Artist   

The End of History

In the open air commercial center of Rotterdam, the city where I live in, the ban on photography already exists. It has been implemented without any protest, as in The Netherlands we have long gotten used to the fact that public space is not public at all. Today the streets are owned by the shops that reside in them, not by the people that living in it.

I believe that Zagreb in five or ten years will deal with the same policy. As also here public space as a commonly space is disappearing. The realization of a parking lot on Warsaw Street which resulted in months of protests is a first sign of the process in which collective good turns into private good.

The project ‘The End of History’ wants to confront Zagreb with its own future. It is a form of shock therapy to keep alive and intact the anger we will need to continue the fight for democratic space. To continue the fight for a meaningful public domain.

Photo by Damir Žižić

Jonas Staal

Jonas Staal (1981, NL) has studied monumental art in Enschede NL and Boston USA. His work includes interventions in public space, exhibitions, lectures, and publications, which emphatically relate to political subjects and developments. From a Beuysian perspective he interprets democracy – democratism –as a Gesamtkunstwerk. His essay Post-propaganda (Fonds BKVB, 2009) and publication Power?… To Which People?! (Jap Sam Books, 2010) provides the theoretical basis for this line of work. Staal realized projects for exhibitions in many respected international institutions, including the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and the David Roberts Art Foundation in London. He regularly publishes in magazines, such as Metropolis M and Manifesta Journal. Staal lives and works in Rotterdam NL.
http://www.jonasstaal.nl