Artiste Anonyme / Anonymous Conceptual Artist / Umjetnik u krizi: Goran Trbuljak’s Names and Namelessness

Abstract

Goran Trbuljak (b. 1948) is recognized as one of the central figures of Yugoslav Nova umjetnička praksa (New Art Practice), primarily for his early works that engaged in a questioning of the status of the figure of the artist and the institution of the exhibition. This article focuses on the centrality of various forms of self-concealment, primarily anonymity and the use of pseudonyms, in Trbuljak’s art. I also discuss what I refer to as the involuntary obfuscation that has come through Trbuljak’s association with conceptual art and institutional critique, labels that have tended to block rather than advance the discussion of his practice. I urge new paths to interpretation through considerations of Trbuljak’s interest in the street, walking, the body, and his insistence on a position liminality, never quite committing himself to one particular role, ideology or space. I refer to Michel de Certeau’s notions of the tactic and la perruque from The Practice of Everyday Life as a way to understand the political dimensions of Trbuljak’s tendencies.