PROJECT YUGOSLAVIA, 2016-2019
Is the Yugoslav past already historized and stored in the archives? Is it inscribed in historical essays, debates, artifacts of various collections, in memories? Can that past offer us any explanation about the present moment? Can it help us to understand the crises and challenges of today? Can we use the example of the multinational, multi-confessional state that collapsed almost 30 years ago as a starting point in rethinking the alternatives for this present moment in which we live?
Project Yugoslavia starts from the assumption that the past is not a set of dead facts and completed events, but rather a set of ideas that once were constituted within the concept of Yugoslavia. The project reflects on these ideas’ relevance to the current moment along with their potential for understanding and shaping our future.
With the main aim being to step back from the word history and explore the contemporary relevance of the ideas upon which Yugoslavia built its statehood, the project involves hundred and one participants of various ages, histories and backgrounds from the region of the former Yugoslavia. Instead of proposing the specific questions, every interlocutor was given a card with information about an object from the Museum’s collection containing the object’s description, date or period when it was made, and its origin. This information rather than the objects themselves initiated reflection on a particular topic and opened the possibility for reflecting its relevance in the contemporary context. Through this method we aimed to translate the Museum’s collection of material traces of the past – a collection of artifacts – into the form of live commentary, current thoughts, ideas and potentials for the future. During the process we tried to detect if and how this heritage still lives within the minds of the people from this region – is it archived in some far corner of the memory or it actively influencing contemporary ideas and actions?
By bypassing the physical character of the object, we tried to move the thinking about Yugoslav heritage beyond a nostalgic vision of a better past; and as such put an emphasis on thinking about Europe and the world as they are today: seemingly in a permanent state of the crisis and conflict, filled with a lack of tolerance and inequality.
Esad Bajtal
Sonja Lokar
Žarka Radoja
Participants:
Tomislav Badovinac, Zdenka Badovinec, Esad Bajtal, Ivo Banac, Mehmet Behluli, Dunja Blažević, Bogić Bogićević, Ajla Buljubašić, Rafet Bushati, Teodor Celakoski, Valter Cvijić, Ivan Čolović, Iva Čukić, Petar Ćuković, Zlatko Dizdarević, Dean Duda, Nikola Džafo, Varja Đukić, Ljubomir Frčkoski, Nikola Gelevski, Rron Gjinovci, Slavko Goldstein, Petar Gošev, Miroslav Grčev, Elma Hašimbegović, Tarik Haverić, Eliza Hoxha, Maksimilijana Ipavec, Guner Ismail, Ivan Ivanji, Hristina Ivanoska, Bojan Ivanov, Ilina Jakimovska, Tvrtko Jakovina, Nensi Jasharaj, Božena Jelušić, Dejan Jović, Haris Jusufović, Husnija Kamberović, Vesna Kesić, Miklavž Komelj, Snježana Kordić, Branko Kostić, Ljupka Kovačević, Nina Rajić Kranjac, Benjamin Krnetić, Luka Lagator, Samir Lemeš, Sonja Lokar, Budimir Lončar, Oto Luthar, Saša Madacki, Shkelzen Maliqi, Žarko Marić, Dragan Markovina, Jože Menciger, Stjepan Mesić, Luka Mesec, Vladimir Milčin, Dragan Miljanić, Mladen Miljanović, Goran Miloradović, Miroslav Minić, Miran Mohar, Pava Molnar, Bogdan Osolnik, Svjetlana Nedimović, Nataša Nelević, Jeton Neziraj, Veton Nurkollari, Katarina Pejović, Latinka Perović, Tanja Petrović, Marko Perković, Olga Manojlović Pintar, Bojana Piškur, Venita Popović, Srđan Puhalo, Žarko Puhovski, Žarka Radoja, Yill Rugova, Artan Sadiku, Besa Shahini, Ares Shporta, Emilija Simoska, Svetlana Slapšak, Ognjislav Slunjski, Hajrudin Somun, Lazar Stojanović Igor Toshevski, Senad Šahmanović, Marjan Šantić, Elizabeta Šeleva, Marko Špadijer, Igor Štiks, Azem Vllasi, Nina Vodopivec, Željko Volaš, Marko Vrhunec, Miloš Vuksanović, Jelena Vukasović
Conference Musealization of Yugoslavia.
