Vahida Ramujkić, born in Belgrade in 1973, graduated in 1997, completed her Master’s in 2001, and received her PhD in 2018 from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. Reflecting on the specific function and place of artistic creation in society, she engages through both professional and activist work in creating conditions and approaches for developing collaborative practices aimed at building community. She develops long-term projects, often working through collectives or by fostering workshop and collective processes.

Since 2001, together with Lai Sadurní, she initiated Rotorrr, based in Barcelona, which, over the next seven years, served as a platform for orientation and actions in the territories of “neoliberal transition.” Her personal experience with the paradoxical EU Foreigners’ Law is summed up in the book Assimil: Schengen Without Struggle (2006).

She explores the potential for creating shared narratives through long-term projects such as Disputed Histories (since 2007), Documentary Embroidery (with Aviv Kruglanski since 2008), Storm and Return Home (2006-2010), and others. Vernacular practices of food fermentation were the basis for the development of the Microcultures project (with A. Kruglanski and M. Robes, 2011/12). An attempt to build an autonomous and fair production process in a refugee camp was carried out with colleagues and camp inmates through the collective Minipogon (2017-2023).

Since 2020, she has been involved in the management structure of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia (ULUS), where she co-coordinates the Debate-Research Program. She was awarded the 25th October Salon Prize in Belgrade for her work False Truths (2011). In the framework of her professional and activist engagement, she works within various organizations and collectives: ReEks (2016-2019), SAFS (2015-2016), NoNameKitchen (2017-2021), Irational.org (since 2011), and others.

www.irational.org/vahida

Rotorrr (2001-2009)

with Lai Sadurní, an others.

https://www.irational.org/rotorrr/
(website damaged during server migration)

Rather than a conventional collective, Rotorrr is an initiative that, at the turn of the new millennium, through numerous research expeditions, actions, experiments, and interpretations, brought together many participants at the heart of urban neoliberal transformation, with Barcelona being a prime example. “Based on unmediated action within a material environment, individual and shared experiences, Rotorrr is in a constant process of self-definition. It is a catalyst that disperses established norms and relationships, decodes chains of information, and generates new systems of signs on both the singular and objective planes. Rotor cuts and rebinds, moves up and down, in width and depth. Continuous movement maintains a state of alertness, encouraging a connected and vital relationship, not only with the immediate surroundings but also with internal processes, for both general and individual satisfaction. The game allows participation in the process of defining its rules and the very board on which the game is played”. The first rotation of Rotorrr passes through four phases: land, water, air, and fire. (Poble NOW! [expeditions, safaris, mountaineers], Gira la Barrera, TeleChronicas, GPSm, Olimpiada Escultorica BCN’92-’02, Cantar el Carrer, etc.)

Documentary Embroidery (since 2008)

https://bbva.irational.org/documentary_embroidery/

with Aviv Kruglanski, since 2012 Dejan Došljak

In the context of hyperproduction and information saturation, documentary embroidery (in real time) has emerged as a technique promoted as the most efficient way to document reality. Its fundamental premise is that it “enables the creation of less information over a longer period of time.” Moreover, through this technique, a new reality is simultaneously created and documented.

The limitations imposed by the embroidery technique—its slowness, stitch by stitch—are regarded here as an advantage. These constraints compel the economization and abstraction of information, encouraging reflection and the selection of the most essential elements for representation. Additionally, embroidery directs participants toward prolonged, collective engagement in public spaces, where the events being documented unfold.

As a result of this extended presence in public spaces, documentary embroidery, through the exchange of ideas and spontaneous collaboration recorded on fabric like a palimpsest, facilitates a deeper understanding of social reality and its continuous recreation.

The Office of Documentary Embroidery has hosted events in various cities and contexts, including: Mexico City (Social Struggles in the Historical Quarter, 2016), Konjic (The Button War, 2015), Mostar (There Was a City on the Neretva, 2014), Jerusalem (Lessons from Musrara, 2014), Aradac (The Aradac Crossword, 2013), Donji Štoj (End of Summer in Donji Štoj, 2013), Holon (Alef-Bet of Jessy Cohen, 2013), Sheffield (Odd Day NEWS, 2012), Ljubljana (Faces of Feminism, 2012), Warsaw (The Praga Alphabet, 2011), Kaluđerica (Kaluđerica from A to Š, 2010), Cairo (Live Documentary Embroidery, 2008), Banff (Chronicles from Banff, 2009), among others.

Disputed Histories (since 2007)

https://irational.org/vahida/history/

The Disputed Histories library is an extensive collection of history textbooks that have been used in the region of ex-Yugoslavia across different historic periods. It provides a basic resource for critically approaching the construction of the official narratives embedded in educational system, as one of the main pillars and instruments for securing political, economic and ideological domination.

Based on the principle that every individual, as a subject of history, is inherently qualified to question and analyze common narratives, a unique methodological approach has been developed for subsequent workshops. This approach involves comparative textual and visual analysis of textbooks, culminating in the creation of new collage-style booklets.

Established in 2007, the library has relocated several times and is now housed in the Museum of Yugoslavia (Old Museum, Belgrade). Workshops using the library’s materials have been organized in diverse contexts, including: Last 50 Years of Common History (SPAPORT, Banja Luka, 2010), Our Own World History (Raumschiff Yugoslavia, NGBK, Berlin, 2011), False Truths (52nd October Salon, Belgrade, 2011), POVIJEST_HISTORIJA (OKC Abrašević, Mostar, 2013), Socialism Then and Now (SIZ, Molekula, Rijeka, 2013), Sarajevo Assassination (BLArt, Incel, Banja Luka, 2014), Prefaces and Contents (Transit, Iași, Romania, 2019), among others.

Minipogon (2017-2023)

with Chow Sing Tai, Danilo Prnjat, Tijana Cvetković

https://www.irational.org/minipogon/

The Minipogon collective was formed in 2017 with the idea of offering practical solutions to the current social situation – on one hand, the social and economic inequality reflected in the “refugee crisis,” and on the other hand, the ecological disaster caused by capitalist production processes and consumer culture as their consequence.

During 2018 and 2019, the Minipogon workshop was located in the Krnjača Refugee Camp, where an experimental production facility for processing waste plastic was set up. The facility consisted of machines built by the collective members themselves, and the workshop was equipped with all the necessary tools for material processing (metal, wood, plastic, etc.). Camp residents participated in creating designed products, which achieved significant market prices, allowing for fair compensation for all those involved in the production process, as well as facilitating many other exchanges and social gatherings.

After leaving the camp, Minipogon continued to develop similar collaborations within the extracurricular program at Bogdan Šuput High School in Novi Sad in partnership with kuda.org.