Focusing on the radical impact of NSK, this study delves into the performances and productions of Laibach, its musical and conceptual division. Emerging after Tito's death and amid Yugoslavia's breakup, NSK represents a significant avant-garde force in Eastern Europe, known for its complex and provocative works across various artistic fields. Laibach, in particular, merges popular culture with subversive politics, capturing the political and cultural turmoil of its era while gaining an international following.
Two Turtle Doves is the story of a life spent making things. Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world. Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-carts and guns, cross-bows and booby-traps, boats, bikes or scooters. And then, it was jewellery. From full-out warfare waged against the local schoolboys to the freedom found in daredevil Raleigh bike antics to the delicacies of dress-making and the most intricate designs for jewellery, Two Turtle Doves traces the intimate journey of how an idea is transformed from a fleeting thought into an exquisite piece of jewellery. It is about where we find our creativity, how we remember and why we make the things we do.
In 1992, the Slovene artistic collective Neue Slowenische Kunst created the NSK State in Time, a non-territorial artistic state with thousands of global citizens. In October 2010, a groundbreaking artistic, social, and political experiment unfolded at Berlin's House of World Cultures (HKW), where thirty-two citizens of the NSK State gathered to discuss the future of “The First Global State of the Universe.” This initiative, led by the NSK fine arts group IRWIN in collaboration with cultural theorist Alexei Monroe and designer Haris Hararis, aimed to explore the diverse symbolism that forms the NSK State, representing a wide range of cultural and political contexts. The gathering raised questions about potential commonalities among participants. "State of Emergence" delves into the outcomes of this Congress, featuring eyewitness accounts from delegates, facilitators, and observers to provide varied perspectives. It also includes essays from theorists such as Eda Cufer, Regina Roemhild, Yannis Stavrakakis, and Kostis Stafylakis, alongside images from the Congress and documentation of subsequent citizen-organized events. While the true significance of the Congress may take time to fully reveal, "State of Emergence" aims to analyze and interpret this pivotal event, addressing key artistic, political, and social dilemmas of our era.
Laibach und Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) – für viele die letzte Avantgarde des 20. Jahrhunderts, sicherlich aber die spannendste künstlerische Artikulation Osteuropas. Laibach trat unmittelbar nach dem Tod Titos 1980 in der damaligen jugoslawischen Teilrepublik Slowenien auf den Plan. Auf skandalöse Auftritte folgte die Firmierung als Künstlerkollektiv NSK, das sich neben der Musik u. a. dem Theater, der Malerei und dem Design widmete. Während Laibach mit eigenwilligen und erfolgreichen Coverversionen die Auflösung des sozialistischen Machtblocks und die anschließende Zurichtung der Welt zum Marktplatz kommentierte, reflektierte NSK mit ihrer provokanten Ästhetik das politische und kulturelle Chaos dieses Umbruchprozesses quer durch alle Disziplinen. Der britische Kulturtheoretiker Alexei Monroe beschreibt in „Laibach und NSK – Die Inquisitionsmaschine im Kreuzverhör“ die ungebrochene Aktualität der Band wie des Kollektivs. Er befragt seinen Gegenstand intensiv nach Herkunft, historischem Kontext, Organisationsstruktur, Erscheinungsbild und philosophischem Background. Das vorliegende Buch ist eine erweiterte und aktualisierte Fassung der englischsprachigen Ausgabe.