Petrification or an Active Negotiation of Shared Heritage
Dom Omladine, Belgrade, December 2nd and 3rd, 2018
The conference was organized by the Museum of Yugoslavia and Kiosk platform for contemporary art as a part of the program dedicated to the centenary of the Yugoslav foundation.
mr Neda Knežević, director of the Museum of Yugoslavia
Confiscation of Culture: Dubravka Ugrešić
Pro et contra: dr Tvrtko Jakovina (moderator), dr Ljubinka Trgovčević, dr Dragan Markovina, dr Husnija Kamberović, dr Milan St. Protić
Yugoslavia Today: dr Tanja Petrović (moderator), dr Olga Manojlović Pintar, dr Jernej Mlekuž, Ana Dević, Vladimir Arsenijević
Project Yugoslavia: Stevan Vuković (moderator), Ana Adamović, Milica Pekić, dr Mitja Velikonja, Iskra Geshoska
Yugoslavia in the Museum: dr Nikola Krstović (moderator), dr Kaja Širok, Elma Hašimbegović, Ana Panić, Marija Đorgović, dr Katarina Živanović
Amateur Practices of Collecting, Keeping and Interpreting the Yugoslav Heritage: Tatotomir Toroman (moderator), Žarko Gvero Gera, Mario Milaković, Milenko Petković, Nebojša Jakovljević
Musealization of Yugoslavia: Post-capitalist Past for What Kind of Future?: dr Rastko Močnik
Authors of the project: Ana Adamović, Milica Pekić
Camera, editing: Ana Adamović
Video postproduction: Vladan Obradović
Postproduction and sound design: Dejan Čeko, Srđan Bajski
Translation: Goran Kričković, Verica Krstić, Katarina Pejović, Nora Bezera
Web support: Dušan Jevtić
Design: Isidora Nikolić
Architecture and design of the exhibition display: Milica Lopičić
Organisation of the exhibition: Aleksandra Momčilović Jovanović
Public relations: Tamara Marković
Technical realisation of the exhibition: Sava Kovačević, Predrag Arsić, Vlada Vidaković, Dejan Klajić
Project Yugoslavia was realized as a result of collaboration between the Museum of Yugoslavia and Kiosk – platform for contemporary art, and with the professional support of the director of the Museum of Yugoslavia Neda Knežević, and the curators Ana Panić, Ivan Manojlović, Katarina Živanović, Aleksandra Momčilović Jovanović, Jovana Nedeljković, Veselinka Kastratović Ristić, Radovan Cukić).
The project was realized with the help and support by many friends, organizations and institutions from all around the former Yugoslavia, for which we are sincerely grateful: Anamarija Batista, Erol Billibani, Iskra Geshoska, Nataša Govedarica, Alenka Gregorič, Mia David, Stevan Dimitrijević, Varja Đukić, Nataša Zavolovšek, Vojislav Ilić, Arlind Kirajtani, Dren Maliqi, Duško Miljanić, Mladen Miljanović, Mićo Parežanin, Borka Pavićević, Katarina Pejović, Lazar Pejović, Venita Popović, Dragan Protić, Tatjana Rajić, Marijana Rimanić, Vjera Ruljić, Ares Shporta, Elma Hašimbegović, Ana Hofman, Teodor Celakoski, Nataša Škaričić, DokuFest (Prizren), Expeditio (Kotor), Karver (Podgorica), Kontrapunkt (Skoplje), MAMA (Zagreb), City Gallery (Ljubljana), Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo).
The project was realized with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Minsitry of Culture Republic of Serbia
