Tanja Ostojić (born 19 August 1972 in

Titovo Užice Titovo (russian: Титово) is a rural locality (a selo) in Togulsky Selsoviet, Togulsky District, Altai Krai, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spannin ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

) is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist. Her work draws inspiration from her own experience as a non-European Union citizen, a traveler and female artist. Ostojić has lived in Serbia, Slovenia, France, and Germany, but refuses to claim any particular nationality.

''O.t. / after Courbet''

In December 2005, Ostojić became well known in Europe as a result of her poster ''After Courbet, '', also referred to informally as "EU Panties"Tanja Ostojić’s Aesthetics of Affect and PostIdentity
Bojana Videkanic, ''ArtMargins'', 10 September 2009. The work, a satire of French Realist

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

's 1866 painting '' L'Origine du monde'', was first displayed on billboards at the public exhibition EuroPart held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in December 2005 – January 2006. Ostojić's version displayed her own crotch, clothed in blue underwear complete with EU stars. The image was meant as an ironic suggestion that foreign women are only welcome in Europe when they drop their underwear. Along with other works from an ongoing art exhibition, this poster was selected to publicly promote

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

's presidency of the Council of the European Union.Wiener Wirbel um ein Courbet-Zitat
'' Der Standard'', 9 January 2006. Vienna's '' Kronen Zeitung'' newspaper turned this selection into something of a scandal, expressing its outrage over state-funded

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

and its concern for Austria's world image.Artist portrait: Tanja Ostojic
culturebase.net. Anxious politicians of all parties quickly joined in, resulting in the poster being taken down. Since then, the picture – which had already been shown several times without a title in 2005 – has been informally known as the "EU Panties" (german: EU-Unterhose).

Earlier activities

Ostojić's grand theme is the "arrogance of the EU" with regards to the integration of

south-eastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...

into the union. For south-east Europeans, and particularly women, becoming resident in the EU is often only possible through marriage, which Ostojić depicts as a form of

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

. From 2000 to 2003, she publicly addressed this issue in an online performance piece, ''Looking for a husband with a EU passport'', in which she presented herself naked and with a shaven head, possibly reminiscent of a prisoner from socialist times. This led to an actual marriage to an artist from

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, from whom she then separated in 2005, again as an online performance.Archiv: Tanja Ostojic

University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz The University of Art and Design Linz (common short form University of Arts Linz) is one of four universities in Linz, Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its ca ...

, 14 January 2010.Fall 2005 events: Artist Lecture: Tanja Ostojic "BODY – KNOWLEDGE – PASSPORT"

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. At the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 2001, her performance ''I'll Be Your Angel'' involved her following around the independent

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Harald Szeemann – who had at his disposal a significant budget – for days, all the time simply smiling fondly at him. The one-time "great subversive" Szeemann did not see the funny side of this, however, and made sure she was excluded from all his projects.

References

External links

Curriculum Vitae
from

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

.

from eißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostojic, Tanja 1972 births Serbian performance artists Living people Feminist artists Serbian women artists Serbian feminists Women performance artists Decolonial artists