoj, sve počinje nevino, skicama, kao kakvim dečijim crtežima, do konstruisanog robota čiji mehanizam je namerno otkriven posmatraču, kao svojevrsni sistem organa. Jedan od robota obogaćen je sopstvenim digitalnim životom, sopstvenom mobilnom virtuelnom projekcijom, odnosno Ćukovom animacijom. “Akvarijumi” transparentnog, ali skučenog prostora, ispunjeni su malim predmetima na daljinsko upravljanje. Prostorno ograničenje im daje mogućnost da se kreću diskretno napred – nazad, gušeći ih i ne dozvoljavajući im da ostvare slobodno kretanje. Da li je novi, artificijelni svet pun ograničenja i pretnji za nas? Da li je svet umetnosti izolovan od istih? Kako god, A whole new world ukazuje na nepobitan novi svetski poredak, ali i na Ćukov lični izlazak u novi umetnički svet. Sledeći svoj prepoznatljiv ekspresivan stil, estetska načela i umetničke sisteme, Vuk Ćuk ih uspešno inkorporira u novu umetničku postavku, praveći jasnu analogiju. Služeći se različitim umetničkim medijumima, od tradicionalnih do nekonvencionalnih, različitim materijalima i mehanizmima, od šperploče, tekstila i akrilnih boja, do aluminijuma, pleksiglasa, LCD ekrana, preko kompjuterske animacije i servomotora, Ćuk stvara mali umetnički spektakl koji na različite načine podstiče dijalog sa publikom. Kroz istovremeno senzorno, vizuelno i auditivno iskustvo, umetnik privlači pažnju posmatrača, omogućivši svakome da aktivira i otvori svoj um za nove percepcije i promišljanja o umetnosti.
Istoričarka umetnosti, Anđela Rokvić
METAFORMS(2019)
Vuk Ćuk is inspired with the research of relations between the physical and the virtual, digital world, trying to bring the observer closer to this relation through his objects of art. These co-existing realities are connected and represented via atypical objects of art. Led by the thought that the digital world of computers and technologies form our daily life, and even the way of perception and taste, Ćuk creates new, modern and harmonised aesthetic systems aimed at satisfying the new taste of art consumers. By using vibrant colours and an expressive black and white contrast, the artist attracts the observer, thus creating an intense visual stimulus. His generic (meta)forms signify an aspiration for the shift in the condition, order and nature of art. A young artist, Vuk Ćuk, uses a specific working procedure upon realising his abstract art objects. Namely, by constantly examining the relation between the analogue and the digital, he starts the entire process by using sketches in a computer program, produced specifically for his artistic needs. Next, Ćuk uses his own technological procedure, by mixing pigments with various media and acrylic colours, to create new and authentic nuances matching his artistic sensibility and the urge for creation of unique aesthetically systematised forms. A thought-out assembly of the prepared smaller and bigger acrylic panels, and later their painting create abstract (meta)forms, as the unity of the author’s perception of the current outside world and his own sensibility. Discrete highlighting of the third dimension, enable Ćuk’s (meta)forms to ’coquet’ on the edge between the media of art and sculpture. Even though all seventeen selected formations make a homogeneous whole, each (meta)form offers a special sensual experience to the observer.
