Wednesday, 11.05.2016.
“The Border is Closed” at the Modern Art Gallery in Subotica
The travelling life of the exhibition “The Border is Closed” continued in early May. From the southern regions we moved to the north, where we were guests of the Modern Art Gallery in Subotica. We decided to keep the good practice of working with high school students during the exhibition set-up.
High school students from Subotica joined us at the workshop “Me as a curator”, with Ivana Bogićević-Leko, and then at the art workshops with Dragan Protić and Snežana Skoko. They found the ideas for their art works in the exhibits, through interviews with authors, and especially in the works of their peers from Vranje, involved in the exhibition set-up.
In this way, the exhibition is enriched and grows with every visit – its young audience becomes its interpreter and co-author. Consequently, the exhibition involves and includes its various interpretations. The exhibition in Subotica contains the works of high school students from Vranje and Subotica with messages written in English, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian.
The exhibition was opened on May 6, at 7 p.m., in the presence of a large number of local media and numerous guests. The audience was welcomed by the authors of the exhibition: Nena Skoko, Ivana Bogićević-Leko, Dragan Protić and Luka Knežević –Strika, director of the Modern Art Gallery Nela Tonković and Robert Kozma from Group 484, and the tour through the exhibition was led by high school students from Subotica.
“The border is closed” is the result of cooperation of migrants and asylum seekers in Serbia with artists Luka Knežević-Strika, Snežana Skoko, Ivana Bogićević-Leko gićević-Leko, Škart Art Collective, Group 484, and the Museum of African Art (curators Ivana Vojt and Emilia Epštajn). The exhibition is actually an encounter with stories about the lives of the brave people who ventured on a journey into the unknown, fleeing from war and poverty.
More details on the origins of the exhibition can be found on the website of the Museum of African Art.
PROJECT: PROACTION – Protection against Discrimination of Asylum Seekers and Unaccompanied Child Migrants; Our new Neighbours – improvement of migration policy in Serbia and the Western Balkans
OBJECTIVE: Build trust and sensitise the local community for understanding the situation of asylum seekers and migrants; strengthen support of local CSOs to asylum seekers and unaccompanied child migrants by building their capacity for the prevention and protection from discrimination and human rights violations and through networking with national and local institutions.
IMPLEMENTERS: Group 484 (educational program “We and the Others”, Centre for Migration)
SUPPORT: European Union Delegation in Serbia, Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the RS, Open Foundation Society – Serbia, Charles Stewart Mott FoundationPhotographs: Luka Knežević-Strika
Photographs: Luka Knežević-Strika
