the c.a.t. — the contemporary art tabloid
Conceptual print project, single-page artwork, 2009
Cancelled under threat, The C.A.T. survives as a black front page and a bus-window photograph of the exhibition venue - a protest against censorship and the fragile visibility of artists.
The C.A.T. was conceived as a fictional contemporary art tabloid for
Time Out Belgrade, on the occasion of the 50th October Salon of Contemporary Art.
The project aimed to satirise art-world conventions and reposition artists as visible
cultural figures rather than marginalised subjects.
Strugar invited fellow artists to contribute gossip-like questions and commentary,
including pointed questions directed at the Salon’s curator, who at the time also
served as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade.
Shortly before publication, the project was shut down. One question — asking what the
curator would do if she won €1 million from the lottery, referencing unused public
funds for the museum’s delayed reconstruction - resulted in a threatening phone call.
The artist was warned she would “never exhibit again.”
Rather than withdraw, Strugar transformed the act of censorship into the artwork
itself. She produced a stark black “front page” in the format of a retraction - a
fictional announcement explaining the project’s cancellation. A single photograph,
taken from a bus window facing the museum, was quietly inserted into the magazine
issue. Framed by distance, it marked the limits of access and visibility.
Photograph taken from a bus window facing the Exhibition space for the octobar salon in 2009, Belgrade
Working draft of the cover page, prior to cancellation,2009