Anđela Rokvić - art historian
THINGS I LIKE(2018-)
. Consumer society which rests on consumption of material goods and services, as opposed to earlier types of society, refers to mass production of goods and service offer which more than ever surpasses the consumer minimum, i.e. surpasses satisfaction of much more than bare necessities. Consumerism as one of the globalisation products and one of the basic postulates of the modern society, is expanding more and more, and affecting all spheres of social life, including the majority of individuals, by using the effects of TV, newspapers, and primarily, the internet and social networks. In such a social system, the role of marketing is of utmost importance. Advertising messages we get to see on every step of the way and which we accept (sub)consciously, have a strong persuasive character. Popular brands dictate fashion trends, but also the life style, desires and habits of consumers. Designer trainers, bags or cars in the consumer society often become instruments of defining a personal style, belonging to a particular social group, or even the instruments of defining a personality. Consumer logic actually rests on the conviction that material goods do not satisfy the consumer needs, but instead they directly produce the consumers' desires, thus creating the sense of owning need. Consumer society is sustained by encouraging consumption. In order to ensure successful sale of a brand, it is important to prove its superiority to its competition and also to be memorable. To ensure that the information reaches the viewers, i.e. consumers, a well thought-through reasoning logic is very important, i.e. persuasion. A young consumer wants to own a Lamborghini, a Kenzo hat and a Heron Preston jacket. These brands are the subculture icons of the youth, recognised as such for their brave (anti)aesthetic. The persuasive method affects the beliefs, values and wishers of consumers, thus creating the habit of brand consumption, founded on its popularity, prestige and social acceptance, be it even in certain subcultures. The brand-new contemporary consumer is way more informed, sophisticated and demanding. Vuk Čuk does not deny that the material products form his everyday life as well. He does not want to give neither positive nor negative critic against the consumer society, but instead he accepts and recognises the present moment, giving an overview of his favourite mass products via his artwork. Ćuk chooses drawings as his utmost personal artistic form, as the means of expressing his personal character. Each of his works actually represents an independent and finished artwork, produced by sweet flirting with the kroki drawings, without hiding a single detail of the creative process. Each work of his is individual visual record of a consumer object preferred by the artist. Ćuk's works are characterised by a combined technical approach, namely, he uses pastel colours, charcoal for sketching but also the non-conventional felt tip pens and the air brush technique. Consumers' desire is passion born somewhere between the consumer fantasies and socially imposed constructions, causing a pleasant feeling when satisfied. Ćuk is presenting us objects used for satisfying his own consumer desire, as well as those which would ensure additional satisfaction by having them in personal possession. Despite the fact that the object of desire can never completely satisfy the subject's - consumer's wish, since new wishes will constantly emerge, this has no special importance. Functioning through the discourse of desires entails constant finding of new objects of fascination, thus creating the endless consumer circle. Therefore, these artistic drawings represent the current objects of artist's desires, by exclusively illustrating the current moment. Ćuk argues that the materialistic hedonism is the final objective of the consumer capitalism. Among the wide spectre of objects of desire, he makes the selection, of those matching his sensibility and aesthetic. Advertising content placed via various media channels on a daily basis creates the pseudo-needs the satisfaction of which we aspire to, thus affecting the society with the spectacle culture invasion. Ćuk is currently freezing the picture of ceaseless circulation of personal desires and embodies it with visually effective pieces of work. Vuk does not criticise the consumer desire dynamics, he does not negate the desire, but instead states the essential dichotomy between the subject and the object. The images on the bills of 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros confirms money as the equivalent of value of all types of goods, thus giving it the fetish properties. Modern society is characterised by the expressed tendency of giving fetishistic characteristics to the production products. Fetishism, i.e. giving power to objects and their worshiping, brings satisfaction in watching and possessing them. Just as the relics were the objects of worship in the medieval century, the tribal totem in the primitive religions, the "Lambo" is such an object for the modern society. Ćuk integrates mass production objects in his artwork in a very visually effective way, which does not need interpretation. At the first glance, a modern consumer is receiving clear and instantaneously recognisable associations.
Anđela Rokvić, art historian
