Aleksandar Maćašev (), born in 1971, is a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n artist and designer known for his controversial Joseph Goebbels (TM) project in which

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

was depicted as the father of contemporary media culture.

Biography

Maćašev was born in the town of

Bečej Bečej (, ; , ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 19,492, while the municipality has 30,681 inhabitants. History Bečej was mentioned f ...

in former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, on August 3, 1971. Upon graduation from high school of mathematics in Bečej, he completed his mandatory military service and was discharged on the eve of the outbreak of

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. He moved to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

in 1991 to attend the Faculty of Architecture,

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

, and graduated in 1998. He was one of a handful of young artists selected to be exhibited in the “Conversation” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade. Beginning in 2001 he worked for various advertising agencies in Belgrade: New Moment (former Saatchi and Saatchi),

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

Ovation, Pristop and Mass Vision. He conceived the first course in

web design Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...

in Serbia for BK Academy of Arts where he taught from 2004 to 2006. He has worked as a freelance artist and designer since 2004. He currently resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Work

Maćašev is best known for the use of advertising and mass media vocabulary in his work, as well as for his elusive professional identity, which fluctuates between applied and fine arts. "His graphic work is challenging, political and often uncomfortable." He targets issues like mass-media culture, religious bigotry, political hypocrisy and making private issues public. Maćašev's work has been featured and written about in design publications from throughout the world.

Joseph Goebbels (TM)

In 2005, Maćašev created an art project in the form of an advertising campaign in Belgrade, Joseph Goebbels (TM). The campaign featured billboards, posters, radio, and television spots featuring mosaic images of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels that are created using the icons of major media companies. The main message was that Joseph Goebbels is a father of contemporary media culture and mass-communication. This artwork was derived from his previous

web art file:Simple Net Art Diagram.svg, upright=1.3, "Simple Net Art Diagram", a 1997 work by Michael Sarff and Tim Whidden Internet art (also known as net art or web art) is a form of new media art distributed via the Internet. This form of art circumv ...

piece “Unstable portrait of Joseph Goebbels”.Unstable portrait of Joseph Goebbels
The project has garnered plenty of attention throughout the world.

References

External links

Aleksandar Maćašev website

"Margins", visual blog

Aleksandar Maćašev blog: Diary of a visual-culture worker

Video interview
on SubmarineChannel, recorded in March 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Macasev, Aleksandar 1971 births Living people Serbian artists University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture alumni People from Bečej Serbian graphic designers