The exhibition is part of a broader project of the same name, celebrating the centenary of surrealism in Serbia and around the world – one hundred years since the publication of André Breton’s first Manifesto of Surrealism and the formative activities of the Belgrade Surrealist Circle in the autumn of 1924. This project brings together three key institutions, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Applied Arts, and the Institute for Literature and Arts, along with numerous other institutions and organizations.
The exhibition Aktivitet: 100 Years of Surrealism at the Museum of Contemporary Art introduces both local and international audiences to the breadth of our surrealist production, emphasizing its interplay with global surrealist movements and its significance for 20th and 21st century art. The exhibition aims to comprehensively present the full spectrum of surrealist works, spanning various media. It will include select pieces from the long surrealist century –works by artists of the Belgrade Surrealist Circle, produced before, during, and after the period of collective action, as well as those by artists significantly influenced by, or in dialogue with, surrealism. A small number of carefully curated contemporary responses to local surrealist production will also be featured. The „aktivitets“ of our surrealists, whose international visibility continues to grow, encompass a wide range of individual and group practices across diverse media, artistic forms, and discursive strategies: paintings, collages, objects, installations, group proclamations, participatory social actions, interventions, photographs and photograms, philosophical treatises, children’s literature, multimedia poem-paintings, anti-novels, fanzines, magazines, surveys, cadavre exquis, polemical writings, and many other creative expressions and artifacts. The Museum of Contemporary Art houses the largest collection of works by our surrealists, as well as extensive documentation of their activities in various forms and media, serving as a regional center for research and documentation in this field.
This presentation is further enriched through collaboration and exchange with the Museum of Applied Arts, which holds the most significant portion of our surrealists’ photographic legacy. An exhibition under the same overarching concept will take place at that venue in parallel. Given the multimedia nature of surrealist production and especially close relationship between the written word and visual artifacts in their practice, this collaboration extends to the Institute for Literature and Arts, which will organize an international academic conference as part of the project.
The artists and collectives whose works will be exhibited are: Dušan Matić, Nikola Vučo, Oskar Davičo, Milan Dedinac, Stevan Živadinović – Vane Bor, Radojica Živanović-Noe, Đorđe Jovanović, Đorđe Kostić, Aleksandar Vučo, Julijana Lula Vučo, Jelica Ševa Ristić, Marko Ristić, Solomon Moni de Buli, Dida de Majo, André Breton, Stane Kregar, Miljenko Stančić, Jovan Bijelić, Max Ernst, Andrè Masson, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso , Man Ray, Yves Tanguy, André Thirion, Ivana Tomljenović-Meller , Krsto Hegedušić, Ljubiša Jocić, Miodrag Nagornim nepoznati nadrealista, Lana Vasiljević, Katia Drenovska, Roberto Echaurren Matta, Bogosav Živković, Nives Kavurić-Kurtović, Jean Lurçat, Wifredo Lam, Pavle Levi i Andrej Dolinka, Predrag Nešković, Nedeljko Neša Paripović, Tomislav Peternek, Bogdanka Poznanović, Vasko Popa, Zoran Popović, Vladan Radovanović, Goran Stojčetović, Zoran Todorović, Miloš Tomić, Georges Hugnet, Erwin Wurm, Ljubica Marić, Natalija Vladisavljević, PerArt, kuda.org, Ivana Momčilović, NEP Nova Evropa, Howard Slater, Pavle Dinulovič i Jana Valjak.
The concept author and lead curator is Dr. Sanja Bahun, Professor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Essex. The exhibition curators are Sanja Bahun, Aleksandra Mirčić, Una Popović and Žaklina Ratković.
INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS (PARTNERS)
Museum of Applied Art
Institute for Literature and Art
Historical Archives of Serbia
Archive and Library of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
National Library of Serbia
University Library “Svetozar Marković”
Avala Film
Film News
National Library of Bor
National Library “Dušan Matić” Ćuprija
Hleb Theater
Ulica Theater
Boja LLC, Sombor
Design School “Bogdan Šuput” Novi Sad
Philological High School Belgrade
Inter-Municipal Historical Archives of Šabac
Museum of Yugoslavia
Šabac Library
University of Kragujevac
First Grammar School of Kragujevac
Program Archive of Radio Television of Serbia
Theater Museum of Serbia
Center for New Media kuda.org
PerArt Organization for Performing Arts and Cultural Inclusion
Prostor Organization for Work with Persons with Mental Health Issues
Individuals
Aleksandar Kostić
Beka Vučo
Vuk Ćosić
Dejan Kršić
Željko Luketić
Leri Ahel
Saša Ilić