Neue Slowenische Kunst

NSK's best-known member is also its founder, the musical group Laibach. Other NSK members include groups such as IRWIN (visual art), Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre (also known as Red Pilot and Cosmokinetic Theatre Noordung), New Collective Studio (graphics; also known as New Collectivism), Retrovision (film and video), and the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy (theory).[2][3][4] The founding groups of the NSK were Laibach, IRWIN, and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater. Membership has traditionally been open to all artistic groups who show an interest in challenging the norms and taboos of Slovene national identity.[5]

NSK art often draws on symbols drawn from totalitarian or extreme nationalist movements, often reappropriating totalitarian kitsch in a visual style reminiscent of Dada. NSK artists often juxtapose symbols from different (and often incompatible) political ideologies. For example, a 1987 NSK-designed poster caused a scandal by winning a competition for the Yugoslavian Youth Day Celebration. The poster appropriated a painting by Nazi artist Richard Klein, replacing the flag of Nazi Germany with the Yugoslav flag and the German eagle with a dove.[3] Intended as an ironic joke, the painting soon fell foul of the authorities, who interpreted it as equating Marshal Josip Broz Tito with Adolf Hitler. It was later reproduced on the cover of Mladina magazine, and that particular issue was subsequently banned.[6]

Both IRWIN and Laibach are emphatic about their work being collective rather than individual. Laibach's original songs and arrangements are always credited to the group itself, and individual musicians are not listed on their album covers. At one point, there were even two separate groups touring under the name Laibach at the same time. Both had members of the original group. Similarly, the IRWIN artists never sign their work individually; instead, they are "signed" with a stamp or certificate indicating approval as a work from the IRWIN collective.

The NSK was the subject of a 1996 documentary film entitled Predictions of Fire (Prerokbe Ognja),[7] which was written and directed by Michael Benson. Among those interviewed is Slovenian intellectual Slavoj Žižek.

Since 1991, the NSK has claimed to be a sovereign state of sorts,[8] a claim similar to that of micronations. As such, displays of its members' work are performed under the guise of an embassy, or a territory of the supposed "state". Since 1994, the NSK has maintained consulates in several cities, including Umag, Croatia.[9] It has also gone so far as to issue passports[10] and postage stamps. In 2006, Laibach recorded the NSK National Anthem for their LP Volk. The anthem adopts its melody from another Laibach song, "The Great Seal." It includes a recitation of an excerpt from Winston Churchill's famous "We shall fight them on the beaches/We shall never surrender" speech.

Some of the NSK Passports were issued with Machine Readable Zone

NSK passports are considered an art project. As such, they are not valid for travel. However, many desperate people have fallen for a scam in which they are issued a NSK passport. Most of these scams originate in Nigeria and Egypt.[11]

NSK Passport with electronic chip embedded in its center page.

In 2010, the first NSK Citizens Congress was held in Berlin. It was followed by a "NSK Rendez-Vous" in Lyon, France, where Alexei Monroe revealed NSK's aim : to make people "aware that totalitarianism isn't a discrete historical phenomenon which went on from 1933 to 1989 and then it's over so let's have a nice triumph of liberal democracy".[12] On February 26, 2011, another "NSK Rendez-Vous" took place in London. In 2012, yet another "NSK Rendez-Vous" was set to take place in New York City's Museum of Modern Art.[13]

An NSK Passport issued in 2019

2017 saw NSK set up a pavilion at the Venice Biennale where Slavoj Žižek stated that "the uniqueness of NSK is this idea of the 'stateless state'.[14]

A diverse collection of intriguing artefacts created by the citizens of the NSK State in Time. This virtual state, formed in 1992, today contains over fourteen thousand citizens from Dublin and Taipei to Sarajevo and New York. As it has evolved over the last 20 years, members have developed a strong sense of collective identity, which has manifested itself in the creation of a unique Folk Art, expressing citizens' devotion to the state and ideologies of NSK.

NSK Folk Art at Calvert 22

This is presented in parallel with IRWIN - Time for A New State Calvert 22 exhibits a selection of 'NSK Folk Art'. Works on display include NSK passports, stamps, plates and films made by NSK state members. Exhibited works are from IRWIN and NSKSTATE.COM collection NSK Folk Art. NSK Folk Art is part of a London wide presentation in cooperation with Tate, who will be hosting a Symposium and which will also include a music performance at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, an exhibition of archival material at Chelsea Space (Chelsea College of Art) and a seminar at UCL. Artists: Peter Blase, Christian Chrobok, Charles Krafft, Danaja, Christian Matzke, Public Movement, Astrid Thingplatz, Valnoir[15]

1st NSK Folk Art Biennale - NSK: Past – Present – Future

The exhibition NSK: Past – Present – Future marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of NSK by depicting the development of the Slovenian artist collective "Neue Slowenische Kunst" from its birth within the context of Yugoslavian alternative culture in the 80s through the founding of the NSK State in Time in 1991, and offers a glimpse into the future. Selected artists that participated in the '1st NSK Folk Art Biennale' : Annelise Bully (France), Julio Canto Chollet (Brasil), Jacques Gassmann (Germany), Kurt Grüng (Great Britain) Martin Höfer (Germany), KavecS (Greece), Kenji Konishi (Japan), Avi Pitchon (Israel), Detlef Schweiger (Germany) [16]

The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale

Burren College of Art hosted 'The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale' in 2016. The 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennale brought together over 30 international artists and collectives including special guests and NSK founding members, IRWIN. This was the second major NSK related event in Ireland, following the NSK State Dublin week of events held in Dublin in 2004, in which all the NSK groups participated and at which an NSK passport office was opened.

• Culture of Slovenia
• New wave music in Yugoslavia

• Arns, Inke (2002). Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) - eine Analyse ihrer künstlerischen Strategien im Kontext der 1980er Jahre in Jugoslawien. Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg. ISBN 961-90851-1-6.
• Arns (ed.), Inke (2003). Irwin: Retroprincip 1983-2003. Frankfurt/Main: Revolver - Archiv für aktuelle Kunst. ISBN 3-936919-56-9.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Monroe, Alexei (2005). Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-63315-9.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neue Slowenische Kunst.

• Official website of NSK
• Predictions of Fire at IMDb