Flock.hr is a multimedia art project parodying the concept of a reality show. From the human perspective sheep are un-individualized, they are representatives of a species, which is exactly what makes them suitable participants in the project. They can't create an image or 'introduce' themselves, yet I hope that one of them could become a star. The spectators bear the responsibility on two levels: first as voters, then as winners of the awarded sheep – the sheep that fell out of the contest. There are two 'if' phases in the project. If the spectator does not want the sheep he had been awarded, it will be slain. This phase is conceived as fatal for author's possible smug alignment with the morally undisputed 'right side'. The next 'if': if the animal right activists or anyone else wants to save the sheep, they will be able to pay to spend 24 hours with the sheep in their own home. The winning sheep will sign a contract insuring a lifetime care.
Voyeurism, desire for reality, identification with the common, the average and commonness presented as exceptionality worthy of public attention, anonymous masses deciding on the fate of an individual, the simultaneity of competition and togetherness, desire for individualization, fame and award, anonymity as synonymous to non-existence, constant exposure of the participants not to the eye of the spectator but to the camera which annuls reality and leaves only a show as reality, the audience’s lack of consciousness about the difference between an event and its medialization are some of the elements of the reality shows which Flock.hr tends to show.
I honestly hope that the sheep are worthy of rivaling the humans in creating the magnificent boredom of a reality show.
Siniša Labrović (HR)
Siniša Labrović was born in 1965 in Sinj. In 1997, he took a degree in Croatian language and literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. He began to go in for the visual arts in 2000. He had his first solo show in the Otok Gallery in Dubrovnik. He has shown his work at numerous collective and solo exhibitions, carried out actions and performances as well as urban interventions, in Croatia – in Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Zadar, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Šibenik, Osijek and Poreč, and abroad – in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Graz, Carlisle, Reykjavik, Regensburg, Dundee, Istanbul, Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels, Venice, Budapest, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, New York, San Sebastian and Lodz. In 2005 he attracted the attention of world media (such as Reuters, BBC, Ansa, New York Post, Guardian, Times, NBC, ABC) with his work Flock.org, a reality show in which the contestants were sheep. In 2007 he won third purchasing prize at the first T-HT/MCA Competition in Zagreb for Family Diary. This work is part of the permanent display of the MCA.
The paper Slobodna Dalmacija proclaimed the performance Gloria done on the Split waterfront one of the five best cultural events in Dalmatia in 2007. In 2010, at the 16th International Theatre Festival in Pula he won the Vjetar prize for the performance of Gloria. His work is kept in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, the Museum of Fine Art in Split, the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik and in private collections. In 2009 he exhibited at the 11th Istanbul Biennial. He represented Croatia at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale with the Pulska grupa, Hrvoslava Brkušić, Igor Bezinović and Boris Cvjetanović.
sinisa.labrovic@gmail.com
