АКТУЕЛНО
Art Colony Sićevo – Tradition that unites us / Novi Grad
An exhibition of paintings and sculptures from the Sićevo Art Colony – Tradition that unites us – has opened in the gallery of the JU “KOC” in Novi Grad, organized by the Novi Grad Cultural and Educational Center.
The Sićevo Art Colony is considered the oldest Serbian and Yugoslav art colony, as well as a kind of chronicle of artistic movements in Serbia in the 20th century. Founded 120 years ago in the village of Sićevo, at the initiative of the famous Serbian painter Nadežda Petrović, more than 400 painters from all over the former Yugoslavia and abroad have passed through the Sićevo Colony, and the audience in Novi Grad will have the opportunity to see the works of: Miodrag Mića Popović, Stojan Ćelić, Ivan Tabaković, Ivan Felker, Viljem Jakopin and other significant authors.
Writing about the value of the Sićevo Art Colony, Emilija Ćopić Bilić points out that the exhibition bears witness to complex movements in art of the second half of the 20th century.
“The exhibition of the Sićevo Art Colony – Tradition that unites us – through the selection of works provides insight into a part of the collection of the SLU Niš Gallery, valuable in artistic, historical and aesthetic terms, formed thanks to the Sićevo Art Colony up to the year 2000,” wrote Bilić.
The exhibition “Tradition that unites us” was opened by the mayor of the municipality of Novi Grad, Miroslav Drljača, emphasizing that the exhibited works represent classics that, in a certain way, shaped the development of painting in Serbia, but also in the wider Yugoslav space.
“The Sićevo colony is one of the oldest colonies in the former Yugoslavia, and these are works that can interest all citizens of Novi Grad,” said Drljača.
The director of the Novi Grad Cultural and Educational Center, Mirjana Drljača, also spoke in the program part of the exhibition, emphasizing that the exhibition is part of the Days of Serbia in the Republika Srpska project and that it was previously exhibited in the Prijedor “Sreten Stojanović” Gallery.
“17 paintings and eight sculptures from the collection of the Sićevo Art Colony are on display. The exhibition provides an anthological overview of Yugoslav painting in the second half of the 20th century,” she emphasized.
Art theorist Daria Vujasin pointed out the great historical, but also contemporary relevance of this oldest Serbian art colony.
"Tonight we have the opportunity to go back in time and see what modernity meant in Serbia in the second half of the 20th century and to see in some way what is similar from that period in today's contemporary art."
The exhibition of works by the Sićevo Art Colony - Tradition that unites us - is organized as part of the Days of Serbia event in the Republika Srpska, and will be on display in the gallery of the Cultural and Educational Center in Novi Grad from December 17 to January 29.
Niš drawing – Reflections
"Niš Drawing - Reflections"
23.12. 2025. - 27.2.2026.
The Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš faithfully cherishes its tradition of annually organizing a specialized exhibition called "Niš Drawing". For more than thirty years, the exhibition has been the focus of the organizers' dedication, the exhibitors' loyalty, and the support of the viewers.
For this year's "Niš Drawing" exhibition, a three-member selection committee selected works by 64 artists from many cities in Serbia from 102 submitted works, who responded in different ways, i.e. transparently, metaphorically, or symbolically, to the given theme - REFLECTIONS.
A number of artists (Jelena Šalinić Terzić, Branko Nikolov, Jelena Kitić, Đuro Radonjić, Katarina Đorđević, Nataša Stanojević, Bojan Živić, Boris Kandolf, Anita Jovanović Radosavljević, Milica Anđelković) with their artistic observations paradigmatically rely on the natural-physical domain of the concept of reflection. Their works, whether they record the moment that stands between movement and stillness, or rely on optical illusions of waves and reflections, exude a meditative atmosphere, a feeling of calm and silence, and are the product of the interaction of thoughtfulness and introversion of immediate artistic reaction. Most authors (including Sanja Solunac, Bratislav Bašić, Nikola Marković, Bojan Otašević, Anđela Mujčić, Zoran Krulj, Marko Stajić, Natalija Banjac, Stevan Kitić, Mia Arsenijević...) opted for the philosophical connotation of the term reflection, concentrating on the reflection of complicated and confusing circumstances of existing reality on the existential states of modern man, where the angles of their observations of the interdependence of the world and the world-cosmos are completely polyphonically intoned with sources in the domains of economics, psychology, ideology, ethics...
