MUSEUM OF OBJECTS, 2011-2014
Memories of the Serbian citizens of the 1990s are in great extent marked by personal traumas and fears. All through the 1990s wars, inflation, sanctions, civil protests and unrests made everyday life for the millions of Serbian citizens, but even today this period stays both insufficiently studied and clearly positioned in the country’s history. History is continuously being rewritten in contemporary Serbia and debate about recent past is usually detached from the personal experiences that make it relevant to most people’s lives. Creating a platform devoted to the articulation, preservation and presentation of the many untold everyday stories about that time, which are otherwise overshadowed by the politics of the period, contributes thus to better understanding of many difficult questions that the past presents. Museum’s collection seeks to question what happened, what was important at the time and what remains important, if we have learned anything from the 1990s and what can this, to many highly traumatic period, tell us about our present circumstances.
Dejan Kožul, 1974, Rijeka/ Belgrade
Refugee card (Belgrade, 1993)
Dragan Mirković, 1957, Plešin/ Kraljevo
Devalued banknotes (1990s)
Gordana Ristić and Olivera Trajković, 1974, Vranje
Fuel canister (1994)
Ivana Jovanović, 1979, Belgrade/ Mladenovac
Whistle and light bands (1997)
Zlatko Vujanović, 1987, Aranđelovac
Apple
Vera Pullen, 1978, Novi Sad/ Belgrade
FRY Passport (2001)
Toma Bibić, 1978, Zadar (CRO)/ Niš (SRB)
Candlestick with a candle
Srđan Tunić, 1984, Belgrade
Bazooka tube and bullet cases (Belgrade, 1999)
Mina Aleksić, 1981, Belgrade
Troll (1990)
Mila Marinković Broćić, 1957, Čačak / Novi Beograd
Cotton diaper (1993)
Jelena Petrović, 1949, Novo Selo/ Kraljevo
Sodium bicarbonate (Kraljevo, 1990s)
Zora Čavić Ilić, 1937, Belgrade
Battery Whisk for Nescafe (1991-1993)
Museum of Objects is a public space for remembrance, shaped and created by the public. It is made of every-day objects each of which is accompanied by a testimony describing the object’s personal significance to the person that donated it. It affords people the space to expose and espouse self-narratives about personal experiences that they believe to be important for understanding the period and to encounter the self-narratives of others, creating a dialogue between donors and a space in which to articulate alternatives to the dominant political-historical narratives of the period. Through focusing on the experiences of ordinary people, the Museum is created as an inclusive, open, public space where a pluralistic, non-linear, self-organized narrative of memory of the 1990s is developed. As an initiative, Museum of Objects proposes a new understanding of the role of the museum, where the museum is more than an institution aimed at preserving art and culture; it becomes a dynamic platform created and shaped through public participation, which performs a social rather than didactic function. The Museum’s collection is continuously grown through the ongoing donations by the citizens, thus enabling a dynamic dialogue about how to understand the past and building conditions for establishing a societal consensus about how to deal with it.
From 2011 till 2014, Museum of Objects was presented three times in Belgrade, but also in Novi Sad, Niš, Novi Pazar, Kragujevac, Zaječar, Subotica, Bujanovac, Kraljevo, and Požega. On these occasions, over 160 objects were collected. In 2017 Museum of Objects became a part of the collection of the Museum of Yugoslavia, which continues to enlarge and promote it.
The complete documentation of the project is available on
www.muzejobjekata.net
Authors of the project: James May, Milica Pekić, Ana Adamović
Project was initiated in collaboration with the Biljana Kovačević Vučo Fund, and realized with the support of the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia
