All exhibition spaces of the 60th October Salon open on Sunday, October 20, at 1 p.m., and during the six weeks of the event, the public can expect numerous exhibitions and programs in which more than forty domestic and foreign artists participate.
During the more than one month duration of the 60th October Salon, from October 20 to December 1, at nine locations and in public spaces in the city, numerous programs will take place in various formats: readings, talks, discussions, workshops, performances and lectures.
As announced at the press conference held on Friday, October 18, in the Cultural Center of Belgrade, the entrance to all exhibitions and programs is free, and this year’s locations are: three galleries of the Cultural Center of Belgrade (Art Gallery, Artget Gallery and Podroom Gallery), Pavilion in Cvetni trg, FLU Gallery, former Akademija Club, ULUS Gallery, SULUJ Gallery, Salon of the City of Belgrade Museum, the Museum of African Art, the windows of the French Institute and public spaces in the city.
The performance 7×70 – Meal by authors Lucy and Jorge Orta was organized before the official opening of the event, on Friday, October 18, in front of the Cultural Center of Belgrade. Lunch in a public space for 200 guests, in the public space, brought together some of the figures on the public, political and cultural scene of Belgrade, with the idea that “sitting at the same table, sharing bread and food” can be a way of drawing attention to some of the burning issues faced by artists and cultural workers in our country. This work is a part of the curatorial concept Trace, which through sends a message about the necessity of providing spaces where artists can create, and which are important for the stimulation and development of the artistic and cultural scene. In addition to this concept, the October Salon consists of two more parallel lines: Aesthetic(s) of Encounter(s) examines what results from the exchange of foreign and domestic authors, sharing and association, while the concept Hope is a discipline focuses on our experience of work, on the
uselessness of work and on the connection between work and art .
The puppet show by Daniela Ortiz, an artist from Peru, which will be presented for the first time in front of the Cvijeta Zuzorić Pavilion on the opening day, Sunday, October 20, tells in an allegorical way about the necessity of the fight for free speech and the necessity for art to be critical of the economic, political and social imperatives of liberal capitalism.
“Where are our spaces for work?” is a question that the citizens of Belgrade have the opportunity to see on billboards during the manifestation. It is about the work of Nina Ivanović, which shows the BIGZ and Jugošped buildings, spaces whose repurposing means the departure of artists from them. On this occasion, on October 23, artists will organize a participatory performance on Cvetni trg, which will draw attention to this topic.
The members of the local collective Karavan are inspired by the memorabilia they find in the Roma settlement of Bair, where the Karavan creates murals on the walls of the family houses of musicians, with the recommendations and suggestions of Bair residents. Art duo dopelgenger’s Recording of a termite landscape is an essay in which the authors look at images of the past of miners in a socialist society, comparing them to the hidden image of mining in a capitalist society.
The video work The Value of Absence by Adrian Melis talks about distrust towards Cuba’s socialist economic model, where public servants invented excuses to miss work due to low wages. Melis decides to pay for these excuses by giving the people producing the video work exactly the amount of money their absence from work is worth.
Kiluanzhi Kia Henda, an artist from Luanda, will show a film about political and social problems in the contemporary art scene of Luanda in the Cultural Center of Belgrade Cinema Hall (DKC), and the artist Mwana from Angola will present the performance A ritual of sisterhood in the Museum of African Art.
Alfredo Haar, painter, artist and architect, is also a guest of Belgrade. Hewill hold a public lecture Things are falling apart at DKC.
The programme will also include several workshops for children, in the Cultural Center of Belgrade Cinema Hall and in the Museum of African Art.
⫸ Detailed program: https://oktobarskisalon.org/program/
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