By using various motifs, textual messages, symbols, quotes, artists artistically define the concept of reflection in the context of social circumstances through some of the current issues of our time such as: the position of women, consumer society, petty-bourgeois mentality, worrying alienation, drug addiction, personality fragmentation, identity crisis... The exhibition includes a wide generational range of represented artists, so it provides the opportunity for dialogue and comparison between the works of established artists well-known to the wider and professional public and the works of very young authors who have just completed their art education. The exhibition also testifies to the different understanding of drawing. Some artists approach it in a traditional way and use common means (pencil, charcoal, ink and pen, pastel, watercolor) to build their linear or colored structures lyrically, expressionistically or geometrically cultivated, while others define their relationship to drawing through the expanded field of its activity in other media (painting, digital print, photography, video), aware that drawing is the original beginning, although perhaps slightly noticeable in the final product.
AUTHOR GUIDANCE AND AWARDS
Professional guidance through the exhibition and awarding of the best work at the 10th Niš Salon: 12/2
The audience was guided through the exhibition by the selectors of the jubilee Niš Salon, Ivona Fregl, an independent curator from Belgrade, and Professor Slobodan Radojković from the Faculty of Arts in Niš.
The winner of the 10th Niš Salon: 12/2 Award is Dušan Stipić Dudwarszky. On behalf of the jury, the award was presented by Radmila Kostić, museum advisor at the SLU Gallery Niš.
The Niš Salon: 12/2, an annual exhibition that includes works by twelve artists selected by two selectors, is being held for the tenth time. The selectors of this year's jubilee exhibition are Ivona Fregl, an independent curator from Belgrade, and Professor Slobodan Radojković from the Faculty of Arts in Niš. In the Ivona Fregl selection, Dragoslav Krnajski, Dušan Stipić Dudwarszky, Sanja Latinović, Nina Todorović, Nina Marić and Danja Tekić exhibit their works, while Slobodan Radojković's selection includes works by Lidija Antanasijević, Vladimir Veljašević, Elizabeta Matorkić Bisenić, Vladimir Milanović, Ivana Milev and Mina Rakidžić Dostanić. The exhibition is traditionally accompanied by the award ceremony for the most successful work. The award for the current Niš Salon: 12/2 was decided by a three-member jury consisting of: Radmila Kostić, art historian and museum advisor at the SLU Gallery, Boris Kandolf, academic artist and M.A. Bratislav Bašić, professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Niš. The award went to the artist Dušan Stipić Dudwarski for his work: Metabolism of Narratives.
The jury's minutes state the following: "The artwork Metabolism of Narratives is a spatial installation that problematizes the position of modern man in society in an innovative and thoughtful way. By building a layered field of meaning, the artist introduces the observer to spatio-temporal communication. Thus, with convincing metaphors that possess strong, compressed energy, he questions reality, pointing to the current paradoxes of time. Through clear conceptual articulation, he opens up questions of identity, manipulation, or rather, human existence, developing a critical discourse. Possessing consistency in his work, originality in the choice of materials and an enviable dose of criticality, Dušan Stipić Dudwarszky builds a complex visual language and an authentic stance within the framework of the domestic art scene."
In addition to Dušan Stipić Dudvarski, previous winners of the Niš Salon Award: 12/2 are Anica Vučetić (2016), Čedomir Vasić (2017), Vukašin Milović (2018), Radoš Antonijević (2019), Nikola Marković (2020), Marija Dragojlović (2021), Nikola Džafo (2022), Dunja Trutin (2023) and Biljana Đurđević (2024).
This exhibition of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš can be visited by the public until December 17th at the Officers' House in Niš.
EXHIBITION OF THE ART COLONY SIĆEVO 2024/25
EXHIBITION OF THE SIĆEVO ART COLONY 2024-25.
