Residual Aesthetics: Rethinking Zoran Todorović’s Warmth Against the Benchmark of the Anthropocene

Authors

  • Danica Đorđević Janković Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art, Belgrade

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.628

Keywords:

Zoran Todorović; posthuman; hair-based art; waste; abject; ungrievability; Anthropocene.

Abstract

This paper examines Zoran Todorović’s Warmth, an artwork composed of cut and discarded human hair, exploring its aesthetic, political, and social implications through the lens of marginal aesthetics, abjection, biopolitics, and posthuman theory. Drawing on thinkers such as Julia Kristeva, Rosi Braidotti, and Judith Butler, the analysis situates hair as abject, waste, form of life, and un-grievable within broader contexts of cognitive labour and the ecological crisis. The paper aims to argue the agency of discarded hair as a material, instrument, and method in contemporary art to disrupt the anthropocentric discourse by decentering the human along the lines of Braidotti’s theory of posthuman subjectivity.

Author Biography

Danica Đorđević Janković, Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art, Belgrade

Danica Đorđević Janković graduated from the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, where she also obtained her Master’s degree, defending the thesis “Self-organization of Artists in Serbia in the Age of Transition – Models, Significance, and Scope” in 2023. Đorđević Janković has published several academic papers and is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the same faculty. From 2018 to 2024, she worked as an associate at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. Since 2025, she has been employed as a curator at the Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art.

References

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Internet sources

Artist’s Portfolio Page: Todorović, Zoran. “Warmth.” Zoran Todorović. Accessed May 31, 2025. https://www.zorantodorovic.com/portfolio_page/warmth/.

Vimeo Video: Todorović, Zoran. Warmth. Video, 2:10. Vimeo. Uploaded August 24, 2016. https://vimeo.com/181954128.

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News Article on Nova.rs: “Umetnik čije je delo sklonjeno: Todorović – Kiš brka pojmove.” Nova.rs. September 10, 2021. https://nova.rs/kultura/umetnik-cije-je-delo-sklonjeno-todorovic-kis-brka-pojmove/.

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Published

15.09.2025

How to Cite

Đorđević Janković, D. (2025). Residual Aesthetics: Rethinking Zoran Todorović’s Warmth Against the Benchmark of the Anthropocene . AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (37), 123–132. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.628

Issue

Section

MAIN TOPIC: The Marginalization of Art: A Permanent, Complex, and Ongoing Process