In anticipation of the European Capital of Culture year in Novi Sad, the exhibition ‘The Citizens of Novi Sad Choose’, opens in the Gallery of Matica Srpska on 17 December, symbolically at 8:22 p.m. (20:22).

One of the most significant institutions in Novi Sad starts the title year of the European Capital of Culture with the exhibition that will present the Gallery of Matica Srpska collection in a completely new way. The citizens of Novi Sad chose works from different spheres – culture, education, science, economy, sport, and of different nationalities and religions, which show the diversity characteristic of Serbian Athens.

‘For me, it has been the most personal and intimate experience so far in the Gallery of Matica Srpska, which always readily opens its doors. It was something special. It wasn’t easy to choose the artwork in an ocean of beautiful paintings, but I trusted my intuition,’ said one of the participants in the project, fashion designer Zaga KalMar.

Milica Milošević, a project manager, stressed that they have been working on the project for several months, i.e., to be more precise, more than 20 hours in museum depots.

‘Some of the participants are our long-term associates and friends, while some of them entered the Gallery for the first time. Having in mind there are over 10,000 works of art in the collection of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, this task was challenging, but also extremely beautiful, both for the citizens of Novi Sad and for the curators and conservators,’ said Mrs Milošević.

The exhibition, which is an overture to the year of the title of the European Capital of Culture, will last throughout 2022, until 31 December. 

‘We are very glad to start the year of the title of the European Capital of Culture with the exhibition ‘The Citizens of Novi Sad Choose’. It is important to mention that the European Capital of Culture has fruitful cooperation with the Gallery of Matica Srpska within almost all platforms in the title year when we celebrate the title,’ said Sara Vuletić, the programme director of the ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation.

The exhibition is a story of Novi Sad men and women about their lives, childhood and desires, reflected through selected works from the Gallery depot, with the idea to show through this exhibition model that a museum is a place for everyone and that the Gallery and its collection, seen through the eyes of citizens, can be one of the possible images of the national art of recent times.

‘There are exhibitions that leave traces in the institution and the lives of curators and citizens, such as the exhibition ‘The Citizens of Novi Sad Choose’. I am glad that we have once again shown that we are an open institution, that we are the place where culture, art, and heritage live, but we are also a place where happiness lives,’ said Dr Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, the manager of the Gallery of Matica Srpska.

The exhibition features 41 artworks from the collection of the Gallery selected by Miljana Pavlović, Igor Ćujić, Ranko Rajović, Robert Čoban, Dragana Zgonjanin Bosić, Vitkay-Kucsera Ágota, Slobodan Trkulja and Nikodima Trkulja, Andrej Šibanov, Marija Stobord Šibanova, Dejan Ćurčić, Jasmina Vukašinović, Zaga KalMar, Danijela Ivanović, Viktor Til, Milesa Milinković, Duško Stojanović, Maja Boškić, Pavle Sekeruš, Milorad Stošljević, Vera Kopicl, Andrija Nikitović, Uroš Krstin, Mihail Dudaš, Vitomirka Trebovac, Aleksandar Dujin, Boško Lučar, Predrag Bogovac, Andrija Gerić, Vladimir Kopicl, Zorica Pejić, Tijana Prodanović, Gvozden Perković, Marija Vasić, Aleksandar Frank, Oto Horvat, Emina Salai Elor, Savo Ilić, Jasmina and Nemanja Kovačić, Bojana Karavidić, Vesna Latinović and Momčilo Popov.

The exhibition is accompanied by a Serbian-English catalogue with texts by Dr Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, the manager of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, Vladimir Kopicl, writer, and Milica Milošević, a project coordinator, as well as statements by all project participants.

The project and exhibition ‘The Citizens of Novi Sad Choose’ was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and the ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation’.

Photo: Archives of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, V. Veličković