Man Gallery projects:

1993. -“Man Gallery - Cavellini's Mail Art”, photo performance (Photo studio “Pagi Foto”, Odzaci, Ex-Yugoslavia).
             -“Man Gallery - Xerox Art”, performance („Happy Gallery“, Students Cultural Centre, Belgrade, Ex-Yugoslavia).
             -“Man Gallery – Exhibition by plane”, performance (Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade, Ex-Yugoslavia).
             -“Man Gallery - Art Stickers”, street performance (Belgrade, Ex-Yugoslavia).
1994. -“Man Gallery – Rubber Stamps”, performance (“Golden Eye” Gallery, Novi Sad, Ex-Yugoslavia).
             -“Man Gallery – Art Borders”, performance (Town museum, Senta, Ex-Yugoslavia).
             -“Man Gallery – Reading of mail-art books”, performance (Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade, Ex-Yugoslavia).
             -“Man Gallery – Art masks”, performance (St. Philbert du Pont Charrault, France).
             -“Man Gallery – Art T-Shirts”, street art actions (Paris, Nant, Chantonnay, St. Philbert du Pont Charrault, France).
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of painter Nato and Ylvie”, performance (art studio of painter Nato, Paris, France).
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of painter Nato”, performance (art studio of painter Nato, Paris, France).
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of John Held Jr.”, performance (“Happy Gallery”, Students Cultural Centre, Belgrade, Ex-Yugoslavia).
1995. -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Emilio Morandi”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Artestudio, Ponte Nossa, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Bruno Capatti”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Artestudio, Ponte Nossa, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of group A.U.-Japan”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Gallery Chiesa Lab.D'Arte San Pietro, Bienno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Alberto Rizzi”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Museo Maglio, Bienno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Mayumi Handa”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Gallery Chiesa Lab.D'Arte San Pietro, Bienno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition Alessandro Ceccotto”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Gallery Chiesa Lab.D'Arte San Pietro, Bienno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition Massimo Pattaro and Anamaria Girardi”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Gallery Chiesa Lab.D' Arte San Pietro, Bienno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of audience”, street performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Bienno - Brescia, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Paolo Barrile”, performance (“Perfomedia” festival, Artestudio, Ponte Nossa, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Renata and Giovanni Strada”, performance (Lido Di Dante - Ravenna, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Giovanni Strada”, performance (art studio of G. Strada,  Ravenna, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of I Santini Del Prete”, performance (Vada - Livorno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Franco Santini”, performance (Vada - Livorno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Raimondo Del Prete”, performance (Vada - Livorno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of audience”, performance (Vada - Livorno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Ivano Vitali”, performance (Vada - Livorno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Enrico Mori”, performance (Vada - Livorno, Italy)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Stano Filko”, performance with Stano Filko, Slovakia (Golden Eye Gallery, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia).
1996. -“Man Gallery - exhibition of audience“, performance (Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Schwerin, Germany)
             -“Man Gallery – exhibition of Rubber Stamps“, performance (Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Schwerin, Germany)
             -“Man Gallery - Body artists exhibition“, performance in cooperation with 10 artists (Schwerin, Germany)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Jurgen O. Olbrich“, performance (Academy of Art, Kassel, Germany)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of students of Academy“, performance (Academy of Art, Kassel,  Germany)