Pavilion in Tvrđava December 4 - January 10
The establishment of the First Yugoslav Art Colony in the village of Sićevo in 1905, led by Nadejda Petrović, transformed the idea of freedom of artistic creation into a Serbian cultural space in which artists from the country and the region could create freely, inspired by the landscape of southern Serbia and by working together. In the setting of the Sićevačka Gorge, artists found not only inspiration in nature, but also unity in the idea of art that transcends the established trends of academic realism. The first convocation of the Colony was composed of Nadejda's colleagues - like-minded people from Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia (Jakopić, Grohar, Vesel, Jama). After that gathering, and then the exhibition in Belgrade in 1907, where they were joined by famous artists of the time: Vučetić, Meštrović, Vidović, Krizman, then Mihajlov and Božinov from Bulgaria. Wars soon followed in these areas, so it was not until 1964, at the suggestion of cultural workers from the city of Niš, that the work of the Sićevo Art Colony was renewed, and it has been ongoing ever since. The Sićevo Art Colony has thus participated in the affirmation of freedom of artistic expression over time, forming a bridge that connects European modern ideas with domestic tradition, testifying to the complex and multi-layered movements in art of the past decades.
More than 500 artists of different generations from all parts of the former Yugoslavia, regions and other countries have participated in the work of the Colony so far, making a significant contribution to the development of national art. The artists of the Sićevo Art Colony 2024/25. realized various artistic researches and presented diverse artistic practices during their stay in Sićevo.
The participants of the Sićevo Art Colony 2024. are: Nina Ivanović, Marija Bogdanović, Đorđe Stanojević (Belgrade), Nikolija Stanojević, Milan Hrnjazović (Valjevo), Borislav Božić (Croatia), Dinko Nenov (Bulgaria), Milan Ristić and Tijana Savković (Niš).
The Sićevo Art Colony 2025. was organized in honor of the jubilee - 120 years since the First Yugoslav Art Colony. In order to reconstruct the appearance of Niš and Sićevo during the first stay of Nadežda Petrović and her colleagues from the Munich school days, a documentary exhibition was organized, authored by Milica Todorović, museum advisor, which, along with accompanying texts, consisted of photographs and postcards presented in print form, which belong to the collections of the National Museum of Niš, the National Library Stevan Sremac Niš and private collections. At the opening ceremony, an AI-generated video on the same topic, created by MA Aleksandar Dević, was broadcast.
The participants of the Sićevo Art Colony 2025 are: Gordana Kaljalović, Đorđe Odanović, Ivan Petrović (Belgrade), Đorđe Simić, Jovana Đorđević (Loznica), Joškin Šiljan (Grdelica), Dragan Momčilović, Olivera Dodić (Niš) and Ana Sluga (Ljubljana, Slovenia).
Keeping pace with the times, the Colony increasingly presents works by artists working in new media, in addition to traditional media, emphasizing the importance of research and communication by artists. In addition to the fact that recent works of art remain in the GSLU collection, it should be noted that the organizers' clear intention is to make contemporary art visible and accessible to all generations, promoting culture and art not only in our region but also beyond.
Записник са жирирања радова за изложбу Нишки цртеж 2025 – Рефлексије
Записник
са жирирања радова за изложбу Нишки цртеж 2025 – Рефлексије
Дана 24.11.2025. Комисија у саставу: Ивана Станковић – магистар графике, професор Уметничке школе у Нишу, Соња Вукашиновић – дипломирани сликар, музејски саветник и Милица Тодоровић – историчар уметности музејски саветник, прегледала је све радове које су уметници доставили. По конкурсу је приспело укупно 101 рад а комисија је за излагање одредила радове следећих уметника:
Марија Анђелковић, Сања Солунац, Лола Вучковић, Бојан Оташевић,Теодора Мицић, Милица Антонијевић, Наталија Бањац, Јелена Китић, Весна Милојковић, Драган Хајровић, Марко Стајић, Оливера Петковић, Зоран Костић, Мина Живић, Бојан Живић, Миа Арсенијевић, Ивана Савић, Јасна Гулан Ружић, Бранка Лалић, Анита Јовановић Радосављевић., Јелена Трајковић Попивода, Бранко Николов, Драгана Б.Стевановић, Милица Анђелковић, Жарко Вучковић, Сара Лазић, Стеван Китић, Јелена Симић, Миљана Раденковић, Биљана Јанковић, Љубиша Брковић, Никола Марковић, Влада Ранђеловић, Катарина Ђорђевић, Миомир Цветковић, Јелена Цветковић, Александар Павићевић, Урош Милинчић, Мина Лучић, Емилија Андрејевић, Јулија Златановски, Анђела Мујчић, Никола Миланов, Зоран Круљ, Данијела Димитријевић, Ђуро Радоњић, Маја Страх, Страхиња Накић, Владица Ристић, Јелена Шалинић Терзић, Емили Јовановић, Милован Пенков, Дејан Ристић, Горан Митић, Братислав Башић, Радован Станојевић, Наташа Станојевић, Борис Кандолф, Драган Момчиловић, Дуња Ћирић, Савина Стефановић, Александра Кокотовић.
