Dizzydence and the Archive

This paper unravels a paradox in the work of the Romanian artist, Dan Perjovschi. On the one hand, Perjovschi’s solo practice of wall drawings and caricatures professes his cynicism toward politics of democratic intervention and integration within postsocialist Europe. On the other, his collaborative work with Lia Perjovschi is seemingly an exemplary case of democratic action within art. Since the mid-1990s, in a project called the Centre for Art Analysis, the Perjovschis have redistributed art historical archives, knowledge and skills to emerging scholars, curators, artists and other participants from Romania and beyond. However, rather than align the Centre with ‘democracy’, the Perjovschis declare their work to be ‘dizzident’ – a dissident intervention in the increasingly dizzying array of received
discourses and politics to which the contemporary, globalised artworld is expected to cater to in order to be accorded ‘relevance’.
This paper traces the turn away from ‘democracy’ toward ‘dizzidence’: in the relationships between Perjovschi’s individual and collaborative practices; as a critique of parallel models of archive-work in Romania in the 1990s; and as a productive intervention in the deceptively problematic politics and rhetoric of democracy in postsocialist European art.

Anthony Gardner is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics, UNSW, where he is researching the intersection of contemporary European politics and art after the collapse of communism. He is an Editorial Advisory Board member of 'Broadsheet: Contemporary Visual Arts+Culture' and 'Un Magazine'. Recent publications include: 'Art in the Face of Fame: Ricky Swallow's Reflection of Reputation' in 'Reading Room', Auckland; 'Monstrous Nationalism: Wolf Creek and the UnAustralian’, in S. Ni Fhlainn (ed.), 'Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil', Oxford; 'The Atrocity Exhibition', in R. Keehan and N. Bullock (eds.), 'Zones of Contact: A Critical Reader', Sydney; and forthcoming book chapters on installations by Ilya Kabakov and Christoph Buchel and Gianni Motti. He is co-chair (with Charles Green) of a session entitled 'Art after Democracy' at the 2008 College Art Association Conference in Dallas.