             -“Man Gallery - communication by touch“, performance (Transart Communication 4,  Nove Zamky,  Slovakia)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of artists head“, performance (Transart Communication 4,  Nove Zamky, Slovakia)
1997. -“Man Gallery – communication by colours“, performance (NIPAF '97 festival, Tokyo, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Shozo Shimamoto“, performance with Shozo Shimamoto (Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery – communication by kiss“, performance (NIPAF '97 festival, Hiroshima, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery - Colored rain of Hiroshima“, performance with Fernando Aguiar (NIPAF '97 festival, Hiroshima, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery - Horizon(s)“, performance with Julien Blaine (NIPAF '97 festival, Hiroshima, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery – communication by punch“, performance (NIPAF '97 festival, Nagano, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery - exhibition of Takahashi Fumiko“, performance with Fumiko Takahashi (NIPAF '97 festival, Nagano, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery – communication by milk“, performance by Eniko Szucs (NIPAF '97 festival, Nagano, Japan)
             -“Man Gallery - poetical installation“, performance with Fernando Aguiar (NIPAF '97 festival, Nagano, Japan)
1998. -“Man Gallery - exhibition of nature”, performance (Ann Art 9 festival, St. Ann Lake, Romania)
            -“Man Gallery - exhibition of portraits”, performance (IMAF '98 festival, MAS Gallery, Odzaci, Yugoslavia)
1999. -“Man Gallery – communication by bomb”, performance (Castle of Imagination festival,  Bytow, Poland)
2000. -“Man Gallery - interrelation”, performance (IMAF 2000 festival, MAS Gallery, Odzaci, Yugoslavia)
2001. -“Upgrade plan of Man Gallery ” performance (Multimedia Arts Gallery, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia)
             -“Man Gallery - Smoke The Best” performance (Artfort festival, Komarom, Hungary)
             -“Upgrade of Man Gallery”, performance (Navinki 2001 festival, Pall Mall Club, Minsk, Belarus),
             -“Man Gallery – communication by blood”, performance (Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia)
             -“Man Gallery - transmiting”, performance with Shiobara Jasunori from Japan and Jeanet. Poett from Hungary (IMAF 2001 festival, MAS Gallery, Odzaci, Yugoslavia)
             -“Man Gallery – communication by drink”, performance (IMAF 2001 festival, MAS Gallery, Odzaci, Yugoslavia)
2003. -"Man Gallery - place of fear", performance (La Bienalle di Venezia, Venezia, Italy)
             -"Man Gallery - place of fear II", performance (La Bienalle di Venezia, Venezia, Italy)
             -"Man Gallery - place of fear III", performance (IMAF 2003 festival, MAS Gallery, Odzaci, Serbia)
             -"Man Gallery - place of fear IV", performance (PerformaNS festival, "Golden Eye" Gallery, Novi Sad, Serbia)
2004. -"Man Gallery - Serbia", performance (IZBA, Novi Sad, Serbia)
             -"Man Gallery - Ex Yu", performance (The Suicide of Objects, Catalyst Arts Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland)                                                                                                   
             -"Man Gallery - Serbia II", performance (Art College of Dartington, Dartington, United Kingdom)
             -”Man Gallery - I'm a Good Jugo", performance series Zentral-Jugo, in cooperation with Köppl/Začek (Bei Tweaklab, Bazel, Switzerland)
             -"Man Gallery - Finding Passport II", performance series Zentral-Jugo, in cooperation with Köppl/Začek (Centre PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland)
             -"Man Gallery - Zentral-Jugo diary", performance series Zentral-Jugo, in cooperation with Köppl/Začek (Hubert Bachler Gallery, Cirih, Switzerland)
2005. -"Man Gallery - Communication by Colour II", performance (Kesher 2 festival, FusionArts Museum, New York, USA)
2007. -"Man Gallery - interrelation II", performance (SULUV Gallery, Novi Sad, Serbia)
             -"Man Gallery - Interrelation III", performance (Interakcje 2007, Galeria Off, Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland)
             -"Man Gallery – exhibition of Radoslav B. Chugaly", performance (IMAF 2007. festival, MAS Gallery, Odzaci, Serbia)

