The 120th anniversary of Oto Bihalji-Merin’s birth provided the impetus for an exhibition honoring this prominent Yugoslav intellectual, with the aim of further exploring and reassessing his life and legacy. Organized in partnership by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade (MoCAB) and the Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art, the exhibition highlights Bihalji-Merin’s pivotal role in promoting both domestic and international modern and naïve art, as well as emerging artistic movements, while also reflecting on his multifaceted collaborations with these institutions.
The term “intellectual” may seem inadequate to capture the breadth of Bihalji-Merin’s remarkable persona – a distinguished scholar, tireless researcher, and traveler across time, space, societies, and cultures. It is too narrow to encompass his many roles, pursuits, public engagements, and his boundless curiosity and thirst for knowledge. He was a painter, aviator, teacher, writer, journalist, war correspondent, editor, publisher, an active member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Communist Party of Germany. In addition, he was an art critic, theorist, and historian, as well as an artistic director, founder, and active participant in the organizational committees of various cultural institutions. He also served as a juror for numerous prestigious international art events.
Two earlier exhibitions in Belgrade – one in 1976 at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art and another in 2018 at the Heritage House – have previously focused on his life and work. However, despite the opportunities these exhibitions provided for public insight into Bihalji-Merin’s exceptionally rich biographical and professional history, considerable gaps remain, and new avenues for further research still exist. A crucial resource in this endeavor is the personal archive of Oto and Liza Bihalji-Merin, which spans nearly the entire 20th century. Due to the extensive and varied nature of the material, this archive has yet to be fully explored in its entirety. In light of these facts, this exhibition represents a concerted effort to engage more thoroughly with existing documentation, external archives, libraries, and institutes, while also drawing on interviews with numerous individuals connected to Bihalji-Merin’s life. The project thus encompasses an exciting yet delicate task: to navigate the intricate web of personal relationships, historical turning points, and private intimacies that shaped his complex legacy. This endeavor has involved the collaboration of numerous researchers and associates, all of whom have contributed to deepening our understanding of a figure whose intellectual and artistic influence continues to resonate.
The phrase I had to be present frequently appears in Oto Bihalji-Merin’s memoirs, where it is used to articulate the essence of his worldview and emphasize the imperative of taking initiative and actively participating in the social events and political upheavals that marked the turbulent decades of the 20th century. In a similar vein, Professor Jerko Denegri employs the term active presence to describe Bihalji-Merin’s life philosophy and versatile personality – his tumultuous existence and continuous engagement in pivotal encounters and exchanges with key figures from the spheres of politics, culture, and the arts, including Bertolt Brecht, Anna Seghers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Thomas Mann, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others.
The exhibition is conceived in two chapters. Initially, at the Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić and Rodoljub Čolaković, the exhibition will present the results of research conducted on Bihalji-Merin’s personal archive, while the second phase, scheduled for spring 2025 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, will showcase the artist’s works, accompanied by a thematic and problem-oriented analysis of the artistic phenomena that occupied Bihalji-Merin’s focus. The current exhibition highlights the key milestones of his life, from Zemun, through Berlin, Paris, Zurich, and Madrid, to Belgrade, tracing both the chronological sequence of events and the specific nonlinear movements that defined Bihalji-Merin’s trajectory in the realms of art, politics, and society. Through an extensive array of correspondence, books, articles, interviews, television appearances, and artistic interventions, the exhibition brings to light the intensity of Bihalji-Merin’s reflections on a range of phenomena that preoccupied him: naive art, non-European civilizations, the intersection of art and science, and the future development of art itself. The audience will also have the opportunity to discover Bihalji-Merin in the role of an inspirer and mentor to many young visual artists and writers, whose memories and testimonies are captured and incorporated into the exhibition.
Oto Bihalji-Merin: I Had to Be Present should be seen as a guide through archival materials – a beginning, an introductory statement, and a prompt for further exploration and contextualization of the complex persona of Bihalji-Merin and the multiple positions and roles he occupied during the pre- and post-war historical periods. His influence extended across social-political, cultural, and artistic developments, both locally and internationally. His distinctive theoretical and literary work, often stepping outside of academic boundaries and traditional canons, frequently offered unconventional and refreshing transdisciplinary insights and poetic statements on the phenomena, practices, and trends in visual and fine arts.
A forthcoming volume will gather contributions from researchers who have examined both well-known and lesser-known aspects of Oto Bihalji-Merin’s life and artistic philosophy from various perspectives. Additionally, a series of accompanying talks and lectures will provide further opportunities for the public to engage with Bihalji-Merin’s active presence in the fields of art and intellectual discourse.
Exhibition Curators: Senka Latinović (MNMU) and Miroslav Karić (MSU)