HISTORY

The Board consisting of eminent cultural workers and artists coming from the territory of Yugoslavia (Lazar Trifunovic, Miodrag B. Protic and Zoran Pavlovic – Belgrade, Zoran Krzisnik – Ljubljana, Boris Petrovski – Skopje, Boris Vizintin – Rijeka, Ljiljana Slijepcevic and Dragan Kostic- Nis) prepared a study on the terms, needs and capabilities of founding the gallery in Nis, elaborating even the stages of the gradual development of the institution. The Municipal Assembly has provided support of their idea and their project. At the session held on June 9th, 1970, a resolution on the establishment of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts (under number 05-00/257) was made and appointed Dr Lazar Tifunovic acting director. Based on this decision the Gallery started its work as the first independent institution of its kind in Serbia proper and the third in the republic (right after MSU in Belgrade and the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts in Novi Sad). Shortly after the founding of the institution, the Art Gallery Council was presided over by Ivan Tabakovic (former member of SANU),

The first years of existence of the Gallery were accompanied by the lack of premises. For four years in a row the Gallery kept changing its address, did not expand concerning the personnel, it used to have only three employees. Originally conceived as a unique cultural institution in the entire Serbia, Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Nis was compelled to adapt to its capabilities.

The lack of promises, employees and material problems had led the Gallery to become an integral part of the National Museum of Nis. The decision to integrate was made on October 1st, 1975, when the Gallery became a Department of Contemporary Arts. However, as there is essential difference in the methodology of work between museums and galleries orientated towards contemporary arts, there were less of employees, as well as unresolved issue of subsidizing the Gallery’s accomplishments, with no exhibitions whatsoever, already from 1978 there were series of initiatives regarding the reestablishment of the Gallery and finally on December 26, 1980 on the decision of the Municipality of Nis number 01-985/1, now bearing the full name The Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Nis – it became independent institution. As from March 1981 the Gallery’s premises are on the second floor of the building on the quayside address Kej Kola srpskih sestara where it remains to the present day. The building belongs entirely to the old town and was built by a stock company back in 1927.

The Ministry of culture of the Republic of Serbia gave its opinion of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Nis: “The Gallery deals with research, collect and records, preserves, protects and exhibits museum supplies, as well as current visual arts of Nis, Serbia and other areas. It carries out the activities referring to the cultural properties and has gained a character of a proper museum”.

During the decades of work the total number of employees in the Gallery varied from minimum 3 to maximum twenty-five persons. Currently the Gallery employs fifteen full-time job employees, classified into two sections. The director of the Gallery is Emilija Cocic Blic, the Department of art collections, exhibitions, web communication and publishing consists of Milica Todorovic, Radmila Kostic, Sonja Vukasinovic, Milan Ristic, Lela Dinic, Nebojsa Stojkovic, Jovan Savic, Gordana Dragovic, Maja Zivkovic and Srecko Stankovic, whereas the Department of administrative, financial and technical work consists of Tatjana Stosic, Bratislav Randjelovic, Dragana Jokanovic and Ivana Nikolic.

The Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Nis is an institution which primarily deals with presenting, studying and popularization of contemporary visual arts, which is being accomplished by exhibitions and publishing issues. Besides, the Gallery owns its own holding of works of art, thanks to which it bears the features of the museum carrying out all its museum affairs anticipated by the law. The museum activity of the Gallery of Fine Arts Nis includes the preserving, protecting and studying current fund, as well as taking care of its steady supplementation along with presenting. As from 2006 the Gallery has been organizing the Graphic arts workshop in Sicevo ever since its founding, as well as all the affairs concerning the realization of the Sicevo Art colony. Both manifestations have international features.