Texts of the Man Gallery project:

Franco Santini & Raimondo Del Prete:

We love The Networker Gallery Nenad Bogdanovic
We are networkers, indeed netlovers, because we love the network that
is deep rooted in many places of the world. Our network is continually
stimulating us and permits us to express ourselves and create freely, ac-
cording to what we are and we have inwardly in order to be able to co-
mmunicate, without pretension to trade with us, to control us and to select us for speculative purposes.
We are not artists by trade, but railwaymen, nevertheless for that we
(Raimondo Del Prete particularly) don,t disdain to show our creative w-
ork to the critics and galleries of contemporary art. Some critics, tough
being out of our "mailartistic-networking circuit", took an interest in our
work and even I SANTINI DEL PRETE (the pictures of a saint of the
priest) could recently introduce their essence-presence into an official
art gallery. But on Thursday 10th August 1995 we lived a particulary pr-
ofound emotion, when the living gallery THE  NETWORKER GALLE-
RY NENAD BOGDANOVIC came to our houses during his tour of Ita-
ly after fantastic common experience at Bienno (Brescia) and Ponte No-
ssa (Bergamo) in PERFOMEDIA 1995 (a meeting of networkers and
performers organized every year by Emilio Morandi). Nenad is an awa-
re of his own creativeness man, a netlover like us. He came from Odzaci
in Yugoslavia, in spite of the hard time that are tormenting that land, for
offering us his body as a loving gallery in which, on which we had to
exhibit our creativeness.
We went to the pine-wood on the sea and we installed on his throbbing
explanatory space our extempore works of BEACH - ART, satisfing our
need to display and Nenad`s need to make himself displayed on.
After dinner at Franco and Patrizia Santini's house garden we organized
an evening in honour of the living gallery that had generously travelled
to make us exhibit our works on himself. So deeply moved we showed
on him the maximum symbol of our creativeness of simple man, not art-
ists by trade, that is our railwayman uniform. Then we had some other
shows with the works of domestic art which Raimondo Del Prete realiz-
es on behalf of his wife Caterina Casciello Del Prete and with little cag-
es containing symbols of time which Franco Santini recently built in su-
bject with his search. All people present (about 25) were at the end invi-
ted by Nenad to exhibit our signatures our handwritings our symbols on
his naked chest and back.
Consequently in addition to us, our friends also had the nice possibility
of a collective exhibition with little fragments of their creativeness in,
on THE NETWORKER GALLERY NENAD BOGDANOVIC.
In indelible memory of that great occasion he offered us, we thank Nen-
ad very much and so we want openly to say we netlove his operation
and his body gallery that such lovingly stimulated our psihological need
to be creative.
PEACE AND LOVE from I SANTINI DEL PRETE
(August 1995)


Alberto Rizzi:

If I was a critic, I could try to link Nenad`s concept of "body -
gallery" to some body - art performance of the Seventies. In fact it`s not
new to see an artist operating on its own body, or to let that other artist
use it; but the act of offering one`s body as an "open space" to other arti-
sts operating, passes over this simple listing.
If art is, more than all, communication, Nenad`s choice drives us to consider how much important is the body in any kind of communication, and it defiants also to overpass both the concepts of "dedicated place for art" and of the "at par"involvement artist (s) - observer (s).
In fact, if every place - from a theatre or a gallery to a simple room - can
be used for any kind of artistic evenment, the logic consequence of this
is that also a body - after body - painting, tattooing, gesturing - is only a
place like others. And wich kind of more precious occasion to share
one`s reliance in other people`s creativity than this?
I don`t pretend that everyone act as Nenad does, but it`s important to learn to consider - in any circumstance - that also our whole, body included, is a part of our artistic operating.
(Rovigo 29. 09. 95.)


Paolo Barille:

Since the first artist traced his first images - it was probably the times of
rupestrian painting and the engravings in Valcamonica - artists have al-
ways strived to reach immortality for themselves and for their works. It
was so for Greek art as well as for most of the masterpieces of the Itali-
an Renaissance.
With a great sence of humility, the artist Nenad Bogdanovic gives up
producing his own works and chooses to turn his body into an art galle-
ry, giving other artists the chance to use it as a medium or as an exhibit-
ing space for their actions.
Nothing could be more ephemeral. How long can a work of art last on
such a medium? An hour? A day? Or till his partner gets fed up and tells
him: "wash yourself, you stink and soil all the sheets"? Who knows.
What we know is that, given the extremely ephemeral character of the
medium used - and here I knock on wood and invite Nenad to do likewi-
se - such an artistic image will not last beyond the maximum limit reac-
hed by the mythical Methuselah.
Cui prodest? "Art is ephemeral" Bogdanovic seems to tell us. "So are li-
fe, glory and beauty". Many works of art are doomed to waste away be-
cause of the decay of the medium - let us think for example of all colour
movies. How could we not agree with him?
The lesson Nenad Bogdanovic is teaching us is one of great humility
and profound poetry but also of cynical realism. The human body is tra-
nsient, all vanities of this world are transient, and beauty is destined to
wither away. But ART - as an expression of the mind and as such leadi-
ng to MAN - is eternal. Art is a concept, an IDEA, and it is the idea whi-
ch is passed on and which is the spirit and the core of the artistic work
in all times.
(Milano, 30th September 1995)


