The utopian impetus of the avant-garde was broken by the realities of the 1930s. Many avant-garde artists were chased away or crushed by the various regimes of the 20th century. In this moment of crisis, some artists retreated to their ivory towers, focusing on the matters of their own métier. Others decided to join forces with the political powers they still believed in, often at the cost of losing their artistic integrity. And some continued to believe that the world can be changed through their words and works. And what can be said about the impetus of the socially-engaged art of the 21st century? In our moment of crisis, do artists decide to stay out of socio-political issues that—as individuals—they do not have any major influence over? Or do they still believe that art can have a say in these matters? Do they still bother?

During the last decade, the drawings and videos by Vesna Bukovec gained her recognition in and outside of Slovenia as an artist dealing with the burning issues of today’s society: the consequences of neoliberal ideology, the socio-political reality in Slovenia, the refugee crisis, and the role of women in contemporary society. The title of the series of drawings And yet I do bother, now presented in a form of video produced for the OFF-Biennale Budapest, is a response to her previous series of drawings with the ironic title I can’t be bothered … [Briga me …, 2018], in which she exposed the passivity of people who only care about personal matters, completely neglecting the wider socio-political issues. The drawings of And yet I do bother takes widely circulated media images of brave women from the history of the 20th and 21st centuries, who, in the words of curator and art historian Nataša Kovšca, “fought and are still fighting for social change as well as against social, political and sexual inequalities, from the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst to the Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, along with some unknown names. No matter whether known or anonymous women protesters are involved, images that according to the artist became ‘a symbol of the fight against oppression’ create hope that the world can be changed.”