Mladi beogradski umetnik, Vuk Ćuk javnosti predstavlja seriju radova, nedvosmislenog naziva – Things I like (“Stvari koje volim”). Ćuk je široj publici već dobro poznat po svojim ekscentričnim apstraktnim radovima, produktima istraživanja i oblikovanja sopstvenih estetskih sistema, inspirisanim savremenom, digitalnom svakodnevicom. Ipak, serijom umetničkih radova Things I like, Vuk pravi iskorak iz svog ekstenzivnog, ali homogenog opusa. Atipični vizuelni prikazi za poslednje godine njegovog stvaralaštva, predstavljaju zanimljivo umetničko osveženje. Iako inspiraciju oduvek pronalazi u svetu koji ga okružuje, ovaj put, Ćuk želi da prikaže predmete koje svakodnevno konzumira ili koje jednostavno voli. Konzumerističko društvo koje počiva na potrošnji materijalnih dobara i usluga, za razliku od ranijih tipova društava, podrazumeva masovnu proizvodnju robe i ponudu usluga koje sada više nego ikada ranije prevazilazi potrošački minimum, odnosno prevazilazi zadovoljavanje mnogo više od osnovnih potreba. Konzumerizam kao jedan od proizvoda globalizacije i jedan od osnovnih postulata savremenog društva, koristeći uticaj televizije, novina, pre svega interneta i društvenih mreža, sve je više u ekspanziji i utiče na sve sfere života društva, kao i većine pojedinaca. U takvom društvenom sistemu uloga marketinga je od presudnog značaja. Reklamne poruke koje su svuda oko nas i koje prihvatamo na (pod)svesnom nivou, imaju snažan persuazivni karakter. Popularni brendovi diktiraju modne trendove, ali i životni stil, želje i navike konzumenata. U potrošačkom društvu brendirane patike, torba ili automobil, često postaju alati za definisanje sopstvenog stila, pripadnosti određenoj društvenoj grupi, pa i za definisanje ličnosti. Konzumeristička logika zapravo počiva na uverenju da materijalni proizvodi ne zadovoljavaju potrebe potrošača, već oni direktno proizvode želje konzumenata, stvarajući osećaj nužnosti posedovanja. Konzumerističko društvo se održava podsticanjem potrošnje. Za uspešnu prodaju brenda, važno je dokazati superiornost u odnosu na konkurenciju i biti upamćen. Da bi takva informacija došla do posmatrača, konzumenta, važna je dobro osmišljena ubeđivačka logika, odnosno persuazija. Mladi potrošač želi Lamborgini, želi Kenzo kačket i Heron Preston jaknu. Ovi brendovi su subkulturne ikone mladih, prepoznati kao takvi zbog svoje hrabre (anti)estetike. Persuazivnom metodom se utiče na verovanja, vrednosti i želje konzumenta, čime se ujedno stvara navika konzumiranja Brenda, utemeljena na njegovoj popularnosti, prestižu i društvenoj prihvaćnosti, makar u izvesnim subkulturama. Novi, savremeni potrošač je daleko informisaniji, sofisticiraniji, informisaniji i zahtevniji. Vuk Ćuk ne poriče da materijalni proizvodi oblikuju njegovu svakodnevicu. On ne želi da da pozitivnu ili negativnu kritiku konzumerističkog društva, već prihvata i konstatuje savremeni trenutak, dajući putem umetničkih radova pregled njegovih omiljenih proizvoda masovne proizvodnje. Ćuk bira crtež kao najličniju umetničku formu, kao sredstvo za izražavanje sopstvenog karaktera. Svaki rad, simptično koketirajući sa kroki crtežima, ne uklanjajući nijedan detalj procesa nastanka, zapravo predstavljuju samostalna i završena likovna dela. Svaki je individualni vizuelni zapis objekta potrošnje koje umetnik preferira. Potrošačka želja je strast rođena između potrošačkih fantazija i društveno nametnutih konstrukata, koja izaziva prijatan osećaj kada se zadovolji. Ćuk nam predstavlja predmete kojima zadovoljava sopstvenu potrošačku želju, kao i one čijim posedovanjem bi ostvario dodatnu satisfakciju. Iako objekat želje nikada ne može do kraja zadovoljiti želju subjekta – potrošača, jer će se uvek izroditi nova potreba, to zapravo nije ni važno. Funkcionisanje kroz diskurs želje podrazumeva neprestano pronalaženjenovih objekata fascinacije, čime se stvara beskrajni konzumeristički krug. Stoga, ovi umetnički crteži predstavljaju trenutne objekte želja umetnika, ilustrujući isključivo aktuelni trenutak. Ćuk konstatuje da je materijalistički hedonizam krajnji cilj konzumerističkog kapitalizma. U širokom spektru predmeta želja, on pravi odabir istih, koji odgovaraju njegovom senzibilitetu i estetici. Svakodnevno plasirani reklamni sadržaji putem različitih medijskih kanala stvaraju pseudopotrebe čijem zadovoljavanju težimo, čime društvo zahvata invazija kulture spektakla. Ćuk trenutno zamrzava sliku neprestane cirkulacije sopstvenih želja i dočarava je vizuelno efektnim radovima. Vuk ne kritikuje dinamiku potrošačke želje, on ne negira žudnju, već konstatuje esencijalnu dihotomiju subjekt – objekt. Crteži sa prikazanim novčanicama od 20, 50, 100, 200 i 500 evra potvrđuju novac kao ekvivalent vrednosti svih vrsta robe, čime on poprima svojstvo fetiša. Savremeno društvo karakteriše izražena sklonost ka pridavanju fetišističkih karakteristika produktima proizvodnje. Fetišizam, odnosno pripisivanje moći predmetima i njihovo obožavanje, dovodi do uživanja u gledanju i njihovom posedovanju. Kao što je u srednjem veku predmet obožavanja relikvija, u primitivnim religijama plemenski totem, za savremeno društvo je “Lambo”. Ćuk integriše predmete masovne proizvodnje u svoje umetničke radove na vizuelno efektan način, za koji nisu potrebna tumačenja. Na prvi pogled, savremenom konzumetnu stvaraju se jasne, momentalno prepoznatljive asocijacije.
