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The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia has organized the
fifth seminar within “Serbia and Kosovo: Intercultural Icebreakers”
program on April 19-28, 2016. Young people from Kosovo and Serbia,
active and interested in culture and arts, spent ten creative and
working days in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Prishtina and Prizren, making
friends and exchanging experiences and knowledge about their
societies and cultures.
Participants in the seminar had an opportunity to listen to lectures
by prominent authorities in arts and culture. A writer Sasa Ilic
delivered a lecture on “Literature of the Separated Worlds -
Cultural Exchange as Peace-building (Kosovo/Serbia)” addressing the
history of divided societies, cultural and political developments
since early ‘80s until today, the culture and politics of denial,
the avenues for cooperation in arts and culture, especially at the
literary scene, and the importance of cultural exchanges.
“Communication is being created through culture and arts. It is
necessary to show that kind of openness in the communication and to
allow the inflow of information and stories in order to change
ourselves, and through our change we can make changes in societies
we live in,” he said among other things. Playwright, dramaturge and
slam poet Milena Minja Bogavac talked about socially engaged
theater. She has presented the work of Oliver Frljic, Borut
Separović, Montazstroj, TkH Walking Theory, Per.Art, and others.
Film director and professor Ismet Sijarina discussed with
participants about art that brings people together and LGBT films.
Lecture was held at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of
Prishtina. And, the last but not least, the lecture given by
philosopher, political analyst, and art critic Shkelzen Maliqi, who
spoke about contemporary Kosovo art and about protection of cultural
heritage.
Besides lectures young artists were attending daily workshops held
by sociologist Demir Mekic and psychologist Tamara Tomasevic. During
the workshops they teamed up for creative campaigns for mutual
respect, understanding and tolerance to be staged in the period to
come. In this way, the program helps the promotion of young artists
from both societies, who will be working together for breaking
prejudices and stereotypes, and promoting good relations between
Kosovo and Serbia. Besides the campaign, young artists shared their
views and impressions in the essays, which will be also available at
our web page.
We have also visited different cultural institutions and
organizations in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Prishtina, and Prizren. We
toured the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art and
Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić and Rodoljub Colaković in Belgrade.
At the Centre for Cultural Decontamination dramaturge and cultural
activist Borka Pavicevic welcomed the participants and shared her
views on Serb-Albanian relations in art and culture. Participants
also visited the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. In Novi Sad
we were kindly welcomed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Vojvodina and Student Cultural Centre of Novi Sad. While in
Prishtina we visited the Contemporary Art Center - Stacion, the
Faculty of Dramatic Arts, artist Alban Muja presented his work to
the participants, and in Qendra Multimedia, artist Jeton Neziraj
shared his views and experiences on the subject of Serb-Albanian
relations in art and culture. At the end, in Prizren we toured the
Prizren Fortress, the Museum – Albanian League of Prizren, and we
had a great talk with Dokufest creators and organizers.
Furthermore, we enjoyed some of the cultural events in Belgrade and
Prishtina, such as the Actopolis Belgrade, PriFest, and others.
One of the participants, Edin Alija, student of Faculty of Dramatic
Arts in Prishtina speaks about his impressions saying: “This project
allowed me to create great ideas with artists from Serbia. During
the whole project, we spent lots of time one with each other. We
exchanged lots of experiences, ideas, points of views, beers and
other things and we kind of became aware of the “Other.” I loved the
methodology trainers used and in general the conception of the whole
project was very attractive. I think that changed us all in at least
one small way. It made us think that there is something happening
over the wall. Not only that. It was constantly raising our
curiosity so we started investigating the “Others’” culture and
totally normalized the feeling of having the “Other” as a stranger.
It is good because the wall is broken, so I think that this could be
of a higher value only because the toughest thing is done.”
The overall goal of the program is to contribute to renewing old and
create new ties between young people, academic and artistic
community, media and civil society from Belgrade and Prishtina by
promoting intercultural dialogue, reconciliation and normalization
process.
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