МЕДИЈИ
Maja Đurović "Next Time"
Opening of the exhibition on June 26th at 8pm
Exhibition of mosaics by Maja Đurović: “Next time”
Maja Đurović (1977) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Department of Graphics, in the class of Professor Biljana Vuković. She has been a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia since 2009. She has exhibited at seven solo and over seventy group exhibitions in the country and abroad. She has won several awards for mosaic: FLU Award for Mosaic at the Exhibition of Awarded Students 2005/2006; Plaque for Artistic Contribution to Contemporary Mosaic by the group of fine artists Ametist in Belgrade 2007; Honorable mention at the exhibition of small-format mosaics by the “Ametist” art group in Belgrade in 2011 and an award for exceptional artistic work at the exhibition of the 5th Biennial of Mosaics, organized by the Student Cultural Center New Belgrade in 2012.
She received a commendation for graphics at the 25th October Art Salon in Kovin in 2007; Special recognition for merit at Art Fest & Doral, Miami, Florida, USA, 2012, as well as Plaques from the “Heritage of Metropolitan Pitirim” Fund for the contribution and progress of Serbian art in the Slavic world for participation in the exhibition “1150 Years of Slavic Literacy and Culture”, Moscow, 2013.
For the Tourist Organization of Serbia, she realized replicas: the Medusa mosaic from the ancient settlement of Mediana near Niš and the Venator mosaic from the Felix Romuliana palace near Gamzigrad, 2013. Maja Đurović’s research focuses on the analysis of the inner life of an individual, that is, the state of his or her own being in relation to the environment. Through portrait motifs and human figures, she visualizes the character of the portrayed, emphasizing their individual characteristics. Skillfully handling the technique of mosaics made in natural stone, Maja Đurović presents in a special way her story about passivity, alienation, and apathy in the time and society that surrounds us. The atmosphere is almost elegiac, stopped in a moment that indicates a deep thoughtfulness about one's own existence. All the exhibited works deal with the fate of an ordinary person through visions of lonely, depressed characters who move through the silence of space, wandering aimlessly.
The artistic program of the opening of the exhibition includes:
soprano: Katarina Simonović Ivanković, full professor at the Faculty of Arts in Niš
pianist: Staša Stamenković, professional piano associate, Faculty of Arts in Niš
GRAPHIC WORKSHOP SIĆEVO 2025.
The participants of this year's Graphic Workshop 2025 are:
Susanna Doccioli / Italy/, Nikola Radosavljević /Užice/, Marija Anđelković /Belgrade/, Jelena Milićević /Belgrade/ and Aleksandar Dević /Niš/.
In the jubilee year when the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš marks 120 years since the founding of the First Yugoslav Colony Sićevo, the International Graphic Workshop Sićevo, as a newly founded colony, celebrates 20 years of its existence. 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 collection of graphic sheets in the Fund of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš now numbers over 200 graphic sheets, of various techniques and styles created only thanks to the Graphic Workshop.
From June 2 to 8, 2025, graphic artists will be staying in Sićevo in the Colony building. In addition to working in the workshop, exchanging personal experiences in the field of graphic techniques, and socializing, the artists will spend one day in the city of Niš and visiting cultural and historical landmarks and getting to know the tradition and culture of our environment.
Susanna Doccioli / Italy /, Susanna Doccioli was born and raised in Rome. To further her education in the field of graphics and graphic and visual communication at the prestigious I.S.I.A. Institute for Graphic Design, she moved to Urbino. While staying in Urbino, she joined the International Center for Graphic Arts - KAUS. Later, she continued her education in Berlin and Rome.2018. In 2011, she founded the Stamperia Ripa 69 Association with other graphic artists, of which she is the president and collaborates with various institutions and workshops in organizing exhibitions and workshops in teaching woodcut techniques and basic engraving techniques. Her works are in many private and public collections. In addition to her artistic engagement, she is also engaged in pedagogical work, but also works as an illustrator and designer for numerous well-known publishing houses in Italy.
