The New Places project, which comprises creation of small public places across Novi Sad with active participation of citizens, and For New Murals project, which comprises series of actions related to management of wall surfaces this year, are part of the Hope bridge, dedicated to public spaces and increasing capacity, and are focus of the Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture project.

One of the first projects within the For New Murals programme is Outings Project, realised by the Gallery of Matica Srpska and Institut français de Serbie in cooperation with European Youth Capital – OPENS 2019 from 14 until 18 August.

The Outings Project was designed by French-Corsican visual artist Julien de Casabianca, as a global artistic project whose main goal is democratisation of classical art by painting murals inspired by artistic heritage.

Implementation of the project will begin with the mural workshop organised for twenty young people 14-19 years of age, who have applied to the open call. During workshops, participants will exchange experiences and interpret meanings of works of art from the collection of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, and then select works of art based on personal preferences and the take photos of them. The end result will be various collages that will be applied as murals on neglected walls of buildings in Novi Sad. On 26 August and 16 September, curators and participants of the workshop will take interested people for a walk around the city to visit places where murals have been places, and to visit Gallery of Matica Srpska to tell their experiences in perception and interpretation of works of art.

In addition to the workshop, Julien de Casabianca will make the mural of the painting Anđeo mira I (The Angles of Peace I) by Stevan Aleksić from the collection of the Gallery of Matica Srpska on facade of the building in Trg Neznanog Junaka Street, no 1a. Mr Casabianca’s version of this painting will be printed in format between 12 and 15 metres and will be places on the appropriate wall.

This mural, as well as the smaller ones that will be created during workshops, will establish an unusual connection between everyday space and cultural heritage.

As the crown of the project in Novi Sad, the Gallery of Matica Srpska will host an open photo exhibition of murals by Julien de Casabianca that are located on facades in various cities around the world, like Paris, New York, Warsaw, Moscow, Jerusalem, Sad Francisco, and other.

You can find more information on this project and artist Julien de Casabianca at www.outings-project.org.