У Нишу, 23.11.2025.
10. Niš salon: 12/2
10. Niš Salon: 12/2
Officers' Home 20 November – 17 December 2025
For the tenth time, the public will be able to visit Niš Salon: 12/2, an annual exhibition that includes works by twelve artists chosen by two selectors. The selectors of this year's anniversary exhibition are Ivona Fregl, an independent curator from Belgrade, and Professor Slobodan Radojković from the Faculty of Arts in Niš. Ivona Fregl's selection includes works by Dragoslav Krnajski, Dušan Stipić Dudwarszky, Sanja Latinović, Nina Todorović, Nina Marić and Danja Tekić, while Slobodan Radojković's selection includes works by Lidija Antanasijević, Vladimir Veljašević, Elizabeta Matorkić Bisenić, Vladimir Milanović, Ivana Milev and Mina Rakidžić Dostanić.
The selection of works by Ivona Fregl includes both classical and so-called new media: sculpture, painting, collage, assemblage, video, photography, performance and installation. Interpreting them, Ivona Fregl states, among other things: Dragoslav Krnajski’s works problematize the socio-political situation, inflammatory rhetoric and the present tension that affects us all. Dušan Stipić Dudvarski’s monumental installation exposes the subordinate position of modern man and the meaninglessness of such an existence. Sanja Latinović’s performances point to the precarious work of artists, but also to the importance of unity and collective actions through empathy. Nina Todorović’s video works and collages establish nature’s constant resistance to unprofessional, brutalist attempts to tame it. Nina Marić’s visually receptive polyptych Herbarium – New Life represents the dual nature (medicine and poison) of plants. Danja Tekić's works take us back to ourselves, to a place, a peaceful world in which all options are not only possible but also present in parallel.
Slobodan Radojković's selection consists of works from the domains of graphics, drawings, collages, paintings, sculptures and objects. Lidija Antanasijević observes socio-political movements with the selected works. Vladimir Veljašević's reduced landscapes are characterized by the proportionality of surfaces and the flow of lines, while Elizabeta Matorkić Bisenić's collages carry a personalized thought about humanity and renunciation. As a paraphrase of her own work, Vladimir Milanović's colored drawings carry transparency and lightness. In non-standard sculptural materials, Ivana Milev's interweavings constitute a monumental object. Mina Rakidžić Dostanić's work is executed with unconventional graphic procedures, conceptually indicated by reflections on the nature of space and surroundings.
Ivona Fregl (Belgrade, 1969) graduated in 2005 from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Department of Art History, Department of History of Architecture. In the period 2016-2018, she was a curator and member of the artistic council of the Lucida Gallery in Belgrade. She is one of the founders and director of the citizens' association for the development and advancement of visual and fine arts ART-ZUM. Since 2018, she has been working as an independent curator. She has organized, realized and was the author of the text in the catalogs of more than fifty solo and group exhibitions. She is a member of ULUPUDS in the status of an independent artist (cultural expert).
Slobodan Radojković (Niš, 1967) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje in 1992. He completed his postgraduate studies in graphics (1996) and his doctoral studies in art (2016) at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He works at the Faculty of Arts, University of Niš, as a full professor for the subjects of Graphics and Graphics with Technology. He was employed as a curator and graphic designer at the Gallery of the SLU Niš from 1994 to 2015. He initiated the establishment of the Graphic Workshop Sićevo in 2006.
