Presentation short abstract

This paper analyzes the development of oil infrastructure in Yugoslavia, arguing that the photographs in Man and Oil exhibitions did not merely depict oil infrastructure but projected it as a public good, co-constructing a petronatureculture in conjunction with other technologies of extraction.

Presentation long abstract

This paper analyzes the development of oil infrastructure in Yugoslavia and examines how the region of Vojvodina was mediated as an extractive zone through photography. The case study focuses on a series of photographic exhibitions titled Čovek i nafta (Man and Oil), held from 1978 to the late 1980s with the support of the Pančevo Oil Refinery and its cine-photography club, “Bušač” (“Driller”). Pipelines, refineries, and other industrial structures were thoroughly aestheticized, becoming legitimate subjects of artistic representation and mediating the processes of oil extraction, refinement, and transportation. The photographs did not merely depict oil infrastructure but projected it as a public good, co-constructing a Yugoslav petronatureculture in conjunction with other technologies of extraction.