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Aleksandar Nikoli Aleksandra Sekuli i Ivica orevi Anica Vueti Gradska
Gerila Irena Risti KURS Mariela Cveti Marija Rado Miroslav Kari
(Remont) Marijana Cvetkovi Neboja Miliki i Tadej Kurepa Nikola Radi
Lucati Umetniki kolektiv U10 Urbani Inkubator Vahida Ramujki i Noa Treister
Kustoskinja: mr Mirjana Boba Stojadinovi

www.actopolis.net

https://www.facebook.com/actopolis/

FORMALLY INFORMAL BELGRADE SELF-ORGANIZED

CULTURAL PRODUCTION

The cultural sphere in Serbia,

particularly in Belgrade, has
drastically changed for the past
twenty five years. The internal and
external state circumstances have
changed beyond recognition due to
wars, sanctions, huge demographic
changes, civil protests, bombing,
decay of one political regime and
its replacement with another, and
then another again, territorial
fragmentation, dramatic decrease
of life standard, continual political,
economical and social instability...
In the meanwhile the wider context
of Europe is itself engulfed in
everlasting turbulent processes.
Observing particularly the field of
culture in Serbia for the last fifteen
years, it turns out that many state
institutions have been closed down,
some permanently, some temporarily
including the October Salon, the
Museum of Contemporary Art, the
National Museum; one can observe
a general festivalization of cultural
production with amateur and folklore
production emphasys. The official
cultural politics, though never
publicly articulated, gives preference
to the institutions of culture over
the sector of professionals in culture
who are not employed in state
institutions, creating a polarization
among professionals who work on
both sides (although in reality all
are under-financed).
Programme FORMALLY
INFORMAL. Belgrade Self-organized
Cultural Production is focussed on

questions of particular context of

relevant Belgrade cultural production
and its concentrated performative
research. The programme gathers
14 artists, art groups and cultural
practitioners of different orientations,
who will give their response to
the questions how, why and for
whom the critical urban culture
is being produced in times of
crisis that have been ongoing
in Serbia for over twenty five
years. What marks the economy
of cultural independence in Serbia
fifteen years since the beginning
of the century? What is the critical
potential of self-organization? To
what extent can self-organization
secure an autonomy in thinking and
acting? What is the response of
institutions to the phenomenon of
self-organization as their alternative?
How do artists and cultural
practitioners position themselves in
relation to institutions, and how in
relation to the wider public?
This project is an effort to
articulate the need for culture and
art coming from non-institutional
individuals, most often professionals
in culture, which is directed towards
the public bottom-up aiming
at productions of non-commercial
cultural climate of self-empowerment
rather than focussing on financial
and political sources of support. In
the context of discontinuity as well
as social, economical and political
instability there is an individual
necessity to produce meaning at the
same time when the individual faces
1

ones powerlessness.
Unlike the notion of independent
practitioners in culture, who in
practice most often depict financial
and structural dependence,
compromised by the practice of
the non-government organizations1
in the nineties, the notion of selforganization can be perceived as an
aspiration towards establishing an
active critical relation towards the
circumstances of productions since
2000. A question imposes itself: what
is the economy of creative, critical
and intellectual needs of today and
their conditions of production?
It is important to get an overview
of the connections among the
institutions and self-organized, or
self-initiated, cultural practices it
turns out to be much more solid than
it seemed at first. One cannot exist
without the other. The institutions
have a continual need for the new,
and themselves they dont seem
to be able to produce it, but only
to support it. At the same time
self-organized cultural practices,
though often internationally
acknowledged, locally are in many
cases marginalized; they have a need
for institutional format, particularly
today, with its resources for
experiment and wider recognition.
This connection is so strong that the
definition of each of them depends
on the mutural appreciation. Their
practices are not competitive, but on

the contrary they complement each

other.
The participants in the project are
Aleksandar Nikoli, Aleksandra
Sekuli and Ivica orevi,
Anica Vueti, Irena Risti,
KURS, Mariela Cveti, Marija
Rado and Miroslav Kari
(Remont), Marijana Cvetkovi,
Neboja Miliki and Tadej
Kurepa, Nikola Radi Lucati,
Umetniki kolektiv U10, Vahida
Ramujki and Noa Treister. City
Guerilla and Urban Incubator
also take part, two organizations
developed after the initiative by
Goethe-Institut in Belgrade.
In terms of programme, besides
artistic researches in different
mediums such as exhibitions,
workshops, urban interventions and
art publications, there is a number of
public discussions planed. Some of
the formally informal art productions
are to take place in public space,
some in closed Belgrade alternative
art scene spaces, and some in
a space conquered particularly
for this occasion the Actopolis
apartment. Most of the programmes
will take place throughout May 2016.
Finally, Belgrade is to be visited
by guests from other ACTOPOLIS
cities Athens, Bucharest, Zagreb,
Sarajevo, Istanbul/Ankara and
Oberhausen. They will bring their
experiences from their cities and
bring together and intertwine
very different approaches within
ACTOPOLIS.

