Milena Dragicevic Sesic Urban provocations At times of dissolving values, raising of nationalism, fragmentization of the country, loss of identity,

disappearing institutions - the meaning of the independent art scene was not to provide another view, another reality, but primarily to produce new ideas, new concepts, which the established scene, dead, suffocated and turned to past, overflooded with nationalism, was unable to produce. herefore, the independent scene is not only the world of artists and art outside the mar!et in a mar!et oriented world, these are not only artists without galleries, without buyers and powerful institutional support. he independent scene brings together the aesthetical, ethical and intellectual positions and creates a united art e"pression. #n $ugoslavia, and specifically in %elgrade, this independent radical scene during &'( was not only countering nationalism and "enophobia, it was )uestionning the political system and specifically conservative institutional system in cultural field. hat is why artist had opted to leave institutions, preferred not to perform and not to e"hibit, as well as large part of audiences also have boycotted the public cultural spaces. So, many pro*ects that artists had organized in the first five years of &'(+ #ce Art, ,ia group, Dah heater, #ster heater, Sweet Dreams %aby, Urba-zone pro*ect, Absolutely -ovi Sad, ./A0 group, represented actually the engagement of the artists to find new forms of activities through art groups sharing similar sensibility and view of the world in unconventional places within the city. hus art activities had been presented in appartments 12"hibition 3rivate-3ublic4, rac!s 1#ce-Art4, on the 5reen mar!et 1S!art4, techno-rave clubs, underground passages, ruins etc. he networ!ing of these pro*ects under the roof of 0adio %&6 within the Urba-zone pro*ect or %itef theater within the small festival 7Airplane 8ithout 2ngine9, has strengthened the marginal scene which had not have any support e"cept donatons from Soros fund: ,estivals such as #nfant in -ovi Sad and ,#A in 3odgorica, then Alter#mage, and finally %elef 1%elgrade summer festival since ;&&<4 helped implementation of the pro*ects which otherwise would be very difficult to realize. =ompletely e"cluded from the world art scene, and deliberately self-e"cluded from $ugoslavian official art scene, artists and mediators tried alone to act, to provo!e public opinion and incidental audience throughout city of %elgrade and cities in >o*vodine. An important moment in development of independent cultural scene has been mar!ed by creation of independent cultural centers. #n order to survive and develop their impact, artist had to loo! for places which have lost their primary functions and are unattractive for big business, in other words places which were difficult to commercialize. %elgrade offers numerous e"amples+ 0e" ? initiated by 0adio %&6 1summer ;&&@4, and =enter for =ultural Decontamination - 3avilion >el*!ovic 1;&&A4, as well as Apostrof in -ovi Sad and

/on!ordi*a in >rsac. hose independent institutions finally ofered infrastructure and better conditions for production and presentation of art wor! in the second part of &'(. All of them had been created in unconventional spaces ? mostly in deserted and nonused buildings, such as nationalised 7bourgeois9 property 1private gallery hall4, or Bewish community hall used as cinema and then abandoned 1=inema 0e"4. Some initiatives had already some history, li!e %itef theater in a church-made-warehouse, and only then made theater, old electric plant in DorCol, 73aromlin9, 70emiza9 depot at Sa*miDte, etc: %ut, there are also e"periences connected with 3owder magazine in /alemegdan, ,ilm =ity and its set decorations as a summer festival venue, and finally Sugar factoryE %ut what do these ? other e"amples showF Gld powder magazines in /alemegdan, for instance. hey show that it is not enough for a site to be discovered by e"perts, renovated with the help of city authorities and busy with programs for one summer only. he place stayed dead until the change within =ity government in ;&&<, who gave this space to $outh =ultural center. Gr Sugar factory ? renovated lu"uriously 7as Hyatt hotel9, by president of Bul ; ? I*ubisa 0istic, theater director and politician, in spite of the fact that programs had been done by artist whose artistic achievements in <'( and J'( had been out of the )uestion ? audience boycotted the space, as well as artist. Gnly small groups of very young, often provincial actors, accepted to produce and perform there. #t was obvious, that the place must be discovered by those who wish to use it. hose who have something to say. 0e", =enter for =ultural Decontamination, %eton halla theater, etc. are evidence of that. hese are the venues where true energy of the alternative, radical arts movements, strongly comes forward, this time also politically initiated. he thoughts and emotions of the artists, faced with war atrocities, with the closed, isolated society, bring about eruptions of unusual creative e"pressions, contributing to the implementation of a new art brea!-through. Since that moment artistic and intellectual movement got the chance to gather together not only during ralleys, but in the same space. his is how the rhythm of action on this radical art scene, the rhythm of creation and development of concepts production of meaning, has been established together with theoretical scene, both deeply connected to political movements such as %elgrade =ircle, 8omen in %lac!, later 0esistance 1Gtpor4 etc. ogether with publishing of the reviews 1%elgrade circle, 8ord, etc.4, boo!s, =D(s: hose art activities had political, personal, living ethical position, they gave strong contribution to the constitution of civic life together with social movements and oppositional political parties. 7#nstitutionalization9 of radical arts through specific alternative art institutions and festivals - film, theater, video-art:, etc. contributed to the preservation of free spirit, political resistance, ethical stands, but also of e"perimental tendencies, in spite of the both political and mar!et pressures 1having in mind that public money was not given
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Bul ? 3olitical party created by Mir*ana Mar!ovic, wife of Slobodan Milosevic, notorious as the party of e"tremely enriched people during transition period and embargo.

