City Break Week Guide: What’s on in Belgrade?

Hello dear visitors. This is the first post in our new weekly “City Break Week Guide” column.  Our goal is to make a short preview of the latest events in the city of Belgrade. So, let’s see what’s going on during this week. 

ART & EXHIBITIONS 

February exhibition program of Cultural Center of Belgrade presents 3 exhibitions, which are on display from February 10 to March 5 every day except Sunday, from 12:00 to 20:00. Address: 6 Knez Mihailova St.

Exhibition “Graeae” by authors Ivana Milev, Bojana Atlija and Nina Galić is presented at the Art Gallery. In Greek mythology, the Graeae are three sisters who share among themselves a detachable eye, in addition to their blood kinship; that is, they share the organ which allows us to perceive and imagine. Bojana, Ivana and Nina share one eye symbolically. However, the world that they perceive, appropriate and amend is fundamentally different. Their viewpoints are conditioned by different problems – aesthetic, existential and political. The three artists are cleansing themselves from effects of the outer world, by means of applying different approaches towards the process of creating and impulses caused by it, then towards finding solutions to different visual, philosophical and political issues.

At the Gallery Artget, Maja Medić and Milena Jokanović present photo exhibition “Pictures That We Remember”. With this exhibition they explore their heritage from the old family photo albums. Central question is the question of identity – identity of their grandmas whose photos and documents they’ve found; the identity of the city of Belgrade where they and their grandmas have both grown up; and eventually – their own identities that intertwine constantly and which they discover in different layers, a kind of images of the past. Term image, although mostly connected literally to the images of the past, i.e. old photo albums, authors understand in a much broader sense referring to the various holders of memories and memories that trigger the memory of every individual and awake a number of different associations of the past time.

With exhibition “Contemporary Art Scene of Trebinje” at the Podroom Gallery, Cultural Center of Belgrade presents 8 authors from Trebinje. Exhibition asks the question whether we can speak about active art scene in a place situated at the periphery of one state. Although all selected artists (Anka Gardašević, Igor Bošnjak, Miljan Vuković, Marko Musović, Nada Arnaut, Ratko Vučinić, Sreten Milatović and Taida Jašarević) speak recognizable international “language”, use available modern technological achievements, we can still recognize in their works characteristics of the region from which they originate, thur selection of themes, techniques they use and the spirit they reflect. They use modern media language to explore different contexts of their social environment, especially topics related to personal attitude towards the socio-political transition, migration, globalization, problems of identity and relationship to the modern economy, capital and technology.

Russian Avant-Garde

The exhibition Russian Avant-Garde in Belgrade, marking the centenary of the creation of the painting Black Square, a masterpiece by Kazimir Malevich, the leading artist of the Russian avant-garde, which sparked a revolution in the art world, will be opened from December 24th, 2015 at the Museum of Yugoslav History (namely, the Old Museum). The exhibition curated by Ana Pakhomova and Faina Balakhovskaya will feature works by famous artists belonging to five institutions: Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, State Rostov-Yaroslavl Architecture and Art museum, Ivanovo Regional Art Museum and State Historical, Architectural, Art and Landscape Museum Tsaritsyno.

The display will also include eleven works of art from the collections of the National Museum in Belgrade. The exhibition will be open until February 28th, 2016. It will showcase 117 works by well-known artists: paintings, drawings, book illustrations, sketches of costume designs for theatre and film, china with propaganda messages and preliminary architecture designs for buildings. The prints and paintings by Vasily Kandinsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Ivan Kliun, Alexander Archipenko, Alexander Vesnin and Lyubov Popova and works by applied art by Kazimir Maljevich, are among the most important works to be shown.

Address: 6 Boticeva St. 11000 Belgrade

MUSIC & PARTIES 

Valentine’s special party with  Acid Arab Lile and Peppe at GADOST club in Savamala. Party starts on the 14th of February at 23 h capacity is limited so be there on time.

VRIL from Germany will play in the techno cathedral Drugstore on the 20th of February. Vril is a mysterious techno producer with releases on Giegling , Ostgut Ton, Semantica, and Delsin. Born in Hannover and formerly a hip-hop producer, Vril first surfaced in 2010 with an EP of boomed-out dub techno that inaugurated Giegling’s now defunct Staub series label and tickled the fancy of Herr Dettmann who licensed “V3? for an appearance on his 2011 Conducted mix for Music Man. Last year’s Flux EP for Semantica meant Vril was one of the few artists integral to Giegling that has appeared on a label outside of the Weimar-based operation, and the producer’s dalliances further afield will continue with the Vortekz EP for Delsin. The three-track EP arrives hot on the heels of Delsin’s 100th release celebrations and sees the label start 2014 with a bang. Amusingly, Delsin have revealed that Vril’s material caused some of the expensive mastering equipment at that “well known mastering company in Germany” to crash during the mastering sessions – the first such instance in over 20 years of business. February 20th prepare for maximum dancefloor damage at Drugstore. Admission costs 700 RSD.

IL TROVATORE (Opera) , Guiseppe Verdi on the 17th of February , 19: 30 h at Main stage in the national Theater at Republic Square. Also, don’t miss WHO IS SINGING OUT THERE (Ballet) , ballet to the music by Vojislav Voki Kostić on the 18th of February, main stage at 19:30 h at the National Theater.

FESTIVALS 

International Film Festival FEST is taking place in Belgrade for the 44th time from February 26 to March 6. FEST will be opened with film “Vlažnost” by Belgrade director Nikola Ljuca.

Vlažnost, a feature film by Nikola Ljuce is being presented as part of the competition program “Serbian Film”.

During 10 festival days, visitors will be able to see 110 film premiers in 12 program segments: Competition program, Serbian Film, Out of Competition, FEST 44, Focus Europe, Frontiers, Thrills & Kills, Plazma Festić, Documentfest, Microwave, Fest Classic and Special Screenings.

More information about the forthcoming FEST will be available soon! In the mean time, find out more about FEST at its official website www.fest.rs