"All Art is a Political Statement" will focus on Arijana Lekić-Fridrih’s "Silent Mass," a performance enacted as a symbol of resistance to the “Be Manly” movement, a series of prayer events held in Croatian squares by men who call for the abolition of women’s rights. Every first Saturday of the month, male followers gather in public squares across Croatia to pray for women’s “chastity” and for men’s “masculine authority;” they kneel even though their movement is not directly related to the Catholic Church nor religion. There is evidence that they are funded by "Ordo luris," an ultra-conservative organization that successfully campaigned in 2021 to deny Polish women abortion rights.

In an act of resistance, Lekić-Fridrih stands in front of this crowd of men while reading a statement about gender-based violence, inequality, and the legislative and daily violations of human rights against women in Croatia.

This lecture will feature the new book about Arijana Lekić- Fridrih's work, authored by Rebekah Modrak (Disobedience Press, 2024), which offers Lekić- Fridrih's video interviews and public performances as a guide for activism and collective action against retrograde restrictions on the freedom of women. Lekic-Fridrih's presentation via Zoom will be followed by Professor Modrak and Professor Brian Willems leading a discussion in 555 Weiser Hall.

Arijana Lekić-Fridrih was born in Zagreb, where she currently lives and works. She has a degree in Film and Video from the Fine Arts Academy in Split. She has worked as a screenwriter for a documentary series and is director of two short documentary films, "Online" and "The Parade," but her work is currently focused on video and performance art. She regularly exhibits her work in Croatia and abroad.

Rebekah Modrak is an artist and writer whose practice is at the intersections of art, activism, and creative resistance to consumer culture. Her web-based artworks, such as Re Made Co. (remadeco.org) and RETHINK SHINOLA (rethinkshinola.com) critique brand misrepresentation. Recently, she co-edited "Trouble in Censorville: The Far Right’s Assault on Public Education – and the Teachers Who are Fighting Back" (Disobedience Press, 2024), a collection of testimonies by 14 educators who were fired or smeared for teaching about racial justice or providing books about/by LGBTQ+ people. She is co-editor of "Radical Humility: Essays on Ordinary Acts" (Belt, 2021) in which twenty writers from philosophy, psychology, consumer culture, and other fields consider humility as a state of being. She is professor of art, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.

Brian Willems is associate professor of literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Split, Croatia, where he is also director of the Studia Mediterranea center. His most recent academic book is Sham Ruins: A User's Guide (2022), and he is co-editor, along with Slavoj Žižek and Nicol Barria-Asenjo, of Global Manifestos for the 21st Century (2024).

Photo: Arijana Lekić-Fridrih's "Silent Mass" performance in Split, photo by Žaklina Antonijević.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at crees@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.