The Kaleidoscope of Culture, the winner of the European Trend Brand in the Field of Culture Award, will experience its fifth and, so far, most significant edition, from 1 September to 7 October in Novi Sad.

Already at the opening – the largest artistic gathering in this part of Europe, around 400 artists from almost 40 countries of the world will be presented through five types of art, from 1 to 4 September.

Opening the door to the industrial heritage of the District, one of the largest interactive installations in Europe ‘Autokorekt’, the work of the architectural art collective ‘Karkatag’, winner of the prestigious prize of The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust, will be installed on the Fabrika building.

‘It is an installation made up of a robotic and automated system of machines and devices, which with their media content and movement create a choreography – a specific dance on the façade, transforming the Fabrika building into a stage, and passers-by and users of the building into part of that ecosystem,’ said a member of the art collective ‘Karkatag’, Marko Dimitrijević.

Applied art will be presented by the Biennale of Stage Design, led by the world-renowned collective ‘Numen/For Use’. After installations throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, the collective will premiere its ‘Tape’ installation in Novi Sad.

‘The audience will get to know the ‘Common’ project, which deals with modernist heritage in Rijeka, Skopje and Novi Sad. Some of the leading authors from the area of the former Yugoslavia, who work in the fields of stage design, will present their practices, including designer and scenographer Sven Jonke, architect Miodrag Kuč, and others,’ said the artistic director of the Biennale of Stage Design, Mia David.

The Visual Arts Week will include as many as 22 exhibitions and 12 film screenings, such as the new films ‘Comedy on Three Floors’, starring the famous Serbian actresses Vesna Trivalić and Seka Sabljić, and ‘What a Wonderful World’ with Anđelka Prpić in the lead role. While the exhibition of the works of the world’s best young photographers from as many as 36 countries will be next to Gvožđara, more than 25 of Serbia’s most important new media artists, led by big names such as Vladimir Lalić, Dorijan Kolundžija and Goran Despotovski, will present their works in the renovated premises of Biro and Skladište. In addition to guest painters from France and Austria, the doors of representative renovated studios will be opened by three renowned European artists from Novi Sad – Petar Mirković, Tadija Janičić and Boris Lukić.

‘By repurposing old buildings into new studios, we took a shortcut from the 19th century directly into the 21st century. Now the problem of the studio space is no longer a burning topic, and artists can focus their energy and ideas on what is truly their calling,’ said painter Boris Lukić.

Eight contemporary dance performances await us during the Performing Arts Week with top performers from Spain, Japan, Sweden, Greece, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Serbia and other countries, at three theatre locations in the District. The Grammy winner, Dobet Gnahoré, will perform with Novi Sad artists and volunteers in a performance that will be an artistic and critical response to the famous slet (rally). Also, the celebrated Swedish choreographer of Japanese origin, Satoshi Kudo, as well as leading regional dance ensembles, such as the National Ballet of North Macedonia, BITEF Theatre, Zagreb Dance Center and others, will also be coming to the Kaleidoscope of Culture.

Symbolically, 22 musicians will perform, whose kaleidoscopic approach to genres and performance methods creates a unique sound. The famous Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica, the excellent New York musicians Hercules and Love Affair, as well as the famed British alternative band Republica with the hit Ready to Go, are just part of the forty-hour music programme in the District. A host of sorts, the celebrated composer, instrumentalist and multimedia artist from Novi Sad, Boris Kovač, will introduce us to the four days of the opening of the Kaleidoscope of Culture.

The literary programme, with workshops, expert conferences and panels in the field of five types of art, will complete the four opening days before the upcoming five different artistic weeks of the Kaleidoscope of Culture.

‘All that Novi Sad could only dream of until the Kaleidoscope of Culture, now obviously lives on, through the culture of togetherness. And just as the prestigious European award confirms my words, the four days are just a prelude to what awaits us in the next five weeks. With the acquired knowledge and experience in creating programmes in well-loved places and in renovated spaces, I believe this also applies to the future Kaleidoscope of Culture,’ said the CEO of the ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation, Nemanja Milenković.

Partners of the Kaleidoscope of Culture 2022 are Erste Bank, IDEA, DDOR, A1 Srbija, and Heineken Srbija.

Photo: Filip Petronijević, Uroš D, Ville Juurikkala, Vladimir Veličković