UTOPMINIA Thinking models

The name of the exhibition “UTOPMINIA” originated from thinking about the initial idea and model (a miniature object – mini) as one of the ways of technical expression. The idea was to present a utopia through a model of a garden, as one of our current possibilities, so that each of as presented their own utopia through the model of a garden.

By calling things or ideas utopian today commonly means calling something unrealistic, that is, something one should abandon because it is futile, impossible. Furthermore, according to some definitions a utopia is everything that is not realised, but it does not mean that it will not be realised in the future. In the same way one can regard our models also, with possible real application and of use to the coming generations.

Concurrently, it is crucial to note that we as a group came to these solutions and we wanted through our works to question the idea of a model as a mode of expression. Earlier, the use of a model was auxiliary, that is, the model was not taken as a finished work. However, recently, it’s role is multifunctional and multifaceted.

Simply put, a model is “a form for trying things out”, as Thomas Schutte put it once.

On this occasion we also thought through models and gave them a utopian character which can actually be attributed to them easily. In this way, an idea can be liberated through it. The artist Antony Gromley also pointed out that a model is “making some sort of utopian projection”. “Can we look at the world as if it were a model”, asks Gromley.

Branka Uljarevic