NEWS and EVENTS

THREE CURATORIAL TEAMS PRESENTED THEIR CONCEPTS FOR THE 60 TH OCTOBER SALON

Ana Knežević and Emilia Epštajn, MAU curators, are part of one of three selected international teams

On Friday, December 15, a press conference was held at the ARTGET gallery of the Belgrade Cultural Centre to announce the 60th October Salon. The upcoming, jubilee edition of the October Salon will be held from October 20 to December 1, 2024, organized by the Belgrade Cultural Centre, and realized by three international curatorial teams. Along several Belgrade locations, one of the exhibition spaces of the 60th October Salon will be The Museum of African Art.

Press conference
(Photo: Tanja Drobnjak)

Three different concepts will explore, through the exhibition and programme, how and to what extent contemporary art tries to reflect and respond to the various challenges and problems of the age we live in, but also what its internal crises say about us and our position in the present. What will the dialogue among the curatorial teams bring and how can different concepts coexist?

Zorana Đaković Minniti, Associate Director of Programmes at the Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Vuk Vidor, President of the October Salon Board, and members of the three international curatorial teams spoke at the conference. The teams include Lorenzo Balbi, the director of the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna – MAMbo, in collaboration with Dobrila Denegri, art historian and curator; Matthieu Lelièvre, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon, in collaboration with Maja Kolarić, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade and Lina Džuverović, Course Leader, MA Curating & Collections at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts, in collaboration with Emilia Epštajn and Ana Knežević, curators at the Museum of African Art in Belgrade.

Vuk Vidor, Zorana Đaković Minniti and Ljiljana Ilić

Curatorial statements

Lina Džuverović, Ana Knežević and Emilia Epštajn: Hope Is a Discipline

Hope is not just a feeling. Hope is an action, rooted in the assumption that there is always a potential for transformation and change. Drawing on the educator and activist Mariame Kaba’s slogan Hope is a Discipline, as well as the legacy and social values of the Non-Aligned Movement, we will work with artists, networks and grassroots initiatives from within and beyond the cultural sphere to propose art as a connective tissue in the fostering of solidarity and mutual support. Artists and groups will use the working process, exhibition and discursive programme to explore the potential of subtle micropolitical artistic acts as coping mechanisms in the face of current exploitative corporate takeover of life, repressive and harmful political tendencies and environmental challenges. An important aspect of the project is its pace, resisting the tendency of large exhibitions to overproduce, speed up and stretch capacities. Project design by Rafaela Dražić.

Ana Knežević, Emilia Epštajn and Lina Džuverović

Lorenzo Balbi and Dobrila Denegri: Trace

What can an exhibition do to stimulate thinking about the work of artists, their future and the way to create a community of commitment? Is there anything significant that contemporary art biennials leave behind for the local community? This concept is based on the desire to create a possible new model for the upcoming edition of the October Salon, where the “trace” will continue to live and function even after two months – the official duration of the exhibition. The provocation on which this concept is based is to jointly confirm and conquer spaces for art and make them available to artists and the local Belgrade community.

Lorenzo Balbi and Dobrila Denegri
(Photo: Tanja Drobnjak)

Matthieu Lelièvre and Maja Kolarić: The Aesthetics of Encounter

The concept will explore a wide range of themes and activities, engaging several pairs of artists who may not know each other, but – thanks to the October Salon – will be invited to put their art practices into mutual dialogue to create new spaces and new visions for art. In addition to exhibiting works, a forum for encounters and discussion will be formed, involving as many participants as possible, both in physical spaces, where the audience and professionals will explore the exhibition spaces in Belgrade, and on the Internet, in order to reach as wide an audience as possible.