1 The Non-government
organizations are defined as: Rapid
development of the non-governmental
sector occurred in western countries as a
result of the processes of restructuring of
the welfare state. Further globalization of
that process occurred after the fall of the
communist system. http://en.wikipedia.org/

MFA Mirjana Boba Stojadinovi

Curator of belgrade edition of
ACTOPOLIS, April 2016

wiki/Non-governmental_organization#History

ACTOPOLIS BEOGRAD
FORMALLY INFORMAL:
BELGRADE SELF-ORGANIZED CULTURAL PRODUCTION
Event calendar
Actopolis apartment @ Bulevar despota Stefana 36
Exhibitions opening hours: Mon-Fri 4-7pm
KM8 GALLERY,
RETROSPECTIVE LOOPS / Sara
Radonja i Ivan uleti, Urban
Incubator
KAMENZIND BELGRADE, video
"Our Belgrade Waterfront", Urban
Incubator

Wednesday, 20 April 2016 at 7pm

@ Goethe-Institut library
ACTOPOLIS BELGRADE
PROJECT LAUNCH
Presenting the projects and
participants and a critical discussion
on the project FORMALLY
INFORMAL: Belgrade Self-organized
Cultural Production

Wednesday, 11 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
OPEN LIBRARY SALON, School of
Urban Practices, City Guerilla

WALL NEWSPAPER: The Actopolis

edition of Wall Newspapers will be
available throughout the city and
in the Actopolis apartment. Author
KURS.

Thursday, 12 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
GG DIALOGUES, Theater without
space, NK Studio, discussion, City
Guerilla

BGD ART: Printed city plan with

monthly programme of the art
spaces will be available in public
spaces throughout the city and in
the Actopolis apartment. Author
Aleksandar Nikoli

Saturday, 14 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
HERMES, performative acting-out,
Puls, City Guerilla

Friday, 6 May 2016 at 8pm

@ Actopolis apartment
DA:SEIN CITY GUERILLA
PERFORMATIVE ACTING-OUT

Sunday, 15 May 2016 5-7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
BIKE KITCHEN BELGRADE,
workshop, Urban Incubator

Wednesday, 18 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
FORMALLY INFORMAL: Belgrade
Self-organized Cultural Production
Exhibition opening at the apartment
Works by Art Collective U10, Nikola
Radi Lucati, Mariela Cveti, Irena
Risti
|1| Public discussion

Monday, 23 May 2016 at 8pm

@ Actopolis apartment
Performing the REHEARSAL by Irena
Risti
'As if' inquiry that results in the polymedia work about
modelling self-organized cultural scene in Belgrade is
Irena Risti's art-response to the Actopolis Belgrade theme
of self-organization. Her artwork evolves through several
stages.

Tuesday, 24 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
|3| Public discussion
Public presentation and a discussion
on the WALL NEWSPAPER Actopolis
edition

Thursday, 19 May 2016 at noon

@ Plateau in front of the Faculty of
Philosophy
"indivisible unalienable"; Vahida
Ramujki and Noa Treister The
Ignorant Schoolmaster and his
Committees
Round table with guests: The relation
among the institutional, academic and
activist production of knowledge

Wall Newspaper is a visual and informative media form

that uses texts and illustrations to rethink various social
issues and critically refer to the processes of neo-liberal
capitalism.

Normalization of private propriety in all spheres of social

relations and human existence constantly adjourns us
from imagining any other concept of social relations and
property.

Thursday, 26 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
|5| Public discussion
Presenting the project REMONT
CASE STUDY, DESCRIPTION OF
THE POSITION by Marija Rado and
Miroslav Kari

Friday, 20 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
|2| Public discussion on a
phenomenon of druga scena
(Marijana Cvetkovi)
DRUGA SCENA BELGRADE
CULTURAL SCENE SELFORGANIZED PLATFORM

There is a need to illuminate unsustainable conditions of

cultural models in order to redefine them and find a way to
bring them back to social environment as its organic part.

This research will try to uncover reasons for the deletion

from public memory of druga scena and will found its
arguments in the ideology shift in early 2000s in Serbia.

Friday, 27 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
|6| Public discussion
Presenting the project GAUDEAMUS
IGITUR: SELF-ORGANIZED ARTIST
IN THE STATE OF DOMESTIC
AGORAPHOBIA by Mariela Cveti

Sunday, 15 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
Public presentation of the workshop
and an end event in the apartment
RECORDING A DAYDREAM
(flanerie + photowalk), Savamala
Walks, City Guerilla

10 15 May 2016
@ Actopolis apartment
Exhibition opening:
Tuesday, 10 May 2016 at 7pm
SAVAMALA 3D MONSTER
EXHIBITION, Savamala Walks, City
Guerilla
3

In the form of an artists book and public lecture the project

questions the role of (educational) institutions in the age of
self-organization in art.

