My sweet little lamb (Everything we see could also be otherwise) is a series of exhibition episodes based on the Kontakt Collection and dedicated to the artist Mladen Stilinović, unfolded in Zagreb and London in 2016–2017. This publication, conceived as a “post-episode” of the project, presents extensive visual documentation of the exhibitions alongside newly commissioned texts by theorists and writers Branislav Dimitrijević, Miguel A. López, Oxana Timofeeva, and Marina Vishmidt. Drawing on the legacy of the Eastern European neo-avantgarde and the work of Stilinović in particular, these contributions grapple with urgent questions about the value of art and exhibition making. Including the work of Mária Bartuszová, Stano Filko, Tina Gverović, Katalin Ladik, Sanja Iveković, Běla Kolářová, Július Koller, Edward Krasiński, Dóra Maurer, Goran Trbuljak, KwieKulik, Ivan Kožarić, Vlado Martek, Mangelos, Heimrad Bäcker, Stephen Willats.

This publication is an unedited reprint of the catalogue originally published by de Appel in 1980 as a follow-up to the international art manifestation Works and Words. The event sought to break with the one-way traffic of Western artists traveling to the East by inviting artists from Eastern Bloc countries to Amsterdam. The invited artists, theoreticians, film-makers, and art historians represented a broad spectrum of practices, theoretical approaches, and developments. Including artists such as; KwieKulik (Zofia Kulik and Przemysłav Kwiek), Július Koller, Jiří Kovanda, Dóra Maurer, Sanja Iveković and Dalibor Martinis, Mladen Stilinovic, Jozef Robakowski amongst others.

You can find more information on the exhibition here.

The artistic practice of Mladen Stilinović, one of the founders and the liveliest protagonists of conceptual art in Croatia and the region, may be presented by using the key words, i.e. words that introduce the core problem and the procedures that the artist uses: language, ideology, manipulation, appropriation, correction, irony, installation, de-contextualization, exploitation, repetition, tautology. In Stilinović’s well-known Dictionary–Pain (2000–2003) have been crossed out white and changed into one and the same word of unique meaning—pain—in a potential “imperatival dictionary” some words could easily change places and the structure without the change of meaning.

Produced on the occasion of the biennal The Lulennial, organized by Fabiola Iza and Chris Sharp at Lulu, Mexico City, a 9-square meter independent space in Mexico City, whose economy, “in the sense of doing a lot with a little or sometimes nothing at all,” is one of the founding principles.

With Zarouhie Abdalian, Francis Alÿs, Paola de Anda, Carl Andre, Billy Apple, Darren Bader, Pierre Bal-Blanc, Robert Barry, Graciela Carnevale, Ulises Carrión, Lygia Clark, Isaac Contreras, Marie Cool Fabio Balducci, Tania Pérez Córdova, Eduardo Costa, Christopher D’Arcangelo, Marcel Duchamp, Koji Enokura, Lucio Fontana, Fernanda Gomes, Alberto Greco, Simon Gabriel Greenberg, Matt Hinkley, Hi Red Center, Tehching Hsieh, Douglas Huebler, Stephen Kaltenbach, Yves Klein, Joseph Kosuth, Jirí Kovanda, Sol LeWitt, Lee Lozano, Jenine Marsh, Cildo Meireles, Robert Morris, Roman Ondák, Yoko Ono, Gabriel Orozco, Chantal Peñalosa, Goran Petercol, Kirsten Pieroth, Wilfredo Prieto, Ana Roldán, Lotty Rosenfeld, Karin Sander, Ana Santos, Martín Soto Climent, Mladen Stilinovic, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, Goran Trbuljak, Lawrence Weiner, B. Wurtz, Lin Yilin, La Monte Young.

Produced on the occasion of Mladen Stilinović’s exhibition Bijela odsutnost 1991–1996 at Galerija Josip Račić, Zagreb.

Mladen Stilinović was an artist who frequently employed everyday materials in his work, bringing into focus the interconnection of politics, language, artistic production, and daily life. From 1975–79 he was a member of Zagreb’s Group of Six Artists. His work included drawings, collages, photographs, artist books, paintings, installations, actions, films, and video.

Produced on the occasion of Mladen Stilinović’s exhibition Geometrija vremena—Kolaži 1993-1977 (Geometry of Time: Collages 1993–1977) at Centar z akulturu i obrazovanje, Zagreb, 1993.

Mladen Stilinović frequently employed everyday materials in his work, bringing into focus the interconnection of politics, language, artistic production, and daily life. From 1975–79 he was a member of Zagreb’s Group of Six Artists. His work included drawings, collages, photographs, artist books, paintings, installations, actions, films, and video.