Tamara Vukov tranzicija triptychs

Forming the first gesture in an expanded documentary that encompasses a feature-length non-fiction film (2024) and digital repository, Tranzicija explores the timespace of a formerly self-managed factory in Zrenjanin. It follows the struggle of the predominantly women workers of Jugoremedija to overturn their privatization, one that has become a symbol of the long-term fates of many workers in the post-Yugoslav region. 

In dialogue with the film Tranzicija Zrenjanin (2024), the installation tranzicija triptychs puts into motion the rhythms of non-linear time that some argue are key to the global relays of postsocialism, rooted in its nonalignment with colonial capitalist progress narratives. 

Developed with editor Kara Blake and composer Annabelle Chvostek, the resonances of Vukov’s triptychs are also influenced by José Munoz and Ernest Bloch’s work on alternative temporalities. The timespace of the installation explores the post-socialist temporalities of Zrenjanin’s industrial zones into the present in an embodied and spatialized register. These temporal layers are activated through four video triptychs on each of the four walls of the gallery, a floor projection of the original kombinat of which Jugoremedija was a part, and Chvostek’s lush musical composition. Layering found, archival, and original footage, the triptych form resonates as an incantation to activate the palimpsests of (post)socialist timespaces. 

The artist wishes to thank the SOCAN Foundation and the Fonds de recherche – Société et culture du Québec.