House

Heartefact House represents a programmatic pillar focused on arts and multidisciplinary artistic forms that it nurtures, while at the same time experimenting with the potential of art to touch hearts and minds and change them. Through this programmatic pillar, Heartefact produces theater performances, as well as other artistic forms that make the cultural space more dynamic and diverse by introducing new practices, underrepresented perspectives, and providing opportunities for artists who grapple with different aspects of social, political, and economic reality. The House brings together and connects creative individuals and those interested in engaged art in a community that values excellence, innovation, talent, and diversity. Heartefact’s theater productions, of which there have been over twenty so far, are regional artistic projects of great cultural value and have been performed regularly on the repertoire of cultural institutions and alternative scenes in Serbia for years. The plays have been directed by artists such as Andrej Nosov, Selma Spahić, Anđelka Nikolić, Ivica Buljan, Mirjana Karanović… Since 2022, Heartefact House also exists physically when it receives a space of the same name in the center of Belgrade, a family apartment in the function of a theater that can accommodate 80 spectators and where Heartefact’s monthly repertoire is regularly held. In addition to theater production, the House participates in organizing numerous festivals, exhibitions, competitions, and other cultural, artistic, and educational programs, among which projects of collaboration with European partners stand out in the Creative Europe programs (four even in the period from 2023-2025!). Among the significant exhibitions that Heartefact has produced are “Bogujevci: Visual History,” “Anti-Masonic Posters,” “Srebrenica Today,” and more recently, exhibitions of local and European artists who deal with queer perspectives. Also noteworthy are the organization of the “Tolerance Festival 2014” and the “Days of Sarajevo” Festival in Belgrade. As part of the HFestival in 2018, a major NEW conference was organized, “The Future of Performing Arts in Serbia: Perspectives and Challenges,” which brought together leading theater experts from the country and mapped out specific problems that different parts of the scene face. Since 2019, Heartefact has been organizing the Pride Theater Festival every September during Belgrade Pride Week, and since 2011, once a year, it has been organizing a Competition for the Best Engaged Full-Length Dramatic Text. In the field of contemporary dramaturgy, Heartefact is the successor of the Neue Stücke aus Europa Biennial, making a connection between the role that event had in Europe and the Belgrade Biennial, which should continue its tradition. Through the House pillar, Heartefact has produced over 50 artistic programs in theater and visual arts, several dozen published works of contemporary dramatic authors, and many examples of breaking down cultural barriers (especially in relation to Kosovo).