Nikola Radosavljević /Užice/. He was born in Užice in 1991. He completed his undergraduate and master's studies at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade. He received his doctorate in the field of new media graphic practices at the same faculty in 2020. He completed his second master's studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Department of Graphics, in 2022. He has received several awards and recognitions, including the Graphic Arts Triennial Award, Ural, Russia, the Grand Seal of the Graphic Arts Collective Gallery and the Golden Needle of ULUS, the Grand Prize of the International Graphic Arts Triennial in Krakow, Poland. He has participated in a large number of collective exhibitions in the country and abroad, as well as in many residency programs. So far, he has organized 38 solo exhibitions.
Marija Anđelković /Belgrade/, Serbian graphic artist born in 1988 in Belgrade. She completed her undergraduate and master's studies in Belgrade at the Department of Graphic Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, in the class of Professor Dragan Momirov. As part of a student exchange, she spent one semester in Krakow. She has been a member of ULUS since 2013. So far, she has organized eight solo exhibitions. She has exhibited at numerous collective exhibitions in the country and abroad. She has been awarded several times for her work. She has participated in several domestic and international art projects and graphic workshops. She was invited by the International Center for Graphic Arts in Ljubljana to lead a master class in lithography in 2024. Since 2018, she has been employed at the Center for Graphic Arts and Visual Research at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, as a printmaker.
Jelena Milićević /1992/ is a visual artist whose work includes graphics, illustration, and neon installations. She graduated and received her master's degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where she completed her master's studies in the graphics department in 2016. After her studies, she worked as a lithographer at the Center for Graphic Arts and Visual Research "Akademija". She developed her artistic experience and skills through collaboration with artists from the region, Europe, and South America, as well as through participation in numerous workshops and exchanges. She has exhibited in numerous collective exhibitions and has organized eleven solo exhibitions, of which we highlight the exhibition in London in collaboration with Faww Gallery. Her works are in private and public collections in Serbia and Great Britain. In addition to graphics, she also illustrates books of newspaper articles. She lives and works in Belgrade.
Aleksadnar Dević /Belgrade/ born in 1954. He graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, where he also completed postgraduate studies in the Department of Graphics. He is a member of ULUS. He has participated in numerous collective exhibitions in the country and abroad. In recent years, he has been intensively involved in computer graphics. For a short time, he worked as a professor of computer graphics and graphic design at the Secondary Art School in Niš, as well as at the Faculty of Arts in the subjects of Graphic Communication and Prosthodontic Graphics. From 2000 to 2004, he was the director of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts in Niš. He has received numerous awards for his work. He has organized over ten solo exhibitions so far.
EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS: BJELICA, CVETKOVIĆ, KOVAČEV
Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš
PAINTINGS EXHIBITION: BJELICA, CVETKOVIC, KOVAČEV
PAVILLION IN THE FORTRESS (April 29 - May 23)
A joint exhibition of three artists with different approaches, ideas and concepts is an opportunity for the art public to become more familiar with the diverse trends of our contemporary art.
IVANA BJELICA (Novi Sad, 1969) graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Department of Painting, in the class of Professor Milan Blanuša. She has held over twenty solo exhibitions and has exhibited at over a hundred collective exhibitions in the country and abroad (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Spain, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Japan, India).
She has won several awards in the field of fine arts (drawing, painting, collage).
She is a member of SULUV, ULUPUDS and the Art Circle (Association of Artists of the Petrovaradin Fortress). She has participated in numerous art colonies, art expos and other art events. Her works of art are in numerous private, gallery and museum collections in Serbia and abroad. In addition to fine arts, she is involved in photography, graphic design and interior design. For many years, she was the editor of the art program of the Mali likovni salon gallery, Cultural Center of Novi Sad (2003-2007), she has realized a significant number of exhibitions of eminent artists from the country and abroad and has achieved successful cooperation with many cultural institutions.
He is the founder of the Lumens art association (2013), whose main goal is the development and promotion of contemporary fine arts and culture, international cooperation and education.
He is known to the Niš audience as a participant in the Sićevo Art Colony in 1978, 1994, 2019. The gallery in the Fund contains 6 works. He had a solo exhibition in 1982, and participated in the Niš Salon 2020.
He lives and creates as an independent artist in Novi Sad.
With a careful formulation of the plastic-poetic and aesthetic, he builds concise artistic wholes. At the center of her artistic research is nature or man in the environment in which we live, understanding the complex human destiny. The dynamic gesture and light-dark contrasts are not in the function of any drama, but rather serve to more clearly define space or ideas.
ALEKSANDAR CVETKOVIĆ (Aleksinac, 1947) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1973, where he also completed his postgraduate studies in 1975. In five decades of creative work, he has organized nearly eighty solo exhibitions in the country and abroad, and participated in the selections of several hundred art events on almost all continents.
He has won a number of domestic and international awards and recognitions, including: Awards for painting at the October Salon in Belgrade in 1977 and 1988; Award at the International Drawing Exhibition in Nuremberg in 1979; First Prize at the YAVA Biennial in New York in 1980; Award at the Alexandria Biennial of Art in 1980; Golden Palette of ULUS in Belgrade in 1985; Politika Award in Belgrade in 1990; Awards at the Nadežda Petrović Memorial in Čačak in 1978 and 1990; Award for Painting at the Milena Pavlović Barila Memorial in Požarevac in 1985 and 1995; Award of the City of Belgrade Despot Stefan Lazarević for 2021, Recognition for Outstanding Contribution to National Culture in 2024. His works are in numerous museum and private collections in the country and abroad.
He is a member of ULUS. He lives and works in Belgrade.
Cvetković follows his own feelings and the sensibility of society in a special way with a deconstructed visual language. Having traveled a long way from hyperrealism through new expressionism, informel and pop art to liberal modernism, he continues to explore mythological and historical themes. In the process of forming new, metaphorical wholes, he introduces new materials, while simultaneously nurturing his own pictorial system, achieving highly aesthetic visual art.
ĐORĐE KOVAČEV (1947) graduated from the painting department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1972. In addition to painting, he is also involved in musical creativity in various genres. He lived and exhibited in Vienna, Austria from 1982 to 1986. He has had several solo and collective exhibitions. Currently, his permanent exhibition is in the “Kovačev” gallery in Čurug.
While still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts, working in a conservation team at the archaeological site of Lepenski Vir, he came into contact with objects and artifacts created by a man, a member of the Lepen culture. His interest in archaeology dates back to that time, and he deepened it even more during the period when, as a museum associate, he made drawings for documentation at the sites of Velesnica, Gomolava, etc.
In the meantime, he studied various anthropological studies on Amazonian tribes such as the Yanomame. He was particularly interested in the study of Aborigines conducted by Geza Rahaim in the 1930s.
As a result of all these experiences, a cycle of paintings, totems, sculptures, and objects was created, which he himself titled: From Churug to Churunga (Churunga is a well-preserved relic of great importance for the identity of Aboriginal tribes).
He lives and works as an independent artist in Churug.
Kovachev has a clearly defined concept in which he intertwines
EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS AND PROMOTION OF THE MONOGRAPH "MIROSLAV ANĐELKOVIĆ"
OFFICERS' HOUSING
We invite you to the opening of the painting exhibition and promotion of the monograph "Miroslav Anđelković" by Sonja Vukašinović, on April 10, 2025 at the Oficirski Dom Gallery, starting at 7 p.m. The promotion of the monograph will be attended by Emilija Ćoćić Bilić, director of the SLU Gallery Niš, Malina Radonjić, art historian, Sonja Vukašinović, museum advisor from the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš.
The retrospective exhibition - in memoriam of Miroslav Anđelković consists of a selection of about forty paintings from his rich legacy as well as a selection of works from the Fund of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš.
Miroslav Anđelković was born on April 6, 1945 in Jelasnica. After graduating from art school in Niš, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He graduated and received his master's degree in the class of Prof. Nedeljko Gvozdenović. He became a member of ULUS, Lada, and the Niš Graphic Circle.
Miroslav Anđelković entered the art scene in Serbia in 1970 with the exhibition "Generation 1969/70" and was noticed by art critics and professional audiences. He exhibited his work about 35 times and was awarded 11 times for his work. Abroad, he exhibited in group exhibitions in Luxembourg, Paris, Zurich, Basel, Lucerne, Aarau, Craiova, Veliko Tarnovo, Moscow, and Nitra.
He collaborated with prominent writers and poets from Niš. He provided drawings for many literary works, such as "People of God" by Bora Sranković, "Ibis Age" by Stevan Sremac, "White Stone" by Dragoljub Janković, Lyrical folk songs of the Timok region "Oh, how the old mountain", "Divinska Mycenae" by Radmilo Radovanović, while with Tomislav Mijović he published four books of a joint poetic-lyrical diary under the titles: "In the gentleness and solitude", "Shimmers of calling", "Javke odsjaji, ugarci", "Vreme na okupu", and he illustrated Stevan Raičković's work "Notes about Black Vladimir".
He began his working life as a professor, first at the Gymnasium in Leskovac and Niš, and then moved to the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts in Niš, first as a curator, artistic director and director. He then moved to the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, where he worked until his retirement as a full professor. In 2011, he was awarded the Grand Plaque with the Charter of the University of Belgrade. He participated in a large number of collective exhibitions in the country and abroad.
He passed away on April 15, 2021.
During his lifetime, he created over 400 paintings and countless drawings, watercolors, and graphics. The exact number is impossible to determine because the paintings have been stolen and a large number have remained in the permanent ownership of many institutions, museums, and galleries that have purchased his work or received it as a gift through participation in various art events and art colonies. His drawings adorn and illustrate many literary works. The family legacy includes 80 paintings and countless drawings and watercolors. Almost all of his work has been published in catalogues accompanying his solo and group exhibitions, and he has exhibited continuously for the past fifty years.
The development of his work has been accompanied by constant improvement and development without sudden leaps or drastic changes. The variety of colors changed depending on personal affinity and life circumstances, with the unlimited introduction of his emotional states and philosophical thoughts. Anđelković is inspired by nature, which he transposes. The paintings are dominated by a sensitively skillful harmony of the rational and the emotional, rich chromatic textures and visual parts, tonally harmonized with accents of warm and cold. His works exude strong emotion, which is presented through color but also strong expressive drawing.
Anđelković was one of the most attractive and versatile artists of Niš from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in Niš and Serbia. Through his active engagement at all levels of culture, he participated in the creation of the city's artistic and cultural life.
He exhibited his work 35 times, winning 11 awards. He participated in many famous art colonies in the former Yugoslavia.
Throughout his working life, he worked on the promotion and creation of the city's artistic life, as an academic artist, artistic director and later director of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš, but also through various juries, commissions, artistic councils, pedagogical work, following his artistic credo in the hope of achieving his goal. His work will remain permanently recorded and remembered not only in these areas but also beyond, because he left a deep mark in the history of artistic creation in our country.
NENAD NEDELJKOV ''Study II''
NENAD NEDELJKOV
Study II
paintings and video
On Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m., the exhibition of paintings and videos Studio II by Nenad Nedeljkov will open.
Nenad Nedeljkov's various conceptual and thematic interests are determined by his current artistic moment on the human figure and the possibility that the motif of the body responds to the desire for the visibility of the incorporeal. Therefore, on the basis of being and the body, a contribution is made to the eternal unraveling of the universal order, in the context of perishability and inexorable finality, and spiritual imperishability and biological vitality.
In an exceptional interweaving of digital and manual formative procedures, the artist creates variations of one and the same motif. A centrally composed cutout of a figure, with outstretched arms as in a crucifixion, is anatomically and graphically defined or almost completely distorted or reduced.
The two-channel video work Studio II is directly based on the cycle of variations in mixed media, entitled Studio, and represents its very successful extension, while the video Outside the Area suggests the flow of time and the cosmic rule of continuous movement.
Nenad Nedeljkov was born in 1971 in Zrenjanin. He graduated in painting from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He received his master's degree in digital art from the Interdisciplinary Studies Department of the University of Arts in Belgrade. He has realized 15 solo exhibitions and participated in a large number of collective exhibitions in the country and abroad (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Germany, USA, India, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Colombia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Greece, Mexico, France, Portugal, Argentina, Japan, Peru, the Netherlands).
The exhibition of works by Nenad Nedeljkov can be visited by the public in Niš until March 30th, at the Pavilion in the Fortress.
ACQUISITIONS 2015-2023
ACQUISITIONS 2015-2023 / PURCHASES OF PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES.
In its fifty-five years of existence, the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš has, thanks to various types of acquisitions (purchases, gifts, Art Colony "Sićevo", Graphic Workshop "Sićevo"), formed an impressive fund that currently numbers 1,798 works of art, classified into six collections. Since purchase is the safest and most relevant method of acquisition from the point of view of the value of a work, during the first twenty years of its existence, the Niš Gallery purchased works from numerous exhibitions for its collections, but this process was forcibly interrupted in the early 1990s, with the closure of the city and republic funds for the purchase of works of art due to the deteriorating economic situation in the country. After a long break, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia began to announce annual competitions for “financing works of art for the needs of art gallery and museum collections” in 2014. Regularly participating in these competitions, GSLU Niš has purchased 61 works with the funds of the Ministry of Culture, including 2023, including 22 paintings, 16 sculptures, 15 works of new media and 8 works on paper. Since eleven works purchased in 2014 were exhibited at the previous exhibition Acquisitions, on this occasion we are presenting to the public for the first time all the paintings and sculptures purchased in the period from 2015 to 2023.
The exhibition consists of paintings by: Mihael Milunović, Nikola Džaf, Miško Pavlović, Bratislava Basic, Nikola Marković, Pulai Arpad, Ivan Šuletić, Vesna Knežević, Jadranka Mišić Pejović, Ivan Milenković, Srđan Đile Marković, Tadija Janičić, Igor Antic, the DIMTIM group, as well as sculptures by: Mrđan Bajić, Željka Momirov, Gabriel Glid, Dragan Drobljak, Rajko Popivoda, Gordana Kaljalović Odanović, Zdravko Joksimović, Dragan Jelenković, Marko Crnobrnja, Nikola Pešić, Dragoslav Krnajski, Radoš Antonijević, Balša Rajčević, Rade Mutapović and Anđela Grabež. All the purchased works possess high aesthetic and artistic regularity, they typically characterize the individual artistic handwriting of the artist, testify to the dominant motif-thematic preoccupation of the author and to the authentic visual expression. Most of the works contain clear echoes of general social circumstances at their semantic level and represent the author's intellectualized reaction to the characteristics of the current time, expressed in a metaphorical or symbolic manner.
The purchase policy of the GSLU Niš is continuously based on respecting several important principles, namely: unifying the exhibition and museological activities of the institution, adequate monitoring of the national scene, filling the collections with works by artists who are not represented in them or are insufficiently represented. Thanks to the purchases made, the collections of contemporary painting and contemporary sculpture have been significantly enriched with valuable works, the vast majority of which were exhibited in Niš, the number of authors represented in the GSLU Niš fund has increased, and most importantly - the purchases made have significantly contributed to the development of these collections, not only from the point of view of quantitative replenishment, but primarily from the point of view of increasing their overall qualitative value and updating. The exhibition will run until April 6.
PLURAL STRATEGIES
EXHIBITION "PLURAL STRATEGIES" - SELECTION FROM THE COLLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY PAINTING OF THE GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY FINE ART IN NIŠ
Pavilion and Fortress /December 12th at 1:00 PM/
After exhibitions in Novi Sad and Belgrade, the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš is organizing an exhibition from its rich collection entitled "Plural Strategies".
The exhibition features 30 Serbian artists from the second half of the 20th century who, as leading figures of their time, left a deep mark on our art history: Mladen Srbinović, Stojan Ćelić, Mića Popović, Milan Konjović, Ivan Tabaković, Zoran Pavlović, Boža Ilić, Lazar Vujaklija, Ljubica Cuca Sokić, Bora Iljovski, Peđa Milosavljević, Olja Ivanjicki, Sinisa Vuković, Mihajlo Petrov, Stojan Trumić, Bojan Bem, Čedomir Krstić, Boško Petrović, Kosa Bokšan ...
During the seventh and eighth decades, in addition to the existence of a number of newly formed individual painting practices, several parallel currents were discernible, so that completely separate artistic languages and innovative artistic phenomena began to exist at the same time.
Different artistic practices in one artist's work lead to the dematerialization of the work of art, penetrating the essence of the visual language. At the same time, new cultural and artistic phenomena begin to deal with existential questions, that is, critical reexaminations of reality. In addition, during that period, a group of artists appears on the Serbian art scene, expressing interest in the renewal of the figure in different contexts.
The selected works of art do not have a connection with the themes or ideas they explore, but as diverse visual achievements with completely individual problem concepts, they represent significant material for researching the development of visual art in these areas. Artists of various stylistic orientations, as representatives of complex artistic developments, participated in the formation of the collection of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts, which today is among the most valuable collections in our country, aspiring to soon grow into the Museum of Southeast Serbia.
https://youtu.be/JPx8n8U4QUg?si=w2UqtvBpg59KJ-WN
Anđela Mujčić "Contemplation"
Anđela Mujčić
Contemplation
paintings, drawings, objects
Pavilion in Tvrđava
November 19 - December 10
Fifteen years of continuous presence on the domestic art scene and evident lexical, thematic and programmatic analogies and dichotomies in artistic work are the reasons for organizing a small retrospective exhibition of paintings, drawings and objects by Anđela Mujčić. Curiously, through the so-called small themes and humor, Anđela Mujčić first led her artistic work along the path of light nostalgia, and with a sense of the lovely and the likeable, then brought it to the field of social relations and latent activism, only to enter the field of spirituality and self-knowledge with her artistic maturation. We follow this developmental line through five cycles of works, a selection of which makes up the current exhibition "Contemplation". These are: "Eternal Game" (2008-2016), "Happy Place" (2016), "Women's Work" (2017-2024), "The Dream of a Funny Man" (2021-2022) and "Mother" (2024).
Anđela Mujčić was born in 1981 in Niš. She graduated in painting from the Faculty of Arts in Niš, specialized at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, and received her doctorate from the Faculty of Art and Design in Belgrade. She is an assistant professor at the Department of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Arts in Kosovska Mitrovica, University of Priština.
She has held 25 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 150 collective exhibitions in the country and abroad. She participated in 28 art colonies and art camps in the country and abroad. She spent two months in residence in Paris at the Cite international des Arts, August-September 2016.
She was a member of the Expert Council for announcing the competition and selecting the project for the participation of the Republic of Serbia at the XXIII Triennale in Milan in 2022, under the title "Unknown Unknowns. An introduction to mysteries". She is the author of numerous workshops for students, children and youth and a participant in several international projects and forums.
She has won several awards for artistic work at national events. Her works are represented in several public and private art collections.
She has been a member of the painting section of ULUS since 2010 and ULUKiM since 2012.
https://youtu.be/3czi5vna9lI?si=e7_Ohf4GjyKR8OOW
9. NIS SALON 12/2
The exhibition includes works by twelve artists selected by two selectors. It is a traditional annual exhibition that the Gallery of Contemporary Art Niš has been organizing since 2017, with the intention of promoting cooperation, mobility and communication between artists, critics, institutions and the public. Given that each of the selectors independently and independently defines the concept of their project, the exhibition provides opportunities for dialogue and comparison of different critical discourses.
The selectors of this year's Salon are: Biljana Grković - art historian from Kruševac and Katarina Đorđević - master of painting from Niš.
Biljana Grković focuses her author's project on issues of current social reality, the characteristics of which are, among other things, determined by the concepts of biopower, biopolitics or necrotopics. Her selection includes works by the following artists: Biljana Đurđević, Vladimir Perić, Nataša Kokić, Nikola Radosavljević, Milica Dukić and Gabriel Glid. In the preface to the catalogue, Grković writes: “The selection of invited artists for this year’s edition of the Salon stems from the artistic practice of six artists, which is viewed within the broader context of the possibility of living a “good life” and the circumstances of the dominant forms of global capitalism and neoliberalism. The presented works are separate spaces in which, in different ways and in different media, the modes of the contemporary world are refracted and recognized – destruction, wars, ecological crisis, labor exploitation, the dominance of microdata, consumer culture, a world in which individuality, the individual who recognizes his or her identity, is disappearing. At the same time, they are also spaces that, from completely different artistic positions, immersed in the past or present, open new perspectives, create different worlds, restore hope in human dignity.”
Katarina Đorđević defined her author’s concept with questions that belong to the domain of art theory, apostorizing the characteristics of a work of art and the nature and mechanisms of its impact on the consumer or observer. In the preface to the catalogue, she writes, “The question of sensibility in the contemporary creative scene goes beyond aesthetic categorization – it is based on the induction of emotional responses that are reflected in the audience, encouraging them to engage in the basic thematic framework of the work of art, whereby its reading and experiencing is a dynamic experience that resonates on a personal and emotional level, rather than a mere passive adoption of the content offered.” Katarina Đorđević's selection includes works by the following artists: Aleksandar Dević, Slobodan Radojković, Petar Vujošević, Larisa Ackov, Mija Arsenijević and Lazar Šošević. Their selection is based on the characteristics that connect their work to "introspection as the main guide to creation, tactility, sensuality and sensitivity with which they build their artistic worlds, inviting us to immerse ourselves in and interpret hidden messages".
At the opening of the exhibition, the 9th Niš Salon Award for the most successful work will be presented.
A specially appointed three-member jury decides on the award.
The exhibition will run until December 14.
Biographies of the selectors
Biljana Grković graduated in Art History from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 1986. Since 1987, she has been working as a curator at the Art Gallery in Kruševac, which was integrated with the National Museum in 1991. She works as an editor of the exhibition program and curator of the Art Gallery collection. She earned the title of museum advisor in 2010. She is the author of several monographic and retrospective exhibitions that have presented significant artistic opuses. She has been the curator of over 200 exhibitions. She is the conceptual creator and a member of the expert team of the art project Recognition, which has been international in nature since 2007. She publishes reviews and texts in the press, professional journals, collections and exhibition catalogs. She is a member of the Museum Society of Serbia, the Serbian Committee of the International Association of Art Critics AICA and the International Council of Museums ICOM.
Katarina Đorđević graduated and received her master's degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. She is a full professor at the Faculty of Arts in Niš and vice-dean for international cooperation. She is a member of ULUS. She has studied in Austria and Italy. She has participated in more than 400 collective exhibitions in numerous European countries and in Iran, Canada, Japan, America, Korea. She has exhibited independently in many cities in Serbia and in Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Sweden, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Spain, Great Britain. She is the recipient of the Charter of the University of Niš and the Faculty of Arts for her contribution to the development and promotion of these institutions, as well as numerous awards for her creative work in the country and abroad (Canada, Czech Republic, Poland).
Art Colony 61st convocation
Art Colony Begins: Artists Create in Sićevo for the Next 10 Days
Last night, the 61st convocation of the oldest art colony in the Balkans was officially opened in the village of Sićevo, where 9 artists from Croatia, Bulgaria and Serbia will be staying for the next 10 days. The artworks created during this year's event will be exhibited in the Pavilion in the Fortress in November 2025.
The Sićevo Art Colony continues the tradition of the first Yugoslav art colony, founded by the famous Serbian painter Nadežda Petrović.
“We are opening this colony with special pleasure, because for us this is the year of the anniversary and 6 full decades of continuous maintenance of the Sićevo Colony. It took a lot of vision, commitment and enthusiasm to bring to life the idea that Nadežda Petrović had in 1905 when she first gathered her colleagues here in the village of Sićevo. Thanks to this, our institution has over 900 paintings, sculptures and new media that we preserve, study, take care of, and occasionally exhibit, and these are works by over 500 authors from our country and abroad,” says Ema Ćoćić Bilić, director of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Prof. Dr. Dejan Antić, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, who emphasized his unique position on supporting this significant cultural event.
"It is an honor and a pleasure to be with you tonight. I would like to take this opportunity to convey to the director and all of you the position of Minister Nikola Selaković that the state of Serbia and the Ministry of Culture will continue to support the organization of such a colony. The Ministry has supported the realization of the Colony continuously in previous years, and it will continue to do so in the years ahead," says Prof. Dr. Dejan Antic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture. The collection of works of art created in Sićevo is the most valuable collection of our art from the second half of the century in the territory of Serbia proper, both in terms of its historical, artistic and aesthetic characteristics.
City Councilor Milica Paulus said that artists are the most important in a society, and she recalled the words of Nadežda Petrović.
“Artists must be teachers not only of their own people, but of all peoples. Not only of their own, but of all centuries. And true art must be a teacher, educator and fighter for the progress of humanity. We can say that the task and mission of artists and art have not changed to this day. In this name, I wish all participants a pleasant stay and successful work in this wonderful space where artists and nature compete in the beauty of colors and shapes,” says Councilwoman Milica Paulus.
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 implementation of this year's event was supported by the City of Niš and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.