Emilio Morandi:

The important property of the artist, operator of any
discipline, is to express his own sensations and impressions means poet-
ics operations made with signs, colours, sounds, writing, sculpture, obj-
ects, behaviours, actions, and communicate it to the public.
Nenad Bogdanovic go further this possibility, go longer the fact of com-
municate to others. Nenad Bogdanovic have the brilliant idea to give the possibility to others to express the own creativity and immediately exhibit in the special gallery.
Nenad Bogdanovic , after many years of operativity in the circuit of
mail art, with collectives projects: "Imprimes", "Open letters", "Mask",
"T-Shirt", "Eye-glasses", included also an between premiere collection
of art works "Total" international magazine of network, have think up to
offer the his body as place of exhibition where whoever can expose poe-
tics works, art works, write messages, put stamp, timbre, adhesives.
Nenad Bogdanovic in this years make art - trip of his nomad gallery in
travel in the Yugoslavia, and shows with his "art body gallery" also at
Museum of Modern Art of Belgrade.
Nenad Bogdanovic in the year 1994 have make exhibition his gallery to
atelje by artist "Le Peintre Nato" and models at Paris.
Nenad Bogdanovic in the year 1995 have bring his "body gallery" in
Italy, at Festival of performances "Perfomedia" Bienno (Brescia) Ponte
Nossa (Bergamo) where all artists participants and the public present have make interventions and write messages in the his body, in the his human - nomad gallery with enthusiasm.
(October 1995)


John Held, Jr.:

Networker Gallery of Nenad Bogdanovic
Nenad Bogdanovic has been an active cultural worker long enough to
realize that Mail Art has very little to do with the mail and much more to
do with the art of communication. Over the years, artists participating in this field have used not only the postal services of the world, but other mediums from the lowly rubber stamp to the high technology of the computer in expresing their creativity. In between these high and low mediums they have experimented with fax, magazines, the telephone, photocopy, audio and video cassettes in examining the ways these mediums can carry artistic messages.
All these mediums can carry facts from person to person. But can these
mediums also be used to surprise, shock, and transform the receiver, just as the more traditional mediums of painting and sculpture can? And can these newer mediums be even more effective carriers of creative information in the new world in which we live.
The important thing is to use traditional and newly created mediums in
new ways to create messages that have importance to the way we live
today.
Nenad Bogdanovic uses his body to communicate the art experience.He
has gone beyond his many years of working with other international art-ists through the postal sistem. He has gone beyond communicating with his magazine Total, which was an important mail art magazine that shared the work of Eastern European artists with the rest of the world. He has gone beyond the white walls of the art gallery to share his artworks.
Bogdanovic has fused all of his previous art interests in this latest proj-
ect. From Mail Art he has taken the philosophy that art and life are best
when joined together. He is also aware that the artwork is a shared expe-
rience between artist and viewer, and at it's best, there is often no distin-
ction between the two. Nenad Bogdanovic is indeed a creator , but he is
a confident enough artist to realize that creativity is a collaborative eff-
ort. The Networker Gallery uses the artist's body as a medium to create
an open structure that can be used to communicate. The telephone is used in a similar way. It carries messages, but makes no effort to determine the information which flows through it. Bogdanovic becomes the medium through which others flow and are allowed to express their creativity. He holds his body like a mirror in which the individual reflects and reveal themselves. He is the open medium allowing them to do this.
I was fortunate enough to be the 15th person to participate in the Networker Gallery Project. My act was not only an artwork in and of itself, but a part of a larger effort guided by Bogdanovic. As complete and revealing as my act was of myself, it is also only a single component of the larger message that the project is seeking to complete. Each addition gives us a larger view of the unity of creativity that contemporary artists are striving for.
In exposing himself, Bogdanovic is allowing his fellow artists to reveal
themselves. Ultimately the audience for this work will be given a better
picture of contemporary art and the ideas and interests that the new art
holds important.
(Dallas, USA 1995) 


