On the International Day of Danube, 29 June, the Novi Sad 2021 Foundation organised the DanubiaNS forum which was used to discuss plans for encouraging the cultural cooperation and exchange of knowledge and experiences in the Danube Region.
The Danube is a symbol of cultural, ethnic, religious, and language diversity of present day Europe, because it connects as many as 10 countries. The importance of making connections within the region can be seen in the fact that the Danube Conference on Culture is being organised traditionally, every year, every time in a different city on the Danube. In 2014, it was organised in Novi Sad.
Dr Márton Méhes, Manager for Cooperation in the Danube Region, and Vuk Radulović, Head of the Department for International Relations of the Novi Sad 2021 Foundation, presented the DanubiaNS project and the strategy of cooperation within the Danube Region. Following the introduction, Vesna Latinović MA, Director of the Bel Art Gallery and the Dabube Dialogues festival, and Clemens Bauder, designer, musician, urbanist, and former member of the Linz 2009 team joined the panel discussion.
In the following five years, the DanubiaNS programme line plans to implement series of different projects in the field of culture and art in cooperation with cultural organisations and artists from the entire Danube Region. Among other things, the cooperation between Linz and Novi Sad was announced, as well as start of residential programme for artists from the Danube Region. Furthermore, there is a possibility for Novi Sad to actively participate in projects within the Danube transnational programme. During February, the invitation was sent to experts, organisations, and individuals in the field of culture and art to join the dialogue and work jointly through networking in the Danube Region in order to intensify connections and cultural exchange.
The programme on the Zeppelin boat ended in short video by Dragan Vojvodić, an artist from Novi Sad, entitled ‘Suprematist Transition’, which was shown during the Danube Dialogues festival in 2015, and with ‘Suprematist Transition’ artistic action, made during the residency in Bergen in 2016. This marks the beginning of commemoration of one hundred years since the exhibition of the Black Square by Kazimir Malevich, and it will last until 2019.