Istoričarka umetnosti, Anđela Rokvić
AS_NBK(2018)
Project I did for the National Library in Kruševac. Ten works, that will permanently be exhibited in the Library's e-Reading room, are now a part of the Library's art collection. Continuation of my "Aesthetic Systems" series, they were made site-specifically for the space. Project has been financed by Ministry of Culture of Republic of Serbia.
AESTHETIC SYSTEMS(2018)
The young Belgrade-based artist Vuk Cuk is presenting to the audience a selection of works in the form of paintings and objects, encompassed under the name Aesthetic Systems. The author is gravitating towards creating his own unique, authentic aesthetic systems, in this exhibition but also throughout his entire career. His artistic approach finds its grounds in the ambivalence positioned between the outer, and the inner world which inspire him at the same time, and in this way articulating his emotions. Actively participating in the world of modern technologies, Vuk finds his inspirations in the products of new media, while also using the available contemporary techniques of realization. In these modern times where digitalization and the use of new technologies encompasses almost every aspect of human existence, where the computer gives new purpose and opens up a whole new world, a new reality comes to life, and the laws of this world Cuk incorporates into his own personal artistic approach. He attempts to establish the aesthetic systematization of chaos, while at the same time questioning the relationship between the analog and the digital. His creative process begins in the domain of the digital, with the use of cutting-edge computer programs, and finalizes it though well-mastered analog techniques, and through these techniques he sovereignly rules the art of his personal creative language. Creating in his studio, the young author revolves in his inner world, constantly exploring the new potentials of his visual sensibility. The end of the creative process and the discharge of the creative stream he experiences as a powerful form of catharsis. Vuk’s aesthetic systems represent an abstract collection of elements which interact among each other. The entire exhibition can be viewed as a unique visual system, and every part of it is an individual sub-system composed of its own elements. Each of the sub-systems tends to stimulate the senses of the observer through a process of interactive consummation. The audience is given an option to experience excitement through the personal interpretation of each individual work. Using the primary means of his artistic expression, Vuk creates modern open works, as an attempt to materialize a new eclectic visual world. He finds his inspiration in the subjective reading of beauty from the outside contemporary world, with a special focus on the products of digital technologies, but also the visual aspects of modern comic books. The outcomes of his individual aesthetic judgment recognized from the outside world, the author integrates in the creation process by adding them in the computer software, with whom he creates a complex and chaotic structure. The chosen structural elements are later adopted as visual templates of his future works of art. The computer software is specifically designed for the needs of Vuk’s artistic methodology. It is completely unique, and serves the author as a tool of transformation of elements, from the digital world to the physical plane. Blurring the lines between painting and sculpture, Cuk finds different potentials in fragments that are created in this way, and some of them become flat paintings, while others because of the spaciousness loaded into their structure become objects that require three-dimensionality. In the realization of works Vuk developed his unique technological process of creating his own colors. He takes the pigments which are mixed with different mediums and acrylic colors, obtaining as an end result the authentic and personalized hues which have a highly expressive potential. Creating the colors in this manner, he accomplishes the materialization of physical shapes, which are a combination of organically intertwined liquid and geometric forms. Flat works are created in a traditional manner of easel painting, while the three-dimensional objects are created also by painting, and the careful mechanical mounting of specially prepared aluminum panels, into a harmonious final composition. Even though he modernizes the traditional approach to painting by constantly searching for new forms of expression, Vuk stays true to his easily-recognizable artistic expression in which shape and color dominate as the primary elements of communication.
Andjela Rokvic, art historian
IMPOSSIBLE PERSPECTIVES(2017)
Series of works (paintings, objects, VR animation) where I explored the possibility of creating an illusion of third dimension in the flat free shaped objects.
Stained Glass did for the National Museum in Kruševac. It is my interpretation of the most famous battle in Serbian history.
GLITCH BUILDING(2016)
Mural I did on the façade of the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade. Idea was to create an visual solution that would unify all the disciplines tutored at the Faculty into one work, and create the building into the object of “High visibility”
PLASTIC ZOO (2013)
Series of works (paintings, drawings, sculptures, objects, animations) done in bright and striking colors. I was experimenting with mixed media and procedures, combining steady and precise drawing with color drippings. Sculptures were made from interlaced painted wooden panels. I was concentrated on creating images that would send a message of combined aesthetics: organic, floral and playful with striking and artificial industrial and glossy colors.
