Project description: The project constitutes a multi-year research into the rich tradition of contemporary art practice in Serbia (and the region) since 2000, which is focused on collaboration, community work and social change. The research team of Ana Adamović and Milica Pekić dedicated themselves to a deeper exploration of the artistic practices of artists and artistic collectives who, in their work, raised topics of broader social importance: labor rights, the rights of minority and discriminated groups and the vulnerable from all social classes, environmental issues, issues of economic and social justice, women’s rights, various domains of criticism of the dominant system, the issue of solidarity, and the like, because until now there has been no available archive that would provide insights into this practice in one place.
The archive includes video interviews: with artist Maja Bekan in the space of the Belgrade Cultural Center, with artist Branka Cvjetičanin in the space of the Knap Peščenica Cultural Center in Zagreb, with the Škart collective, with Rena Radle and Vladan Jeremić, with Mladen Miljanović in the artist’s studio in Banja Luka, with artist Vahida Ramujkić, with the Ostavina Gallery collective, with the Remont organization collective, with Nebojša Milikić in the space of the REX Center, with curator Ana Sladojević, with Ana Miljanić in the space of the Center for Cultural Decontamination. Simona Ognjanović and Milica Ivić presented the work of the Matriarchy collective with a unique aesthetic of work on the contemporary art scene. Dušica Parezanović shared her experience of 15 years of work at the REX Cultural Center, which, with its program policy, has largely enabled and strengthened collaborative formats of work in art. Vesna Madžoski explained the nature of archives as a place of control not only over the past but also over the future, and Ana Sladojević referred to the relationship of institutions as bearers of the norming of social relations and artistic practices in question, and pointed to possible alternatives generated within these practices. A small segment of this recorded material was shown as part of the exhibition “Life in a Block” which served as a further dialogue with artists and the audience about collaborative practices in our country. The entire content is now available online in Serbian and English on the website of the Kiosk organization.
Grant amount: 3,000,000.00 RSD