for such institutions and pro*ects, that audiences had been on the edge of survival and entry was mostly free4. herefore, the meaning of the notion independent, alternative art scene has been formed in this country in a culturally and historically specific situation, and it would be hardly understandable outside that conte"t. hat is the reason that such centers do not have often programs li!e d*(s evenings ? because those programs are lin!ed to %elgrade 7clubbing9 events, often regarded by radical artist as part of evasive processes ? runaways of realities. hus in the political turmoil in the streets 1;&&K-<4, when the citizens finally freely ma!e their views !nown ? the alternative spaces were not only spaces of creation, they directly became the spaces of freedom of a civil society open for discussions and tal!s on the !ey problems of the present political moment. 2ven programs in 0e" cinema ? open to the youngest audience ? from comics to roc!, sales of fanzines to media-opera, was essentially a political debate on current reality. %ut ? the important thing is that artist do not satisfy themselves with programs done only within those alternative institutions. he previous period teached them that real effects are reached only when in touch with huge, indefinite city space. hat is the reason that manifestations li!e %elef, but even concrete art pro*ects li!e Iisten, little man of =enter for =ultural decontamination, have been realized throughout the city. heater director Ana Mil*anic had planed ;' actions from ;'a.m. to < p.m., spread throughout the city within one hour interval. 2ach of the performances was intended not only for a specific city )uarter, but primarily for a different target group ? the retired, refugees without citizenship, consumers 1those who are buying cheap glamour see!ing to give sense to their lives4, secondary school children, commuters on city buses, radio audience, newcomers in the city, and finally ? > viewers ? those who wait to be given an opinion because 7who are they to have an opinion of their own9: #n a word, to all those 0eich(s boo! Iisten Iittle Man is meant for. %ut at & p.m. in the evening, all the participants and inicidental audience, through local > had been invited to come to final gathering in the =enter for =ultural Decontamination, as symbolical place for debating daily e"perience. -ow ? %elgrade neighbourhoods are living different cultural e"periences ? the new public authorities try to redefine old cultural centers 1maison de la culture de )uartier4, cultural establishment tries to give life to classical forms of cultural institutions 1libraries, museums, etc.4, but truly creative forces still are in independent sector who had refused, even after changes, to be 7instititutionalized9, fearing its own autonomy, and !nowing that critical thought is still very needed. #n the society poluted already ;A years through media and culture, bloc!ed by embargo, different wars etc. ? creative, radical, indipendent ideas are still necessary to provo!e a dialogue ? dialogue through pro*ects, through art wor!s.

%or!a 3avicevic =2- 20 ,G0 =UI U0AI D2=G- AM#-A #Ghe =enter for =ultural Decontamination has been established in the war years of ;&&L and ;&&@, as a need to face what is really happening with the circumstances of the war on the one hand, and all that was being done to hide it, on the other. he =enter for =ultural Decontamination 1denazification and pacification4 has been created out of belief that it is necessary, for the sa!e of future and todayMs children, to decontaminate and denazify the environment and terrain systematically polluted with nationalism and "enophobia. his, obviously, resulted in provincialism, followed by colonialism. #t is necessary to induce catharsis, to purify, purify. #n between the vulgarly destroyed vulgar Mar"ism and the 3ostmodern, the =enter supports the Modern which brought us together and could lin! us with the world. #n the autumn of ;&&@, the 7=,=D9 entered the 7>el*!ovic 3avilion9. -othing more truthful than that could have happened. he beautiful and semi-ruined building of the 7>el*!ovic 3avilion9 is our reality and our destiny, ethics and aesthetics. here was a time and a space where a family 1>el*!ovic4 brought paintings from e"hibitions worldwide and e"hibited them. hey gathered, built, invested something in the environment they were a part of. he construction which began in ;&L; 1arch. No!iC4 was completed with the inclusion of four copies of MichelangeloMs sculptures, whose marble pedestals still decorate the 3avilion. hen, there was the Second 8orld 8ar. hey say that MoDa 3i*ade entered the 3avilion after the war and painted. hey say some other painters also wor!ed there. hen there came winters and hot summers, and the painting stopped. he =,=D reopened the 7>el*!oviC 3avilion9 on Banuary ; st, ;&&A. 2"actly at noon, with an e"hibition presenting the biography of the place. 8e answered the challenge of the 7>el*!oviC 3avilion9 with poetics+ performances, e"hibitions, meetings, happenings, discussions: And then, there was the post-Dayton Serbia. he number of newly emerged peacema!ers became proportionate to the negation of the ever e"isting war. herefore, the catharsis, decontamination, denazification and real pacification is only now really necessary. # !now it was important and it still is important - to ta!e a position. At the same time, everything that was done in the 3avilion has been and it is out of the 7spirit of the place9 and people who have recognized both the spirit of the place and themselves. -othing would have happened otherwise, as the constitution, construction, creation, determination and establishing are terribly difficult processes at times and in place when and where self-oblivion, blasphemy, trade, general phrases, treason and selftreason have become very comfortable, have become the way of surviving. he idea and raison dMetre of the =,=D - the >el*!ovic 3avilion is there to live and to create.