There are a little less than 50 days left until the opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture, and leading up to that moment, the ‘EVROVIZION.CROSSING STORIES AND SPACES’ exhibition will be opened in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina on Friday, 26 November at 7 p.m. The exhibition will be preceded by the performance by Ivana Ivković ‘MONUMENT: WITHOUT THE LOST’.

The audience will have a chance to see the exhibition until 27 February 2022.

The co-creative exhibition deals with the current sociopolitical situation in Europe and the idea of European identity. It focuses on less visible and marginalised geopolitical and cultural spaces, especially in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. These are the so-called semi-periphery and places of diversity, which play a subordinate role in many international debates and exhibition practices.

Martin Edelman, the representative of the institution for international relations in culture from Germany – (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), and one of the organisers of the upcoming exhibition, said that the artistic work opens diverse and new perspectives on the present and the future issues.

‘This is the reason why ‘ifa’ conceives, promotes and implements exhibitions on fine arts, design and architecture across the world. Encounters and communication of artworks and concepts are the core of our work. We are very glad that after almost three years of intensive work, exchange, mutual thinking and creation, our new exhibition ‘EUROVISION.CROSSING STORIES AND SPACES’ is opening in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina’, stressed Edelman.

Artists Nevin Aladağ, Igor Bošnjak, Vajiko Chachkhiani, Lana Čmajčanin, Johanna Diehl, Petrit Halilaj, Ivana Ivković, Janine Jembere, Vladimir Miladinović, Henrike Naumann, Emilija Škarnulytė, Selma Selman, Slavs and Tatars, and Adnan Softić, will present their works at the exhibition. Curators of the exhibition are Sanja Kojić Mladenov and Sabina Klemm.

After receiving a call from the ‘ifa’ Institute to create the concept of the co-creative exhibition that deals with the topic of Europe with Sabina Klemm, Sanja Kojić Mladenov, the curator of the exhibition and representative of partners in the project by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, stressed that they quickly realized that the essence of the project is the current sociopolitical situation in Europe and problematizing the idea of European identity.

‘We focused on less visible and marginalised geopolitical and cultural spaces, especially in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. These are the ‘between’ places, the so-called semi-periphery places, which in many international debates, theoretical debates and exhibition practices have a subordinate role, but at the same time represent places of diversity and values. Through various artistic positions, the project analyses the system of exclusion, monopolisation of resources, but also the limitations of perspectives based on imposed privileges. Novi Sad, with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, as the second stop of the project, is an important historically multicultural place that will bear the European Capital of Culture title next year, and thus important for questioning the topic of European cultural identity,” said Kojic Mladenov.

The exhibition will include the travelling library, which will be available to visitors of the exhibition, internet presentation of the project and ‘MAGAZINE PRE-ISSUE’ comprising initial information about the project.

Moreover, in each presentation city, a new issue of the magazine will be produced. Therefore, the ‘EVROVIZION.CROSSING NOVI SAD’ – implemented with local partners and by comprising all additional content and events of the project in Novi Sad. We can expect the presentation of the collection of different magazines at the end, as a specific ‘travelling archive’.

During the implementation of the exhibition, several follow-up programmes in Novi Sad will be held, while the exhibition by the artist Henrike Naumannn will be held in the ‘Exchange Office’ Gallery of the Goethe-Institut in Belgrade in February 2022.

The ‘MONUMENT: WITHOUT THE LOST’ performance presents a continuation of multimedia research of the artist, initiated several years ago. Within the performance, she creates performative tableaux vivants (en. living pictures) in specific contexts and places. The issue of identity and gender stereotypes play a significant role in the work by Ivana Ivković, having in mind that she uses the half-naked male body as a performative instrument or medium for specific sensitivity and sensuality. Her works have always been focused on the experiences of viewers, i.e., on their emotional and psychological perception of the ambience and events.

The exhibition is organised by the Institute for International Relations in Culture from Germany – ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina and the Goethe-Institut Serbia and is part of the ‘Doček’ programme of the ‘Novi Sad 2022 – European Capital of Culture’ project.

Doček presents a unique celebration in Europe: two celebrations of New Year’s Eve, two days, two ways of calculating time, two alphabets and two forms of art. Doček emphasizes the intercultural identity of Novi Sad through cultural heritage and contemporary practice.

More than 280 artists from 9 countries at more than 60 events will perform within Doček. Some of the announced names and programmes for Doček are Carminho, the queen of fado music of the new generation, Finnish musician Jimi Tenor, Tesla Light Gallery, Dragan Živadinov, the legendary director from Slovenia and Dušan Jovović, European award-winning author known to the local public for thematising the lives of great people from Serbian history.