He has been a member of ULUS since 1993, since when he has exhibited at more than 350 collective exhibitions in the country and abroad (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Argentina, Japan, Greece, USA, Canada, Egypt, France, Romania, China, Montenegro, Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Belgium...). He has held 32 solo exhibitions in many cities in Serbia (Niš, Belgrade, Pirot, Novi Sad, Kikinda, Prokuplje, Smederevska Palanka, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Raška, Leskovac) and abroad (Bulgaria, USA, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Montenegro, North Macedonia).
At the opening of the 10th Niš Salon: 12/2, the performance Čoveče, ne žruti se by Sanja Latinović will be performed. The Niš Salon Award for the most successful work will be awarded later, during the duration of the exhibition. The public will be able to visit it until November 17.
EXHIBITION ART COLONY SIĆEVO - TRADITION THAT BRING US TOGETHER / GALLERY SRETEN STOJANOVIĆ PRIJEDOR
DAYS OF SERBIA EVENT IN REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
EXHIBITION ART COLONY SIĆEVO - TRADITION THAT CONNECTS US
GALLERY SRETEN STOJANOVIĆ PRIJEDOR, NOVEMBER 14 - DECEMBER 12
At the initiative of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the event Days of Serbia in Republika Srpska this year will connect two cities and two cultural institutions - the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš and the Gallery Sreten Stojanović Prijedor. The exhibition "Art Colony Sićevo, a Tradition that Unites Us - A Selection of Works from the Fund of the State Gallery of the Republic of Niš", which will be officially opened on Friday, November 14 at 7 p.m. at the Sreten Stojanović Gallery in Prijedor, will mark the beginning of institutional cooperation and exchange, which will contribute to strengthening cultural ties in the region.
In 2025, the Gallery marks 120 years since the founding of the First Yugoslav Art Colony, the predecessor of today's Art Colony Sićevo. The first recorded gathering of artists in the Balkans in a village near Niš at the beginning of the last century and working in nature was initiated by our famous painter Nadežda Petrović. Although the idea of staying and creating in the open air every summer was not realized due to historical circumstances, the founder of Serbian modernism, a patriot dedicated to national ideals, and her colleagues from her Munich school days, supporters of the cultural unification of the South Slavic peoples, left a significant legacy to this part of the country by coming to the south of Serbia.
Only six decades later, following the example of the First Yugoslav, was the Sićevo Art Colony founded and has been held continuously at the end of summer every year since then. So far, 545 authors from the country and abroad have participated in its work, enriching the institution's collection with 912 works, which represent lasting value and are a significant cultural heritage of the city.
The anniversary is an opportunity to gain insight into the rich, carefully formed collection from the 1970s to the present day, to point out the significance of the artistic undertaking of that time and, in the context of the wider cultural space, tradition, social and political circumstances, to examine the influence of the first colonial gathering on contemporary artistic reflections, understandings of fine arts and echoes in creativity. Accordingly, the concept of the exhibition at the Sreten Stojanović Gallery in Prijedor reflects the idea of unity and Yugoslavism through a selection of paintings and sculptures created during the first thirty convocations, i.e. during the existence of Yugoslavia and the participation of artists from the former republics.
The exhibition Art Colony Sićevo - Tradition that unites us, by Emilija Bilić, senior curator, through a selection of works, provides insight into a part of the collection of the SLU Niš Gallery, valuable in artistic, historical and aesthetic terms, formed thanks to the Art Colony Sićevo until the 2000s. It points to the layered movements in art of the second half of the twentieth century and testifies to new phenomena, contemporary aspirations and modern tendencies. Heterogeneous in visual expression, research approaches and reflections, in the context of the time and environment in which they were created, without limitations in the thematic and motif sense, the presented works depict individual artistic styles, narrative codes, transposed attitudes and interests. Given the scope and continuous expansion, the diversity in terms of the authors' generational affiliation, the environments they come from, the media they cultivate, the ideas and themes that occupy them, the Sićev collection, in the light of current developments in visual art, provides an opportunity for various types of curatorial studies, analyses and comparisons. By presenting paintings and sculptures by prominent protagonists of the Yugoslav art scene, the work of a unique cultural entity and the significance that the Sićevci Colony, which originated from the achievements of the First Yugoslav Art Colony, had, has been seen to a certain extent. Its noble mission and value oblige us to preserve tradition, careful selection of participants, adequate care and preservation of exhibits, as well as creating opportunities for their presentation on a larger scale.
The exhibition will be open to the public until December 12.
EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY MILJAN STEVANOVIĆ
EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY MILJAN STEVANOVIĆ
Between the Visible and the Implied Aesthetics of Balance in Utopian Visions
on Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 7 p.m., Pavilion in Tvrđava, Galleries of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš
Miljan Stevanović was born in 1991 in Vranje. He completed his basic academic studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade in the class of Prof. Čedomir Vasić, and received his master's degree at the same faculty in the class of Prof. Dobrica Bisenić. He received his doctorate in 2021 in the class of Professor Dr. Vladimir Milanović. He is employed at Metropolitan University as an assistant professor.
He has had seven solo exhibitions in Belgrade, Niš (2018), Novi Sad and Slovakia.
Miljan Stevanović draws his inspiration from nature. Landscape is the occasion and basis of his paintings. He constructs the visual relationship and composition based on the landscape he sees, transforming it into large painted surfaces of pastel colors, without much narration. He deposits, absorbs, refracts the color. Flora is reduced and occasionally emerges from the dreamlike landscape. The landscape is glimpsed from the painted surfaces like ghosts, as in dreams of unclear sequences. Does the artist seduce us with such a scene, drawing attention to the matter that surrounds us and titillating us with a sense of comfort and sweetness, while we are surrounded by beautiful landscapes and divine meadows? Through his works we also feel the smell of ozone, oxygen, fog, but also a variety of plants. He transposes the visual impression into an emotional state. Narrative and mere depiction of nature are negligible for him precisely for this reason, but he places the emphasis on the impression. With a specific way of treating color, through line and pasty brushstroke, he redefines the classical medium of painting. With the harmony of painted surfaces, lines and structures, the artist builds an individual artistic style in his own unique way.
The title of his exhibition is Between the Visible and the Implied: Aesthetics of Balance in Utopian Visions. Utopia is not unattainable but transformation through the act of painting. The lyrical overtone is a visual silence in order to notice the boundary between the visible and the implied.
Thus, Stevanović builds a composition of abstract surfaces, amorphous form in a self-contained effect, resembling a pastel thread embroidery of horizontal rows. The color follows the shadow and shape of the desired scene like a dream or a mirage. Everything seems fragile and tender, emphasizing the spiritual and emotional experience that the artist is having at that moment.
Miljan Stevanović's exhibition will run from November 13 to 30, 2025.
Exhibition of Fine Artists of Niš - selection of works from the collection of the Academy of Fine Arts of Niš / Gallery "Čedomir Krstić" Pirot
The exhibition "Artists of Niš - a selection of works from the collection of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš" has opened at the "Čedomir Krstić" Gallery in Pirot, by Emilija Bilić, senior curator.
By presenting the works of Niš artists in Pirot, the two cultural institutions continue their long-standing fruitful inter-institutional cooperation, this time offering the audience of the Pirot region the opportunity to learn about the creativity and individual development path of artists whose origins or work biographies are linked to this region.
The focus on this topic was motivated by the intention to highlight the valuable contribution of women in the field of visual arts, but also by the personality, work and social engagement of Nadežda Petrović, a famous painter who 120 years ago founded the First Yugoslav Art Colony in the village of Sićevo, not far from Niš, the forerunner of today's Art Colony Sićevo. It is precisely thanks to the Sićevo Colony, the Graphic Workshop, purchases and gifts from individual and collective exhibitions that the GSLU collection contains one hundred works by forty authors of different generations, stylistic orientations and artistic practices, which are a significant cultural heritage of the city.
Building their professional identity, women artists have mostly remained faithful to the medium of painting, drawing and graphics, with only a few sculptures being represented, with a noticeable lack of interest in research in the field of new media and photography. Heterogeneous in visual expression, approaches and reflections, within a given chronological framework, the works testify to movements in the art of southeastern Serbia, the openness of the environment to new phenomena and contemporary aspirations, and provide the possibility of comparison in a local and broader context.
Through the narratives and poetics represented, the exhibition depicts diversity and presents female artists as active actors on the scene, who were stimulated by intense events and changes in the visual arts, with the undoubted influence of heritage and tradition, remaining consistent with their style and vocabulary, following prevailing trends, willingly applying new knowledge, researching and experimenting with techniques and materials. Compared to the number of male painters, graphic artists, and sculptors, there is a small number of academically educated female artists who have created in this environment, but taking into account the multiple roles of women in society and life in general, along with the need for self-realization, their contribution to the cultural sphere is valuable.
