BALKAN
CULTURAL
CO-OPERATION
CULTURAL
CO-OPERATION
The Cultural Industry in the Balkans
Representatives of Southeast European countries, experts in music and visual arts field exchanged their experiences in the conference that recently took part in Belgrade and was organized by Goethe Institute and association BalkanKult
A seminar and conference: Cultural Management and the Cultural Industry in the Balkans: visual arts/ music was recently held by representatives of South-East European countries in the rectorate of the University of arts in Belgrade. The seminar was organized by the Goethe Institute and Association BalkanKult from Belgrade, and was supported by the Stability Pact for South-East Europe.
Musicologists and art historians from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Germany took part in the conference.
At the conference was emphasized the importance of music and the visual arts in the development of a democratic cultural environment. Concrete suggestions which developed concerned cooperation between small and medium orchestras, galleries and museums, as well as artists inside and outside the Balkan Region.
The experiences of participants relating to the creation of contemporary art in the countries of South-East Europe were very similar. In most cases, the State is not very interested; there are few institutions that will encourage and preserve contemporary art. In their experience, conservative ways of thinking about innovation in the arts seem to dominate. It was very surprising to some that Dr Herwig Kempf, director of the Goethe Institute reported some of these same experiences.
We talked to one of participant in the conference about contemporary visual arts in Moldavia This was Lilia Dragneva, from the Center of Contemporary Arts in Chisinau, the capital of Moldavia,
According to Ms. Dragneva: ‘Contemporary art in Moldavia didn’t really exist until 1996. The Center for Contemporary Arts was the one of the few institutions that encouraged artists to create something other than classic art. We organized camp for 30 days and invited artists from Holland to show young artists from Moldavia what they were doing in the Netherlands. How far we have come is shown by the fact that an artist from Moldavia was invited to show at an exhibition of avant-garde art in Kassel.’
In answer to the question: How is the relationship between state and artists in Moldavia? Ms. Dragneva said that the State is tolerant, but conservative. In the capital there are five commercial galleries and another that gives space to young artists. There is Museum of Classic Art, with one department showing art from beginning of this century. There is a suggestion of making a virtual museum on the Internet so that it will be possible to see everything that young artists from Moldavia can create.
At the seminar in Belgrade we made small, but effective, contacts for cooperation with other South-East European countries. One idea was for a Romanian gallery owner to come to Belgrade and choose works for a Serbian art exhibition--in Bulgaria!. Of course the gallery owner would have to know the situation in the arts in this region, Lilia Dragneva said at the end of our talk.
M. Djordevic
Published: 2001-06-07
Updated: 2003-11-20
Copyright © 2003 BalkanKult. All Rights Reserved.
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