Julien Blaine:

Horizon(s)
In French, like in most languages there is only one word for "Horizon".
In Japanese there are two words:
one that means: "horizon of the sea"
one that means: "horizon of the land"
What can we do?
For this performance which I wanted to realize with this live, moving,
human: "The networker gallery Nenad Bogdanovic", man-space, man-
object, man-subject, man-painting, man-display to be transformed in,
and, set, establish, paint, admire, ore convert in, change to horizon ...
What can we do?
"horizon of the sea or
horizon of the land ?"
Man (Man-gallery also), that curious mammal is he rather earthly or
from the sea, which element? So, I remembered the line of the horizon,
that bond of coordination between earth (planet - coast - sea) and I'm for
the option of the sea.
Looking at it this way, could Nenad`s face be the Sun setting down and
meet me between the dog and the wolf, in the moment that signifies the
end of the day and possible beginning of the night.
(Marseille, France 1997)


Fernando Aguiar:

Colour Rain for Hiroshima
In Hiroshima , during the NIPAF '97 - The 4th Nippon International Per-
formance Art Festival, I've a new and great experience, when Nenad
Bogdanovic invite me for make a work on his body-Gallery.
At the first days in Hiroshima , we visit the Peace Memorial Museum
and I (and the other artists, too) keep very impressed with all holocaust
and their consequences. One of the thing I've impressed was the black
rain on Hiroshima in the days after the nuclear bomb. So, I decided ma-
ke a homage to Hiroshima using a tradicional form of Japanese poetry -
the haiku, and the theme of black rain. And in Nenad Bogdanovic Galle-
ry I've make an haiku called "Colour Rain for Hiroshima", a vertical hai-
ku with 5/7/5 colour letters in sign of hope. I think the public understand the work and the message, and the Hiroshima television , after make the film of the performance, make an interview with us about the work and his subject.
Some days after, Seiji Shimoda invite us for make another work in Nag-
ano. And that time I' ve made a poetical installation in Nenad Bogdano-
vic Gallery, with many different letters glued on Nenad's body.
They was two very interesting experiences, because I never exhibit in a
so peculiar Gallery.
(May of 1997)


Adrian Guta:

Nenad BOGDANOVIC from Yugoslavia is an itinerant author of performance, who has been promoting a provoking programme for a few years. This attracted to the artist invitations in many countries. This is a complex and indirect form of body-art, BOGDANOVIC offering his body to the action of others, at the same time transforming it in a mobile space of exhibition. This way a variant of alternative space is created, one of the most ingenious ones, with an added sui generis modality of interaction. At Ann ART 9 Nenad BOGDANOVIC proposed to the public to "structure" with site-specific elements the space
embodied by the Yugoslavian.
(Romania 1998)


Wladislaw Kazmierczak :

The artist adopted his method many years ago. 'Man - Gallery' appears in different parts of the world and suggests a certain type of communication. He makes documentation of all the interactions
with spectators with a simple polaroid and this is the essence of his acti-
on. The concept is very witty. Galleries cannot travel or meet other peo-
ple. But a man can. Nenad Bogdanovic breaks his isolation and the iso-
lation of his country. One must emphasize one thing: just beside us, the-
re live fantastic people who suffer because of historical and political
turn. They do not have any influence on great policy, wars, divisions
and secessions. Not everyone in his country is like Goran Bregovic who
can function ideally in a commercial world. Therefore, 'Man - Gallery'
appeared at the "Castle of Imagination". He suggested a different means
of intercourse other than bombs. It was a very brave act, as he came to
Poland - an active benjamin of NATO. The reaction of the audience was
very spontaneous. The audience very quickly painted their forms on the
ballistic missile previously drawn on the artist's T-shirt and trousers. The Olympic colours red, blue, black, green and yellow were used to spontaneously paint in a Flower Power style. I have never been a witness to such an interesting experience. Emotions, somehow automatically, changed a stable form into its contradiction.
("Castle of Imagination", Poland 1999)


Beke Zsófia:

We have participated in „Man Gallery“ by Nenad Bogdanovic, Serbian of international reputation. Although the performers and organizers of the festival prepared themselves for their presentation, it was interesting that Man Gallery Nenad Bogdanovic (like our Szombathy) communicated with the audience through the cigarette, e.g. with us that were at the same time the participants of the performance and the Gallery. Bogdanovic as a true Orthodox makes his body into a Gallery, converting it into common, representing the scene, subject and object of intimate contact between the artist and his audience.
Bogdanovic took a packet of „BEST“ brand cigarettes, offering the pre-
sent people one cigarette each wishing us to „Smoke the Best“, than just
like a kind of a photo boot, with Polaroid in his hand, waited for us to
put the cigarette in our mouth and drag a smoke, and immortalized the
gesture. Since it was a day of blood donors in our country, Bogdanovic
originally intended to shed  collectivize  blood. But there were no opti-
ons for this to occur.
(“Artfort” festival, Hungary 2001)


Luka Salapura:

„Upgrade Man Gallery Nenad Bogdanovic“, although presented by famous Jugoslavian performing artist Nenad Bogdanovic, can not be seen only through polarised section of artistic act known as performance. Elements of other experiences of postmodern art
praxis are present in just enough measure to make a source idea more
complex and therefore, in this case, more successful. Strong presence of
mail-art, as form of origin, should not surprise us if we know that, esse-
ntially, is a starting point of Nenad Bogdanovic.
But, when we say mail-art today we'll hardly ever think about most ort-
hodox meaning of this artistic movement. Complex in it's essence mail-
art contained in itself, from the beginning, variety of other artistic praxis which have only been recognized or later, in most cases, were recognized as self-standing or simply by art actions and existence developed in separate forms of expression. This openness and richness of possibilities and forms, based above else on interactive working between artists and/or artist and audience, created the strongest and most numerous movement that we can recognize. Nenad Bogdanovic, in his invitation to participate in this project says: „Each Gallery is built to serve it's purpose.
If it works good, from time to time it must be upgraded in order to work
even better. These upgrades must make more light, more space, more visual effects. My Gallery is growing with me, but it needs living help to
grow in the right direction. Please, show this Gallery the right direction
and upgrade it.“ So, after many years of international artistic action
„Man Gallery“ which can be strictly marked as authors performance, us-
ing original behaviour of a mail-artists and complete opennes and non-
vanity, which is one of the characteristics of this movement, completes
an idea on a level of cooperation in multicultural and multinational eng-
agement. Only answers on the quoted invitation, e.g. their quality, are
showing the power or the original engagement.
Project or artistic action „Upgrade Man Gallery Nenad Bogdanovic“,
promotes in the best way all those strong concepts of mail-art, now leg-
endary movement, and everything that comes from it. Development of
Internet as quality and fast communication, basic concepts are not chan
ging, but general options are only broadening. It's peculiar that we are
not wondering (at least not too much) for the anarchy of postmodern streams, actions, praxis etc. and we are wondering open and loud, for the great sea of informations offered to us by this new form of communication. As in Internet, so in the area of  postmodern art praxis, audience has the option to choose but also to be responsible for this choice. In short, viewer is not innocent for a long time now. From his participation or non-participation something depends and he can not escape of it. Regardless if he wants to or not.
(Text published in catalogue of „Upgrade Man Gallery Nenad Bogdanovic“ project, 2001)


Victor Petrov:

Nenad Bogdanovic is the first Yugoslav performer to visit Minsk. The performer's art is connected with the interactivity of the audience, and he simultaneously captures the whole process, particularly its concluding phase, in snapshots. The simple materials required for the performance (sheets of paper, barbed wire, pieces of string) are just simple elements, although the process of handing them out gradually draws the spectators into the process. The tactile side is an important
part of the entire performance. The creation of living sculptures is a kind of archaic shamanic ritual (characteristic to pagan cults) which brings with it the joy of mutual creativity. A large number of young people actively decorate this festive sculpture, while the performer captures the process which, for him, is a continuation of his photo-project "Photo In The Context Of Performance".
(„Navinki“ festival, Belarus 2001)


Roddy Hunter:

In the following performance, Man Gallery  Ex Yu, Serbian artist Nenad Bogdanovic situated/sited himself within a circle of paper questionnaires, was stripped to the waist and was wearing a map
of Europe as one would wear a skirt. A video projection showed him di-
scussing with people on Belfast streets their understanding of the situa-
tion of former Yugoslavia. These people completed the questionnaires
we now see on the floor and who, in particular, each offered one word
that might summarise the background understanding of their view. Bog-
danovic then made a rubber stamp of each of these words and he invited
the gallery audience present to stamp these on his body. These stamps
read 'Troubled', 'Inhuman', 'Objective', 'Freedom', 'Taboo', 'Tragedy/Ho-
pe', 'Guilty', 'Conflict', 'Help', 'Guilty'. All the time he is holding a video
camera, recording these multiple acts of inscription upon his body from
the view of looking outward from that body as well as recording the sit-
uation of being observed alone by a mass of others. Bogdanovic insists
that he is a 'Man Gallery', a body offered for the inscriptions of others
within the context, on this occasion, of a physical gallery space. He has
devised many performances, mail-art projects and exhibitions in this
way over recent years. His conception of the 'Man Gallery' emerged in
response to the embargoes suffered by Serbian artists during the recent
turbulent history of the Balkans. He likens his body to an object althou-
gh those marking his skin can only think of their and his subject-hood.
It seems impossible that the body-subject can become truly object in such a conclusive sense, although art historians have offered this as a critical aspiration in the work of body artists historically as a sufficiently untroubling, monodimensional explanation. This seems too simplistic an acount. It is worth mentioning that following his performance in Belfast, Bogdanovic made another 'Man Gallery' action in Dartington, England where his wrists were bound together and chained to a ceiling. It did not take too long before the circulation of his blood was restricted  neither an objective of the work nor the intention of the artist  to the extent his left hand began to turn blue. The subject can  neither become nor act as object, I thought. Bogdanovic questions, as a smith also does, the relationship of the subjects of art with its objects, means of recording events and the nature of what becomes extant and when. Both also exercise their desire to intervente in usual channels by which we consume the events upon which we base our experience and construct our 'attitude to life'.
(Text published in the catalogue of project The Suicide of Objects, Catalyst Arts, Belfast 2004)


Kenny McBride:

PERFORMANCE ''MAN GALLERY: SERBIA II''
On one wall was positioned a grid of A4 sheets of paper, each expressi-
ng a comment written by artist-respondents to an email from Bogdano-
vic asking them to describe their observations on Serbia. This continued
his familiar approach of promoting dialogue in art. In front of this Bog-
danovic stood naked except for a map of the Republic of Serbia worn
around his waist. His ankles and wrists were bound with heavy chains,
those from his wrists descending from up high on the ceiling held his
arms uncomfortably out and upright for the duration of the Performance.
At his feet lay several black marker pens and a set of instructions inviti-
ng the audience to choose a text from the wall and write it once more,
this time upon his body. Over time, and to a background audio of Ortho-
dox chanting, people followed his request, framing a compendium of
abstracts upon his flesh.
When the West falters in it's understanding, or in it's desire to understa-
nd, the Balkan context it all too easily and often allows itself to conclu-
de sensationally. Bogdanovic's Performance serves as an illustration of
exactly how dangerous that collusion can be. The few positive texts we-
re virtually lost in the intensity of the weighted bias and confusion that
is bedfellow to ignorance  a telling pointer to our televisual experience
of the Balkans. After twenty-five minutes of his arms and hands being
suspended by chains the blood began to drain from one.
A viewer pointed out that in all of the images displayed 360° around
him in the room from previous ''MAN GALLERY'' incarnations Bogda-
novic most generally had his arms outstretched, a welcoming host. But
in this final Performance of the ''MAN GALLERY'' series he appears
shackled, his flesh whipped by the tongues of others, and blood draining
from a hand.
Past ''MAN GALLERY'' performances have seen the artist being painted on in bright colours, poetry installed with glue and tape, the head of
Japanese artist Shimamoto lying upon it, rubber stamps stamped on it,
dressed in Cavelline's Mail Art, and outdoors covered with nature. And
many more. Once again it was shown how unique the ''MAN GALLERY'' body of work is, both conceptually and as a venue for people to expose themselves upon.
The map featured the habitats of wild birds within Serb territory.
(Text published on web site of PAC, 2004)