It is realistic to expect that Niš female authors will soon, with the opportunities offered by modern technologies and scientific achievements in the field of art, along with communication and exchange with other cultural spaces, step into the world of new media, and that subsequent analyses and presentations will also include such types of research.
It is encouraging that interest in fine arts as a future calling is increasingly present, and that this environment gives birth to new generations of young authors every year, whose works and engagement will one day, as part of the GSLU collection, encouraged by this, be the subject of new reflections and studies.
The exhibition will be open until November 27, 2025.
An exhibition of graphics created at the Graphic Workshop in Sićevo from 2022 to 2024 is on display at the "Methods of Meta Petrov" Gallery in Dimitrovgrad.
The Gallery “Metodi Meta Petrov” in Dimitrovgrad will host an exhibition of prints created at the Graphic Workshop in Sićevo from 2022 to 2024.
October 28 - November 26, 2025
In 2005, the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš celebrated the centenary of the Sićevo Art Colony, the first Yugoslav colony founded by the Serbian heroine and painter Nadežda Petrović. That same year, preparations began for the establishment of the Graphic Workshop, which would bring together exclusively artists who are graphic artists by profession or who cultivate graphics as a separate art discipline in their professional work. The first creators gathered in the spring of 2006 in a beautiful village near Niš, on the slopes of the Sićevo Gorge. The picturesque nature enchanted the artists, so they wove this divine nature into a graphic sheet. Just a few years later, in 2008, the Graphic Workshop gained an international character. Over ninety artists from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, and America worked in Sićevo. By popularizing the graphic medium, this type of residency brings together significant names from both the Serbian and international art scenes, but also follows the development of young authors from the graphic world. The Graphic Workshop collection now includes over 200 graphic sheets, in various techniques and styles. Most of the artists created in the spirit of their already established artistic expression, and therefore we inherit works of diverse graphic techniques, styles, and orientations. The works created in the graphic colony were exhibited in Prokuplje, Leskovac, Valjevo, Pirot, Sofia, Kotor, Dimitrovgrad, in addition to Niš.
In the period from 2022 to 2024, three gatherings of graphic artists from Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, America, and France were held. The participants of these three gatherings are of different generations, come from different environments and cultures, each of them has an already established artistic style and language. They acquired their education in the field of
art at different Academies, however, working in the workshop preparing matrices, etching plates, and screen
prints, and exchanging experiences brought them all together with the aim of creating a unique graphic sheet. Many of them were in Sićevo for the first time, so exploring the natural beauty of the surroundings as well as cultural and historical landmarks was additionally inspiring, which is noticeable in the realized works. The participation of Slovenian graphic artists, thanks to the wholehearted support of the Slovenian Embassy in Belgrade, confirmed the centuries-old cooperation
of artists from these areas and the unbreakable bond between the Slavic peoples that began back in 1905. Contemporary graphics transcend traditional frameworks, and the works created at this workshop confirm that graphics can expand the established principles and structure of the graphic sheet itself. Staying and working with contemporary graphic artists like our participants leads us to the conclusion that each of them has their own unique not only visual language, but also the entire process of creation, adhering to a personal recipe
in order to obtain specific effects. So they experiment not only with the technical process, but also with the ideological postulates of the graphic medium itself. Each subsequent convocation is interesting again and again, the number of artists staying
in Sićevo is increasing, good experiences, pleasant memories of staying in our workshop are heard further and louder, which gives us as organizers a special incentive that we are on the right track and that the mission called Graphics has been fulfilled.
20 - 27 June 2022
The participants of this convocation were:
Oliver Pilić from Slovenia, Helena Tahir from Slovenia, Aleksandar Botić from Novi Sad, Lidija Krnjajić from Novi
Sad, Nikola Milanov from Niš.
5-11.2023.
The participants of this convocation are:
Roman Kušar from Belgium, Mitja Stanek from
Slovenia, Dunja Nedeljković from Italy,
Lidija Srebotnjak Prišić from Novi
Sad, Danilo Paunović from Niš.