Saturday, 28 May 2016 at 7pm

@ Actopolis apartment
ACTOPOLIS MICRO-RESIDENCY
1: presenting the projects in
other Actopolis cities and an
open discussion
(*in English)
Actopolis guests come from
Istanbul, Sarajevo and Oberhausen

Monday, 30 May 2016 at 7pm

@ KC Grad
ACTOPOLIS MICRORESIDENCIES 2: DELICATESSEN
MONDAY
Actopolis guests come from
Istanbul, Sarajevo and Oberhausen

ACTOPOLIS | ART OF ACTION

Project by Goethe-Institut and Urbane Knste Ruhr
Head of project: Juliane Stegner (Goethe-Institut Athens) Concept: Angelika Fitz Artistic
directors: Katja Amann; Angelika Fitz, Martin Fritz Project coordination: Natalia Sartori (GoetheInstitut Athens) Project management / Urbane Knste Ruhr: Daniel Klemm Design NODE
Berlin Oslo Co-Production: Goethe-Institut Ankara: Thomas Lier, Raimund Wrdemann, Goethe-

Thursday, 16 June 2016 at 8pm

@ Goethe-Institut library
ACTOPOLIS MICRORESIDENCIES 3: presenting the
Athens Actopolis project and an
open discussion (*in English)
Actopolis guest Glykeria
Stathopoulou, Athens curator

Sunday, 29 May 2016 at 6pm

@ Actopolis apartment
|4| Public discussion
Presenting the project
KAMENDYNAMICS by Neboja
Miliki and Tadej Kurepa
How to visualize and possibly contextualize with a
mural the class relations and dynamics in periphery
capitalism?

Institut Belgrad: Matthias Mller-Wieferig, Goethe-Institut Bucharest: Beate Khler, Evelin Hust,
Goethe-Institut Bosnia and Herzegovina: Charlotte Hermelink, Goethe-Institut Croatia: Katrin
Ostwald-Richter, Theater Oberhausen: Peter Carp Curators: Ankara/Mardin: Pelin Tan, Athens:
Elpida Karaba / Glykeria Stathopoulou, Belgrade: Boba Mirjana Stojadinovi, Bucharest: Stefan
Gheniciulescu / Raluca Voinea, Oberhausen: geheimagentur, Sarajevo: Danijela Dugandi,
Zagreb: Ana Dana Bero
ACTOPOLIS BELGRADE Co-Production: Goethe-Institut Belgrad Head of project: dr Matthias
Mller-Wieferig Curator: MFA Boba Mirjana Stojadinovi City Guerilla and Urban Incubator project

Friday, 24 May 2016 at 8pm

@ Goethe-Institut library
ACTOPOLIS MICRORESIDENCIES 4: presenting the
Zagreb Actopolis project and an
open discussion (*in English)
Actopolis guest Saa impraga,
Zagreb Actopolis artist

Sunday, 29 May 2016 at 6pm

@ Matrijarija
(ora utukovia 13)
LOW-FI VIDEO REMEMBERED,
REVIVING THE ARCHIVE OF
A MICROCINEMA (Aleksandra
Sekuli / Ivica orevi)
Exhibition, film projections and
performances

Thursday, 21 July 2016 at noon

@ Plateau in front of the Local
Community Stevan Sineli and
Local Community Vojvoda Putnik,
Ustanika 194
"indivisible unalienable" by
Vahida Ramujki and Noa Treister,
The Ignorant Schoolmaster and his
Committees
Round table with guests: Work is
Property?

Exploring the possibilities to adequately enable the

archive of Low-Fi Video movement online, carefully
developed to evoke the particular continuity of radical
amateurism in SFR Yugoslavia.

Sunday, 29 May 2016

INITIATIVES by Anica Vueti
Closed event

Normalization of private propriety in all spheres of

social relations and human existence constantly
adjourns us from imagining any other concept of social
relations and property.

One-day assembly of colleagues, involved in art and

culture, discussing work conditions and functioning of
the local visual arts scene.

coordinator: Zorica Milisavljevi Secretariat: Milica Lali Coordinator: Sunica ido Participants:
Aleksandar Nikoli, Aleksandra Sekuli & Ivica orevi, Anica Vueti, Irena Risti, KURS, Mariela
Cveti, Marija Rado & Miroslav Kari (Remont), Marijana Cvetkovi, Neboja Miliki, Nikola Radi
Lucati, U10 Art Collective, Vahida Ramujki & Noa Treister, City Guerilla, Urban Incubator PR: Ana
oki Blog: Sandra Stojanovi Photographer: Marija Piroki Layout: Kristina Pavlak

www.actopolis.net
https://www.facebook.com/actopolis/

Detailed descriptions of the individual programmes see here:

https://issuu.com/bobaart/docs/actopolis_belgrade-programme_cards-/1

ACTOPOLIS | the Art of Action

a project by the Goethe-Institut
and Urbane Knste Ruhr