HYBRID IN-PERSON AND ONLINE PROGRAM

FROM THE PRESENT: Contemporary Art from Serbia

Vesela Sretenović, independent curator and scholar

Reception 1 - 1:30 pm

This talk will be in conjunction with the exhibition, FROM THE PRESENT: Contemporary Art from Serbia, on view at the Katzen Center at American University from February to May 2025. The exhibition will showcase recent works by artists from the Republic of Serbia. Neither the talk nor the exhibition intends to be an overview of contemporary art from that region but rather to offer a glance at the vital and energetic, though often disregarded, art scene. The exhibition will display manifold directions and practices by artists of different generations whose works have been produced in the last five years. Although employing distinct vocabularies and revealing individual sensibilities, the artists shared a geo-political background shaped by the aftermath of the 1990s civil war that led to the collapse of former Yugoslavia, disastrous economic downfall, and a state of distress and total disillusionment. Moreover, considered in cultural terms “off the beaten path,” the art of this region has mainly been seen in the shadow of the mainstream Western art tendencies while the artists, due to the lack of marketplace and exhibition opportunities outside the country, remained largely unknown to wider audiences. Given this, both the exhibition and the talk aim to bring to light aspects of the current artistic production in Serbia by discussing a diverse body of work by contemporary artists in alignment with global matters of today, namely the viability of democracy.

$15 fee for guests and subscribers (no fee for members)