Collab is a project line of the Biennale of Scene Design used to produce new content in collaboration with other artist collectives and institutions. Two such projects will be presented at the Biennale of Scene Design 2022, to be held in Novi Sad as part of the Kaleidoscope of Culture within the European Capital of Culture.

The collaboration between the Sub-Department of Arts and Design of the Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Novi Sad, the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka and the Faculty of Things that Can’t Be Learned in Skopje will bring together students from Croatia, North Macedonia, and Serbia to research Yugoslav modernist legacy and how it can be viewed today.  Each student team will research selected architectural works of modernist legacy in their respective city: the CHC (the Croatian Home of Culture, formerly the People’s Home at Susak) in Rijeka, the now derelict District building in Skopje and the Dnevnik printing house in Novi Sad.  These structures have been recognized for what they are – a modernist legacy keeping alive and preserving the spirit of the shared and collective experience of the Yugoslav idea.  All three were constructed during a period when the society’s ideology was reflected in its values and how they were devised as a system, focusing, in particular, on the protection of the public good and the preservation of public spaces.  Although still standing, physically speaking at least, their utilitarian function is either entirely lost, or lives on in other ways, different from city to city.

Students will be expected to research their own heritage, and to, by means of spatial intervention, give answers on the potential use of these spaces – whether they can be view outside of the context of the time they were built in and what function they serve today.  What values should they safeguard now, half a century on since they were constructed?  The process is based on establishing dialogue with these spaces and the discourse of their creation, as well as the context in which they (do not) exist today.  That is why the aim behind this work process is to re-examine the whole idea of the collective, of the public good and shared public spaces and cities, as well as to question how Yugoslav modernist cultural heritage is being preserved today.  Students from different universities will share the results of their research with each other, and, in September, they will meet in Novi Sad, with the Biennale underway, where they will present their final product using just the scene and performative means, creating their own, shared expression.

Collab Commons program authors: Lara Badurina, Filip Jovanovski and Aleksandra Pesterac.

 Project assistant: Luna Šalamon

Workshop participants in collaboration with the program line authors:

Filip Novak (Academy of Applied Arts, Rijeka)

Kaja Resman (Academy of Applied Arts, Rijeka)

Katarina Kožul (Academy of Applied Arts, Rijeka)

Marko Mrvoš (Academy of Applied Arts, Rijeka)

Tena Njegovan (Academy of Applied Arts, Rijeka)

Aleksandar Jovanovski (Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Skopje)

Bojana Isijanin (Faculty of Architecture, Skopje)

Denica Stojkovska (Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Skopje)

Deniz Ajdarevik (Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Skopje)

Dimitar Malev (Faculty of Architecture, Skopje)

Sandra Nikolovska (Faculty of Architecture, Skopje)

Stefan Tankov (Faculty of Architecture, Skopje)

Tamara Džerkov (Faculty of Architecture, Skopje)

Marija Varga (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)

Nađa Vukorep (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)

Bojan Kaurin (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)

Maja Bogdanović (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)

Dušica Ilić (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)