Juniper Perlis:

Nenad Bogdanovic's recent New York performances, "Man Gallery - Communication by colours II" at FusionArts Museum and "I Am A Rich Artist" at Currency International Performance Festival in Chashama Gallery, highlight the relationship between body, audience, ownership, production and commerce.
Nenad's performance, "Man Gallery - Communication by colours II" at
FusionArts Museum is part of a twelve yearlong body of work. These
performances exist as exhibitions held on his body. This particular exhibit was in conversation with an earlier performance Nenad created in Japan in 1997. Both performances used paint in the Olympic colors. Because the audience was composed of so many international artists, this was particularly poignant. During the painting of Nenad's body, the implicit competition between participants was extremely evident. As the composition revealed itself in time, the conflict between imagery and color mirrored the conflict between people. Two of those most active in painting on Nenad were a man/woman couple working together. They would mimic one another's designs and share brushes, using this opportunity to display their relationship and perhaps discount others by painting over marks made earlier. It was quite funny and telling when those painting would step back for a moment, arms crossed over chest, and survey their work. Nenad, staring into the distance for close to thirty minutes, became an object, a site for creative potential that was claimed by others. Despite the cramped, cluttered, awkward space of the venue, many were inspired to take part in this performance. Though, it seems they were eager to lose respect for the artist as a human being and act out their own claims to creativity and expression at his expense yet bequest.
(New York, 2005)

'Man Gallery - Cavellini's Mail Art', Odzaci (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1993

'Man Gallery - Xerox Art', Belgrade (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1993

'Man Gallery – Exhibition by plane', Belgrade (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1993

'Man Gallery - Art Stickers', Belgrade (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1993

"Man Gallery – Rubber Stamps", Novi Sad (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1994

'Man Gallery – Reading of mail-art books', Belgrade (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1994

"Man Gallery – Art masks", France 1994

'Man Gallery – Art T-Shirts', France 1994

'Man Gallery - performance with painter Nato and Ylvie', Paris (France) 1994

'Man Gallery – performance with John Held Jr.', Belgrade (Ex-Yugoslavia) 1994

'Man Gallery – performance with I Santini Del Prete', Vada - Livorno (Italy) 1995

'Man Gallery - performance with Massimo Pattaro and Anamaria Girardi', Bienno (Italy) 1995

'Man Gallery – performance with Paolo Barrile', Ponte Nossa (Italy) 1995

'Man Gallery – performance with Mayumi Handa', Bienno (Italy) 1995

'Man Gallery - exhibition of audience', Vada - Livorno (Italy) 1995

'Man Gallery - exhibition of audience', Schwerin (Germany) 1996

'Man Gallery-Communication by colours', Tokyo (Japan) 1997

'Man Gallery - Horizon(s)', performance with Julien Blaine, Hiroshima (Japan) 1997

'Man Gallery - Communication by kiss', Hiroshima (Japan) 1997

'Man Gallery - poetical installation', performance with Fernando Aguiar, Nagano (Japan) 1997

'Man Gallery-Communication by bomb', Bytow (Poland) 1999

'Man Gallery - Interrelation', Odzaci (Yugoslavia) 2000

'Upgrade plan of Man Gallery', Novi Sad (Yugoslavia) 2001

'Man Gallery Communication with blood', Novi Sad (Yugoslavia) 2001

'Man Gallery - place of fear', Venice (Italy) 2003

'Man Gallery - place of fear II', Venice (Italy) 2003

'Man Gallery - place of fear IV', Novi Sad (Serbia) 2003

'Man Gallery - Ex Yu', Belfast (Northern Ireland) 2004

'Man Gallery - Serbia II', Dartington (United Kingdom) 2004

'Man Gallery-Communication by colours II', New York (USA) 2005

"Man Gallery - Interrelation III", Piotrkow Trybunalski (Poland) 2007

“Man Gallery - communication by touch“, Nove Zamky (Slovakia) 1996

"Man Gallery - place of fear IV", Novi Sad (Serbia) 2003

"Man Gallery - Serbia II", Dartington (United Kingdom) 2004