Dimitrije Bašičević

Dimitrije Bašičeviċ Mangelos. Born 1921 in Šid, Serbia, died 1987 in Zagreb, Croatia. Art critic and curator. Cofounder and director of Gallery of Primitive Art in Zagreb. Later, director of Centre for film, photography and TV. For 40 years, he made art under pseudonym Mangelos creating globes (more than 20), artists’ books, drawings, and watercolors. In manifestos he expressed his idea about functional thinking which will, according to him, in postwar society dominated by technology, replace metaphorical thinking. In one manifesto, he precisely predicted the year of his death. Explaining the difference between different phases of work of various artists (two Karl Marxes, three Van Goghs) by the bio-psychological theory, in his shid-manifesto published in 1978, he predicted 9 and ½ Mangelos ending with 1987. He was producing no-art, writing nostories and making antipeinture series. During late 1950s and early 60s, Mangelos shared his anti-art ideas with a group of colleagues gathered in Gorgona group.

site: http://www.mbasicevic.net